Using sleep therapy to help mood and anxiety
A Novel Use of a Sleep Intervention to Target the Emotion Regulation Brain Network and Treat Depression and Anxiety
This program uses a proven cognitive-behavioral sleep treatment to help adults with insomnia who also have elevated depression or anxiety improve their sleep and emotional control.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Stanford University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Stanford, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11124711 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You would join a randomized, two-arm program at Stanford where adults with clinically meaningful insomnia and heightened depressive symptoms receive a brief course of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I). The therapy involves six CBT-I sessions delivered across about eight weeks with weekly check-ins about sleep and mood. Researchers will collect symptom ratings and brain imaging before and after the intervention to see whether improving sleep changes the brain networks that control emotion. The initial phase plans to enroll about 70 adults to test feasibility and whether the sleep treatment engages the emotion-regulation brain circuitry.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Adults (21+) who have clinically meaningful insomnia and elevated depressive or anxiety symptoms would be the best fit to consider participating.
Not a fit: People whose main problem is not insomnia (for example only mild sleep complaints) or those unable to attend therapy sessions or in-person brain imaging visits are less likely to benefit from this program.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, improving sleep with CBT-I could reduce depressive and anxiety symptoms and help normalize brain circuits involved in emotion regulation, potentially lowering suicide risk associated with insomnia.
How similar studies have performed: CBT-I is a well-established treatment that reliably improves sleep and can also improve mood, but using it specifically to change emotion-regulation brain networks is a newer, mechanistic approach.
Where this research is happening
Stanford, United States
- Stanford University — Stanford, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Goldstein-Piekarski, Andrea — Stanford University
- Study coordinator: Goldstein-Piekarski, Andrea
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.