A Case Study of Meditation to Reduce Alcohol Use Disorder Symptomology in Veteran PTSD Comorbidity

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) comorbidity is becoming a rising issue within the military veteran community, highlighted by research indicating individuals diagnosed with PTSD are more likely to have a drinking problem (1). The implementation of meditation as an alternative form of stress release was aimed at reducing PTSD symptomology and therefore reducing factors that lead to drinking. One male veteran (28y of age) was recruited to complete a two-week intervention.

The participant completed a behavioural diary noting alcohol consumption and mood. Following a one-week baseline period, an interview was undertaken to determine reasons for alcohol consumption and potential reasons and motivations for the cessation of drinking. A meditation and mantra intervention was implemented for one week. Meditation was able to decrease alcohol consumption by reducing PTSD symptomology (baseline consumption M=6.26; SD=4.38 standard drinks per day vs M=3.53; SD=3.44) standard drinks per day during the intervention), however, day-to-day variability was evident. These results indicate that meditation as an alternative to drinking alcohol can be implemented as a successful form of treatment for PTSD symptomology in the short term. However, these findings are specific to this case study and need to be reproduced in larger samples and over a longer period of time to determine if they can be applied to the general population.