David Orme-Johnson

David Orme-Johnson was born in El Paso, Texas. He received a B.A. from Columbia University in Psychology in 1963, and a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology (with a second speciality in Quantitative Methods) in 1969 from the University of Maryland.{{cite journal|last=Orme-Johnson|first=David|author2=Michael Dillbeck|title=Maharishi's Program to Create World Peace: Theory and Practice|journal=Modern Science and Vedic Science: An Interdiciplinary Journal Devoted to Research on the Unified Field of All the Laws of Nature|year=1987|volume=1|issue=2|pages=207–259|url=http://www.mum.edu/pdf_msvs/v01/orme-johnson.pdf}}

From 1969 to 1971, Orme-Johnson served as a lecturer at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).{{Cite news

| issn = 1074-7109

| page = 10

| first =ZUNIGA

| last = JO ANN

| title = Maharishi says $123 million worth of mantras will save city

| work = Houston Chronicle

| date = 1993-03-01

}} While at UTEP, he conducted the first research on the effects of Transcendental Meditation (TM) on autonomic stability and autonomic recovery from stressors. The paper, published in Psychosomatic Medicine, the journal of the American Psychosomatic Society, reported fewer spontaneous galvanic skin responses (GSR) in meditators, and more rapid habituation of the GSR to loud tones.American Psychosomatic Society [http://www.psychosomatic.org/about/index.htm] Orme-Johnson, D. W (1973). "Autonomic stability and transcendental meditation". Psychosomatic Medicine 35 (4): 341–349 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090802064555/http://www.psychosomatic.org/about/index.htm |date=August 2, 2009 }}

Orme-Johnson was director of research and evaluation for the U.S. Army drug rehabilitation program at Fort Bliss from 1971 to 1972.{{Cite news

| pages = A.23

|first =David

| last = Orme-Johnson

| title = Benefits of meditation deserve consideration

| work = Austin American Statesman

| date = 1991-11-23

}}[http://www.truthabouttm.org/truth/Home/AboutDavidOrme-Johnson/EducationandProfessionalExperience/index.cfm Self Published Bio Data]

In 1973, Orme-Johnson joined Maharishi International University (MIU), formerly Maharishi University of Management (MUM), in Fairfield, Iowa. Orme-Johnson served as the Chairman of the Psychology Department and Dean of Research until 1996.{{Cite journal

| issn = 1094-9054

| volume = 44

| issue = 1

| page = 18

| last = Diane

| first =Zabel

| title = Meditation and Health: An Annotated Bibliography

| journal = Reference & User Services Quarterly

| year = 2004

}} As Chairman of the Psychology Department, he “led the MIU Psychology Department in the theoretical development of Maharishi Vedic Psychology”. In addition, he was director of the university's psychology doctoral program and co-director of its neuroscience doctoral program,{{Cite news

| issn = 0458-3035

| page = 1

|last =Smith

|first = Jack

| author-link = Jack Smith (columnist)

| title = The square root of 1% of the population unified in anyway may be the greatest discovery in the history of science

| work =Los Angeles Times

| date = 1986-05-08

}} as well as director of its Institute for World Peace.{{Cite news

| issn = 0743-1791

| page = 31

| last = Gaines

| first = Judith

| title = Radiating gulf peace thoughts

| work =The Boston Globe

| date = 1990-11-26

}} He also served as director of research at the Institute of Science, Technology, and Public Policy.{{Cite journal

| issn = 0887-9982

| volume = 15

| issue = 3

| page = 58

|first =Leffler

| last = David R

|author2=Lee M Leffler

| title = Consciousness-based defense

| journal = Tikkun

}}

According to Orme-Johnson, he was Vice Chancellor of Maharishi European Research University, Seelisberg, Switzerland, from 1975 to 1977 and Acting President of Maharishi University of Management from 1976 to 1977.

In 1982, Orme-Johnson was the co-presenter for a report on Transcendental Meditation research given at Congressional hearings by the Subcommittees on International Security and Scientific Affairs to establish an Academy of Peace. Orme-Johnson gave a four-point proposal dedicated to peace in the US and around the world.Orme-Johnson, D.W. & Dillbeck, M.C. (1982, July 21). [https://books.google.com/books?id=NusjAAAAMAAJ Statement in Proposals to Establish a U.S. Academy of Peace. In Proceedings of the hearing before the Subcommittees on International Security and Scientific Affairs and on International Operations of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Subcommittee on Post-secondary Education of the Committee on Education and Labor], Joint Hearings of United States House of Representatives, Ninety-Seventh Congress, Second Session on H.R. 5088 and H.R. 6182, pp. 241-250

Orme-Johnson's paper, "International peace project in the Middle East," was published in the Journal of Conflict Resolution in 1988 and again in 1990 in the Scientific Research on Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program: Collected Papers. The second published version included an Appendix A which contained the data used for the study.Orme-Johnson, D. W., Alexander, C. N., Davies, J. L., Chandler, H. M., & Larimore, W. E. (1988). International peace project in the Middle East: The effects of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 32, 776–812.Orme-Johnson, D. W., Alexander, C. N., Davies, J. L., Chandler, H. M., & Larimore, W. E. (1988). International peace project in the Middle East: The effects of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field. Journal of Conflict Resolution Reprinted in 1990 with Appendix A of data in Scientific Research on Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Program: Collected Papers (Vol. 4, pp. 2653–2678). Vlodrop, The Netherlands: Maharishi Vedic University Press. The paper was criticized in 1997 by University of Iowa professors Evan Fales and Barry Markovsky, who took issue with the Maharishi Effect theory and with Orme-Johnson's interpretation of evidence. They complained that Orme-Johnson refused to share his raw data and concluded that the probability of the Maharishi Effect theory was "very close to zero".{{Cite journal

| issn = 0037-7732

| volume = 76

| issue = 2

| pages = 511–525

| first =Evan

| last = Fales

|author2=Barry Markovsky

| title = Evaluating heterodox theories

| journal = Social Forces

| date = December 1997

| doi = 10.2307/2580722

| jstor = 2580722

| publisher = University of North Carolina Press

}} Orme-Johnson defended his work in a 2009 paper. After reviewing their critique, he wrote that it was "not supported by either the empirical data nor by a logical analysis of the theory".{{cite journal

| issn = 0892-3310

| volume = 23

| issue = 2

| pages = 139–166

| last = Orme-Johnson

| first = D. W

| author2 = ROBERT M. OATES

| title = A Field-Theoretic View of Consciousness: Reply to Critics

| journal = Journal of Scientific Exploration

| year = 2009

| url = http://d.yimg.com/kq/groups/3920196/849533176/name/OJ+%26+Oates+Reply+to+Critics+J+Sc+Explor+2009+Final.pdf

| access-date = 2009-08-19

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121105051618/http://d.yimg.com/kq/groups/3920196/849533176/name/OJ+%26+Oates+Reply+to+Critics+J+Sc+Explor+2009+Final.pdf

| archive-date = 2012-11-05

| url-status = dead

}}{{unreliable source?|date=February 2020}} He also noted that published plots of the raw data were given to Fales and Markovsky and that a simple visual inspection of these plots would have shown that their alternate hypotheses could not explain the study's results. The raw data is available on his website.[http://www.truthabouttm.org/truth/SocietalEffects/Critics-Rebuttals/index.cfm#Israel_Data "Societal Effects: Scholarly Exchanges on the Maharishi Effect"] OJ's web site

He participated in a delegation of teachers from Maharishi International University who traveled to the Soviet Union to provide instruction in Transcendental Meditation in 1990. The trip, initially scheduled to last ten days, was extended to six months and resulted in the training of 35,000 people in Transcendental Meditation.{{Cite news

| page = 23

| title = Soviets Learn To Meditate

| work = Omaha World-Herald

| date = 1990-06-01

}}

In 1990, he proposed that the U.S. Defense Department budget $90 million to hire 7,000 to 10,000 full-time meditators to improve society.{{Cite news

| page = 13

| title = Iowans Push Federal Aid for Peace Meditation

| work = Omaha World - Herald

| date = 1990-04-13

}} In 1991, he advocated a plan for prisons to hire TM trainers, at a cost of $1,500 per inmate, to reduce recidivism and illness among prisoners.{{Cite news

| issn = 1074-7109

| page = 22

| last = CHRISS

| first =CATHERINE

| title = Authorities asked to give thought to jail meditation

| work = Houston Chronicle

| date = 1991-02-21

}} In response to an article in The Wall Street Journal that estimated it would cost $1 billion to teach TM to all inmates in the U.S., Orme-Johnson wrote that doing so would result in a net savings of $6.2 billion annually.{{Cite news

| issn = 0921-9986

| page = PAGE.15

| title = Letters to the Editor: Turn Prisons Into Think Tanks

| work =The Wall Street Journal

| date = 1991-06-18

}} In 1993, Orme-Johnson proposed that the city of Omaha, Nebraska, spend $23 million for 600 meditators to end crime in the city.{{Cite news

| pages = 10.A

| last = Gauger

|first =Jeff

| title = Meditation Pushed as Way to Fight Crime

| work = Omaha World - Herald

| date = 1993-02-07

}}

In 1995, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) nominated Orme-Johnson to be an expert presenter on the effects of meditation as a relaxation technique on chronic pain and insomnia at the NIH technology assessment conference held in Bethesda, Maryland.Orme-Johnson, D.W.; Walton, K.; Lonsdorf, N. (1995) Meditation in the treatment of chronic pain and insomnia. National Institutes of Health Technology Assessment Conference on Integration of Behavioral and Relaxation Approaches into the Treatment of Chronic Pain and Insomnia. October 16–18, Bethesda, Maryland, Abstract The conclusions of the conference were reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.Integration of Behavioral and Relaxation Approaches Into the Treatment of Chronic Pain and Insomnia NIH Technology Assessment Panel on Integration of Behavioral and Relaxation Approaches Into the Treatment of Chronic Pain and Insomnia JAMA. 1996;276(4):313-318, [http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/276/4/313]

According to Orme-Johnson's website: from 1999 to 2000, Orme-Johnson was a member of the advisory board at the Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention and, from 2000 to 2002, was a Consultant for the Center for Natural Medicine and Prevention according to his website. From 2002 to 2004, he served as adjunct professor at Maharishi College of Vedic Medicine located at Maharishi University of Management.

In 2006, Orme-Johnson was the principal investigator for an NIH grant sponsored collaboration between Maharishi University of Management and the University of California at Irvine to conduct the first neuroimaging study on the effects of meditation on pain.Orme-Johnson DW, Schneider RH, Son YD, Nidich S, Cho Z-H. Neuroimaging of meditation's effect on brain reactivity to pain. NeuroReport 2006 17(12):1359-1363National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine award #5-IP50-AT00082-05-Developmental Research component (CFDA #93.213)NIH Publications Access, Author Manuscripts, Accepted for publication in peer reviewed journal, [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2170475/]

In 2008, the NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine sponsored Orme-Johnson to present research on the Transcendental Meditation program and health at their workshop on "Meditation for Health Purposes", held in Bethesda, Maryland.Orme-Johnson DW. Commentary on the AHRQ report on research on meditation practices in health. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 2008 14(10):1215-1221 [http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/acm.2008.0464]

Orme-Johnson is also a sculptor and painter.[http://www.TruthAboutTM.org/truth/Links/DavidsArtGallery/index.cfm Art Gallery] He studied visual arts at Columbia College from 1959 to 1963 in drawing, painting, sculpture and history of the movies, and at the University of Maryland from 1963 to 1968 in print making, glass blowing, sculpting and painting. He also studied painting through the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. in 1967.[http://user1292437.sites.myregisteredsite.com/davidojpaintings/id5.html Self Published Bio Data]

Orme-Johnson's work has been exhibited in group shows at Columbia University, and has been shown in Fairfield, Iowa and El Paso, Texas.

After retiring from the Maharishi University of Management, Orme-Johnson moved to Florida where he worked as a research consultant and a TM teacher.{{Cite news| issn = 0898-168X| pages = C.1| last = MAY| first = PEGGY| title = Maharishi telecasts broadcast live on net| work = Northwest Florida Daily News| date = 2002-07-27}}{{Cite news| issn = 0898-168X| pages = C.1| last = MAY| first = PEGGY| title = Meditation touted as the answer| work = Northwest Florida Daily News| date = 1998-10-12}} In 1996, he qualified as a write-in candidate in the election for Florida House District 7.{{Cite news| issn = 0898-168X| pages = B.1| title = Candidates line up for offices| work = Northwest Florida Daily News| date = 1996-07-20}}

His wife, Rhoda Orme-Johnson,[https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/29/news/university-s-degree-comes-with-a-heavy-dose-of-meditation-and-skepticism.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm "University's Degree Comes With a Heavy Dose of Meditation (and Skepticism)"] April 29, 1992, New York Times also a teacher of Transcendental Meditation,{{Cite web|title=My Résumé|url=http://www.rhodathewriter.com/my-rsum|access-date=2021-08-06|website=Rhoda the Writer|language=en-US}} was a Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Literature and Languages at Maharishi International University from 1973 to 1996,{{Cite news| issn = 0458-3035| page = 1| last = Smith|first=Jack| title = Meditation may be off-base, or out in left field.... How about focusing energy on what's really important?| work =Los Angeles Times | date = 1986-06-04}}{{Cite journal|last=Orme-Johnson|first=Rhoda|date=1987|title=A Unified Field Theory of Literature|url=https://www.miu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/07/R.-Orme-Johnson-1987-UF-Theory-of-Lit-a1MSVS1-3.pdf|journal=Journal of Modern Science and Vedic Science|volume=1| issue = 3|pages=52}} and the Administrative Dean of Maharishi European Research University, in Seelisberg, Switzerland from 1975 to 1976. She is also a poet,{{Cite web|title=Poetry|url=http://www.rhodathewriter.com/poetry|access-date=2021-08-06|website=Rhoda the Writer|language=en-US}} real estate agent, and the author of two books, Inside Maharishi’s Ashram: A Personal Story,{{Cite book|last=Orme-Johnson|first=Rhoda|url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FYMZJ5W/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0|title=Inside Maharishi's Ashram: A Personal Story}}{{Cite web|title=Memoirs|url=http://www.rhodathewriter.com/memoirs|access-date=2021-08-06|website=Rhoda the Writer|language=en-US}} and The Flow of Consciousness: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on Literature and Language, 1971 to 1976.{{Cite book|last=Yogi|first=Maharishi Mahesh|url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0923569332/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1|title=The Flow of Consciousness: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on Literature and Language, 1971 to 1976|date=2010-01-01}}{{Cite book|last=Orme-Johnson|first=Rhoda|title=The Flow of Consciousness: Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on Literature and Language, 1971 to 1976|publisher=MIU Press}}

Orme-Johnson's brother, William, was a professor of chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an expert on inorganic chemistry.{{cite web|title=William Orme-Johnson, inorganic biochemistry expert, dies at 68 - MIT News Office|url=http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/obit-orme-johnson.html|access-date=2009-08-19}}

The most frequently cited papers in which DW Orme-Johnson was the lead author include:

• {{Cite journal

| volume = 35

| issue = 4

| pages = 341–349

| last = Orme-Johnson

| first = D. W

| s2cid = 6082480

| title = Autonomic stability and transcendental meditation

| journal = Psychosomatic Medicine

| year = 1973

| pmid = 4719021

| doi=10.1097/00006842-197307000-00008

}}

• {{Cite journal

| volume = 13

| issue = 4

| pages = 211–217

| last = Orme-johnson

| first = D. W

|author2=C. T Haynes

| title = EEG Phase Coherence, Pure Consciousness, Creativity, and TM—Sidhi Experiences

| journal = International Journal of Neuroscience

| year = 1981

| doi = 10.3109/00207458108985804

| pmid = 7026478

}}

• Orme-Johnson D. W. (1987) Medical care utilization and the Transcendental Meditation program. Psychosomatic Medicine 1987 49(1):493-507
• {{Cite journal

| pages = 776–812

| last = Orme-Johnson

| first = D. W

|author2=C. N Alexander |author3=J. L Davies |author4=H. M Chandler |author5=W. E Larimore

| title = International peace project in the Middle East: The effects of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field

| journal = Journal of Conflict Resolution

| volume = 32

| issue = 4

| year = 1988

| doi = 10.1177/0022002788032004009

| s2cid = 145461685

}}

• {{Cite journal

| pages = 756–768

| last = Orme-Johnson

| first = D. W

|author2=C. N Alexander |author3=J. L Davies

| title = The effects of the Maharishi Technology of the Unified Field: Reply to a methodological critique

| journal = Journal of Conflict Resolution

| volume = 34

| issue = 4

| year = 1990

| doi = 10.1177/0022002790034004009

| s2cid = 121075780

}}

• Orme-Johnson D. W. (1994) Transcendental Meditation as an epidemiological approach to drug and alcohol abuse: theory, research, and financial impact evaluation. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly 1994 11(1/2):119-168
• {{Cite journal

| volume = 3

| pages = 135–144

| last = Orme-Johnson

| first = D. W

|author2=E. Robert |author3=P. D Herron

| title = An Innovative Approach to Reducing Medical Care Utilization and Expenditures

| journal = American Journal of Managed Care

| year = 1997

| pmid = 10169245

| issue = 1

}}

• {{Cite journal

| volume = 12

| issue = 5

| pages = 297–299

| last = Orme-Johnson

| first = D. W

|author2=K. G Walton

| title = Critical Issues and Trends: All Approaches to Preventing or Reversing Effects of Stress Are Not the Same

| journal = American Journal of Health Promotion

| year = 1998

| pmid = 10181138

| doi = 10.4278/0890-1171-12.5.297

| s2cid = 46817578

}}

• Orme-Johnson, D. W. (2002) "Quantifying the field effects of consciousness: From increased EEG coherence to reduced international terrorism" Proceedings: Bridging Worlds and Filling Gaps in the Science of Healing. Corona del Mar, CA: Samueli Institute for Informational Biology, 2002:326-346. (R.A. Chez, editor)
• Orme-Johnson DW, Dillbeck MC, Alexander CN. (2003) Preventing terrorism and international conflict: effects of large assemblies of participants in the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi programs. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation 2003 36(1-4):283-302
• Orme-Johnson D. W. (2003) Preventing crime though the Maharishi Effect. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation 2003 36(1-4):257-281
• Orme-Johnson D. W, Schneider RH, Son YD, Nidich S, Cho Z-H. (2006) Neuroimaging of meditation's effect on brain reactivity to pain. NeuroReport 2006 17(12):1359-1363

• Orme-Johnson, David W., and John T. Farrow, eds. Scientific Research on the Transcendental Meditation Program: Collected Papers. 2nd ed. Weggis, Switzerland: Maharishi European Research University Press, 1977–90. ({{ISBN|3-88333-001-9}}).
• Schmidt-Wilk, J., Orme-Johnson, D. W., Alexander, V., & Schneider, R. (Eds.), (2005). Maharishi's Vedic psychology and its applications: Honoring the lifework of Charles N. Alexander, Ph.D. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 620 pages.
• Alexander, C. N., Walton, K. G., Orme-Johnson, D. W., Goodman, R. S., & Pallone, N. J. (Eds.). (2003). Transcendental Meditation in Criminal Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press, 383 pages.
• Wallace, R. K. Orme-Johnson, D. W. & Dillbeck, M. C. (Eds.) (1990). Scientific research on Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program: Collected papers: Vol. 5. Fairfield, IA, MUM Press, 837 pages.

{{Reflist|2}}

• [http://www.truthabouttm.org/ Truth About TM] David Orme-Johnson's Professional Website
• [http://user1292437.sites.myregisteredsite.com/davidojpaintings/id5.html Truth About TM] David Orme-Johnson's Artist Bio

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Category:1941 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from El Paso, Texas

Category:21st-century American psychologists

Category:Transcendental Meditation researchers

Category:University of Maryland, College Park alumni

Category:Columbia University alumni

Category:University of Texas at El Paso faculty

Category:20th-century American psychologists