New Strategies for Combining Mindfulness with Integrative Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) severely impacts social functioning, distress levels, and utilization of medical care compared with that of other major psychiatric disorders. Neither pharmacological nor psychotherapy interventions have adequately controlled cardinal symptoms of GAD: pervasive excessive anxiety and uncontrollable worry. Research has established cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as the most effective psychotherapy for controlling GAD; however, outcomes remain at only 50% reduction, with high relapse rates. Mindfulness has been integrated with CBT to treat people suffering from numerous psychiatric disorders, with mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) being the most researched. Preliminary evidence supports MBSR’s potential for controlling GAD symptoms and key researchers suggest mindfulness practices possess key elements for treating GAD. Classical mindfulness (CM) differs significantly from MBSR and possesses unique potentials for directly targeting process and state GAD symptoms inadequately treated by CBT. This article introduces the theory and practice of CM, its differences from MBSR, and a critical review of MBSR and CBT treatments for GAD. CM strategies designed to complement CBT targeting cardinal GAD symptoms are outlined with a case study illustrating its use

Biofeedback Treatment of Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure Under Stress and No-Stress Conditions

This study compares the relative efficacy of systolic and diastolic biofeedback in lowering the systolic and diastolic blood pressures of normotensives. The importance of testing these biofeedback procedures lies in assessment of their potential as blood pressure self-control techniques for the treatment of essential hypertension

A Comparison of Biofeedback and Cognitive Therapy in the Control of Blood Pressure Under Stress and No-Stress Conditions

This study evaluated the efficacy of cognitive therapy and biofeedback training in lowering Dlood pressures of normotensives under no-stress and stress conditions. A cognitive therapy group was compared to biofeedback and habituation control groups with 32 normotensives. Subjects were taught to use the electronic sphygmomanometer that served as the device to measure blood pressure during pretreatment and posttreatment phases of the study. These measurement phases each consisted of three 19 minute periods. Trie first period consisted of no-stress, and then a stress period followed. Return-to-no-stress was the final period. Subjects in the cognitive therapy and biofeedbacK groups received five sessions of self-control training of 66 minutes each between the pre- and posttreatment phases. The cold pressor was the analogue stressor used to induce bxood pressure elevations