Using sleep therapy to help mood and anxiety
Official title: A Novel Use of a Sleep Intervention to Target the Emotion Regulation Brain Network and Treat Depression and Anxiety
Funded at Stanford University · NIH-11124711 · Data updated 2026-11-12
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 start | July 1, 2020 |
| Project end | June 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $978,933 |
| NIH project number | 5R33MH120245-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11124711 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults (21+) who have clinically meaningful insomnia and elevated depressive or anxiety symptoms would be the best fit to consider participating.
✕Less likely to help
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.
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.
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 gone: 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 University
Stanford, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Goldstein-Piekarski, Andrea — Stanford University
- Study coordinator: Goldstein-Piekarski, Andrea
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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.