Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation® and TM-Sidhi® Program and Reductions in Infant Mortality and Drug-Related Death

Abstract

These two studies tested the prediction that the group practice of a procedure for the development of consciousness, the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program, by a sufficiently large group of individuals would be sufficient to reduce collective stress in the larger population, reflected in two stress-related health indicators, infant mortality rate and drugrelated fatality rate. Based on theoretical prediction and prior research, from January 2007 through 2010 (intervention period), this effect should have been measurable. Change in the rates of these two indicators during the intervention period were estimated from 2002 through 2010 data using a broken-trend (or segmented trend) intervention model with time series regression methods. Significant changes in trend for both the infant mortality rate and drug-related fatality rate were evident at the predicted time and in the predicted direction, controlling for preintervention trends, seasonality, and autocorrelation. The changes in trend were both statistically and practically significant, indicating an average annual decline of 3.12% in infant mortality rate and 7.61% in drug-related fatality rate. Diagnostic tests are satisfactory and indicate that it is unlikely that the statistical results are attributable to spurious regression. The mechanism for these collective effects is discussed in view of possible alternative hypotheses.

Evaluating a Field Theory of Consciousness and Social Change: Group Practice of Transcendental Meditation and Homicide Trends

“…Using segmented-trend (linear-spline) regression modeling, these four papers investigated changes in monthly trends of homicide rates and trends in other fatality rates during 2007-2010 as compared with a baseline period November 2002-December 2006. Reported results include reduced trends in U.S. homicide rates, t(84) = -10.17, p < 0.001, f = -1.11; reduced murder and violent crime rate trends in large urban areas, t(83) = -6.14, p < 0.001, f = -0.674 (Dillbeck & Cavanaugh, 2016;Cavanaugh & Dillbeck, 2017a); reduced trend of motor vehicle fatality rates, t(87) = -8.55, p < 0.001, f = -0.917 and fatality rates due to other accidents, t(86) = -3.82, p < 0.001, f = -0.412 (Cavanaugh & Dillbeck, 2017b); and reduction of trend in rates of drug-related fatalities, t(86) = -4.16, p < 0.001, f = -0.449 and U.S. infant mortality, t(87) = -4.50, p < 0.001, f = -0.482 (Dillbeck & Cavanaugh, 2017). Moreover, a pilot study using annual data replicated the reduction of homicide-rate trends during the experimental period and also found that homicide-rate trends rose again when the size of the meditation group fell (Orme-Johnson, 2017; Orme-Johnson et al, in review).…”

Empirical Evaluation of the Possible Contribution of Group Practice of the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program to Reduction in Drug-Related Mortality

“…The purpose of the empirical aspect of the current paper is to replicate and extend the previous study of drug-related fatality trends 2002–2010 described in Section 2.6 [ 13 ]. The current empirical analysis employs segmented-trend regression modeling, a form of interrupted time series analysis, to test the two research hypotheses described below.…”

“…Also included are possible level shifts (intercept changes) between segments. Segmented-trend regression models were employed in six previous peer-reviewed studies of this social experiment [ 13 , 44 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 70 ].…”

“…Using segmented-trend (spline) regression to analyze baseline and demonstration-period data through 2010, these studies reported decreased trends for each of the following fatality rates relative to baseline trend. For each fatality rate we give the t -statistic, p -value, and standardized effect size (ES) Cohen’s f for regression coefficients [ 62 ]: decreased national drug-related death, t (87) = −4.16, p < 0.001, f = −0.449 (30.4% reduction) and decreased national infant mortality, t (86) = −4.50, p < 0.001, f = −0.482 (12.5% reduction) [ 13 ]; decreased national homicide, t (84) = −10.17, p < 0.001, f = −1.11 (21.2% reduction) and decreased urban violent crime, t (83) = −6.14, p < 0.001, f = −0.674 (18.5% reduction) [ 63 ]; decreased national traffic fatalities, t (87) = −8.55, p < 0.001, f = −0.917 (20.6% reduction) and decreased national fatalities due to other accidents, t (86) = −3.82, p < 0.001, f = −0.412 (13.5% reduction) [ 64 ]; and decreased urban murder, t (84) = −8.89, p < 0.001, f = −0.970 (28.4% reduction) [ 65 ]. The percent reductions reported in parentheses are raw effect sizes given by the total predicted reduction for each fatality rate during the demonstration period divided by its baseline mean and multiplied by 100.…”

“…In Section 2 , we discuss the proposed Consciousness-Based approach: group practice of the TM and TM-Sidhi program. This approach was suggested by the findings of previous quasi-experimental, longitudinal research [ 13 ] that found strong empirical support for the hypothesis that practice of TM and its advanced procedure, the TM-Sidhi program, by a group of theoretically predicted size was associated with statistically and practically significant reduction of societal stress, as indicated by a decrease in rising monthly baseline trends of U.S. drug-related fatality rates. The group was located at Maharishi International University (MIU) in Fairfield, Iowa USA (hereafter referred to as the “MIU group” or the “TM-Sidhi group”).…”