Meditation and Psychotherapy Stress, Allostasis, and Enriched Learning

Recently, the term meditation has entered neuroscience and psychiatry (Kabat-Zinn et al. 1992; Kutz et al. 1985; Linehan 1993; Snaith 1998; Varela et al. 1996). Its narrow use to designate a religious practice of contemplation has broadened to include any intentionalexercise of attention (Kabat-Zinn 1982). The context for this shift is the convergence of various lines of research with the introduction of Indian methods of meditation common to traditional Asian medicine and psychology (Claxton 1986; Goleman 1977; Loizzo and Blackhall1998; Walsh 1988). The methodicalnature of Indian self-regulation techniques has contributed not only to their popularity but also to their adaptation in the new fields of mind-body medicine, cognitive neuroscience, and cognitive therapy (Benson et al. 1975; Linehan et al. 1979; Varela et al. 1996). Interest in meditation as an adjunct to dynamic therapy is also increasing (Epstein 1995; Moleno 1998). As a result, psychiatrists are being asked to evaluate research and clinical alternatives involving the use of techniques that were previously dismissed as placebo practices or as obsessive rituals (Bogart 1991; Craven 1989; Holmes 1987; Snaith 1998). For psychiatrists, the challenge posed by rising interest in meditation is part of the larger challenge posed by alternatives to conventional medicine (Berkenwald 1998; Eisenberg et al. 1993). The clinical usefulness of meditative techniques for stress-related conditions such as heart disease was established well before the recent