Photo Credit:national-cancer-institute-unsplash
Yes it has!
Study 1
Study Protocol HERE
TRE Reducing Depression and Anxiety-Research Project China 2024-2025 HERE
First, we’re going to look at the depression, anxiety, and ruminant thinking scores of the adolescence, and then we’ll look at the mother’s stress perception and ruminant thinking scores. The pre-treatment group is indicated by the blue bars, and the post treatment group is indicated by the orange bars. The Hamilton depression scale shows a reduction in depression from 17.50 to 9.33. The Hamilton anxiety scale shows a reduction in anxiety from 14.17 to 6.17 and it shows a reduction in ruminant thinking from 50.33 to 36.67. Now this next chart shows the results of the mothers of the first group and their stress levels and ruminant thinking levels. It’s interesting to see that the mother’s stress perception dropped from 36.83 to 31.83 by doing TRE with their child. Likewise, their ruminant thinking levels dropped from 40.50 to 36.17.
So you can see that the initial preliminary data that’s coming from this research project is suggesting that the adolescents had a decrease in depression, anxiety, and ruminant thinking. And the mothers had a decrease in stress perception and ruminant thinking. So, as you can see, we’re on our way to proving that the tremor mechanism in TRE effectively helps to reduce stress and anxiety, improves the quality of life, and actually proving that it might be able to improve relationships among family members.
Adolescents: HERE
So essentially through these EEG recordings we see that the decrease in both delta and theta powers during wakefulness indicates a consistent and solid neurophysiological shift out of low arousal patterns such as freeze, shutdown or dissociation. and into a more activated, integrated, and embodied state. If we combine that with the EEG measures and the reduction in both delta and theta powers, collectively these results demonstrate that the brain is becoming more available for connection and engagement. They are able to be more present, less stuck in internal loops, and demonstrate a movement toward a more embodied state. In trauma recovery terms, this is exactly the kind of gentle upregulation we want to see.
Mothers: HERE
So we see here the mothers like the children showed a decrease in their delta scores.
However, what was also significant and a surprise in the findings is that the mothers had a decrease in their alpha scores. So now we have to ask what would this mean? Alpha oscillations are well established neurophysiological marker of depression.
This reduction mirrors the consistent effects of anti-depressant medication in major depressive disorders.
This suggests that TRE may similarly help to alleviate depressive symptoms. So a summary of the findings from the second group of the TRE study suggests that for teenagers with mood disorders, TRE significantly reduced their anxiety and depression symptoms. Also, both the teens and their mothers showed a stronger ability to handle stress.
They gained a better self-awareness and a better understanding of personal changes. Although TRE was not directly targeting cognition, it helped parents and children become closer together. Families reported better communication and more physical affection like hugging and comforting touch. Now the third group in the pilot study found that a single TRE session lowered salivary cortisol levels in both the mothers and the adolescents, suggesting a better ability for rapid stress modulation.
Study 2
Research Summary: Efficacy of Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises (TRE) on Psychological and Somatic Symptoms HERE
4.0 Conclusion and Implications: The evidence from this controlled trial strongly supports the efficacy of the TRE intervention. Participants who underwent the 8-week program demonstrated significant, durable improvements across a wide range of psychological and somatic symptoms compared to a control group, whose symptoms remained largely unchanged.
Based on the comprehensive analysis, the TRE intervention is an effective treatment for reducing psychological distress, depression, anxiety, and somatic complaints. The key characteristics of its therapeutic effects can be summarized as follows:
• Broad Efficacy: The intervention proved effective across multiple domains, simultaneously reducing psychological distress, both self-reported and clinician-assessed depression, clinician assessed anxiety, and the severity and distress of somatic symptoms.
• Rapid Onset: For core psychological symptoms, including depression and distress, the benefits were rapid, with significant improvements documented within the first four weeks of the intervention.
• Lasting Results: The therapeutic gains were shown to be durable, persisting at a 1-month follow-up assessment and, in the case of clinician-rated symptoms, showing evidence of progressive improvement even after the intervention period ended. These findings have significant practical implications.
For clinicians, TRE may represent a valuable, evidence-based, non-pharmacological therapeutic option for patients presenting with a mix of psychological and physical symptoms. For researchers, the data raises critical questions about the mechanisms of action; specifically, why core psychological distress improves rapidly while the cognitive appraisal of anxiety and somatic symptoms follows a more delayed course.
Curious to give TRE a try? Book a discovery call, or send me a text, email, or call HERE.
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