Efficacy of Yoga for Treatment-Resistant Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

The central question in this research proposal is: can a popular technique that specifically targets active mastery and improved affect regulation, yoga, which is utilized by approximately 4% of the US population each year (1), improve the constellation of PTSD symptoms, multiple somatic complaints, social and occupational impairment and high health care utilization that has been documented in hundreds of thousands of women in the US? The Primary Aims of this study include the following: 1. To test the short-term and long-term effectiveness of 10 weeks of yoga for treating treatment-resistant PTSD and compare it with attention controls receiving Women\'s Health Education (WHE). 2. To assess the short-term and long-term effects of yoga on a) co-morbid conditions, b) quality of life, c) body awareness, d) health care utilization and e) heart rate variability (HRV), in comparison to an attention control group.