J Health Care Chaplain. 2009;16(1-2):53-7.
Support from neurobiology for spiritual techniques for anxiety: a brief review.
Mayo KR.
Source
Department of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa, Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Kelley.RaabMayo@rohcg.on.ca
Abstract
Research in neurobiology supports use of spiritual techniques as a beneficial treatment for anxiety. Psychotherapy, including mindfulness CBT and meditation, has been shown to change brain structure. The amygdala-the brain structure responsible for processing emotion and anxiety-demonstrates plasticity, and the purpose of therapy may be to allow the cortex to establish more effective and efficient synaptic links with the amygdala. A main feature of spiritual approaches is changing one's focus of attention. Instead of worry, one focuses on peaceful thoughts, thoughts of helping others, etc. Research demonstrates that thought, meditation, and other manifestations of mind can alter the brain, sometimes in an enduring way. Few studies have addressed the neurobiological underpinnings of meditation. Limited evidence, however, suggests that brain changes occur during prolonged meditation and that meditation activates neural structures involved in attention and control of the autonomic nervous system.
PMID:
20183113
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Behav Ther. 2008 Jun;39(2):171-82. Epub 2007 Nov 14.
Combining mindfulness meditation with cognitive-behavior therapy for insomnia: a treatment-development study.
Ong JC, Shapiro SL, Manber R.
Source
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, CA 94305-5730, USA. jcong@stanford.edu
Abstract
This treatment-development study is a Stage I evaluation of an intervention that combines mindfulness meditation with cognitive-behavior therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). Thirty adults who met research diagnostic criteria for Psychophysiological Insomnia (Edinger et al., 2004) participated in a 6-week, multi-component group intervention using mindfulness meditation, sleep restriction, stimulus control, sleep education, and sleep hygiene. Sleep diaries and self-reported pre-sleep arousal were assessed weekly while secondary measures of insomnia severity, arousal, mindfulness skills, and daytime functioning were assessed at pre-treatment and post-treatment. Data collected on recruitment, retention, compliance, and satisfaction indicate that the treatment protocol is feasible to deliver and is acceptable for individuals seeking treatment for insomnia. The overall patterns of change with treatment demonstrated statistically and clinically significant improvements in several nighttime symptoms of insomnia as well as statistically significant reductions in pre-sleep arousal, sleep effort, and dysfunctional sleep-related cognitions. In addition, a significant correlation was found between the number of meditation sessions and changes on a trait measure of arousal. Together, the findings indicate that mindfulness meditation can be combined with CBT-I and this integrated intervention is associated with reductions in both sleep and sleep-related arousal. Further testing of this intervention using randomized controlled trials is warranted to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention for this population and the specific effects of each component on sleep and both psychological and physiological arousal.
PMID:
18502250
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
PMCID: PMC3052789
There's a couple ... I haven't got the time to delve through all the scientific literature and find the most relevant .. just google CBT and meditation or mindfulness and you'll find a lot of useful stuff. This one is nice in it's simplicity:
http://www.paniccure.com/approaches/meditation/meditation_and_cbt.htm