Meditation

[neil0502]

Some interesting information. Meditation helped significantly with anxiety, (one kind of) healing, and pain. AFAIK, it has no known adverse effects

Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders [1]

CONCLUSIONS: A group mindfulness meditation training program can effectively reduce symptoms of anxiety and panic and can help maintain these reductions in patients with generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, or panic disorder with agoraphobia.

Influence of a mindfulness meditation-based stress reduction intervention on rates of skin clearing in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis undergoing phototherapy (UVB) and photochemotherapy (PUVA) [2]

CONCLUSIONS: A brief mindfulness meditation-based stress reduction intervention delivered by audiotape during ultraviolet light therapy can increase the rate of resolution of psoriatic lesions in patients with psoriasis.

The clinical use of mindfulness meditation for the self-regulation of chronic pain [3]

Abstract Ninety chronic pain patients were trained in mindfulness meditation in a 10-week Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program. Statistically significant reductions were observed in measures of present-moment pain, negative body image, inhibition of activity by pain, symptoms, mood disturbance, and psychological symptomatology, including anxiety and depression. Pain-related drug utilization decreased and activity levels and feelings of self-esteem increased. Improvement appeared to be independent of gender, source of referral, and type of pain. A comparison group of pain patients did not show significant improvement on these measures after traditional treatment protocols. At follow-up, the improvements observed during the meditation training were maintained up to 15 months post-meditation training for all measures except present-moment pain. The majority of subjects reported continued high compliance with the meditation practice as part of their daily lives. The relationship of mindfulness meditation to other psychological methods for chronic pain control is discussed.

[1] http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/...ract/149/7/936
[2] http://scholar.google.com/url?sa=U&q...tract/60/5/625
[3] http://www.springerlink.com/content/w812027301216527/