Meditation to Reduce Caregiver Stress

Exclusion Criteria

• •1. Current diagnosis of unipolar major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar, psychotic disorders including psychotic depression or dementia, attention deficit or hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, and alcohol or drug dependence. Those with lifetime history of psychiatric conditions other than unipolar major depression will be also excluded.
• •2. Medically unstable, delirious, or terminally ill (e.g. medical illness requiring hospitalization or intense outpatient management, such as heart disease; heart attack in the past 6 months; Congestive Heart failure; severe heart arrythmias; unstable hypertension; poorly controlled diabetes; recent head trauma with loss of consciousness; recent stroke with residual neurological symptoms; recent cancer with ongoing treatment, or any other medical conditions requiring weekly visits to PCP or pending surgery).
• •3. Level of suicidal risk precludes safe treatment on an outpatient basis with Hamilton Depression rating scale item number 3 rated as = 3.
• •4. Subjects reporting daily use of alcohol will be excluded.
• •5. Diagnosis of amnestic MCI by the analyses of delayed verbal recall on the California Verbal Learning Scale that will be 1.5 SD below the age/education adjusted norms for the general population.