The goal of this Clinical Psychology study was to present the possible therapeutic effects of Relaxation Techniques in elderly people. The systematic review was conducted by two researchers who performed inquiries independently in the following databases: PubMed, PsycInfo, Scopus and Lilacs in June 2015 using the string: “relaxation” OR “relaxation therapy” AND “elderly people.” The initial selection resulted in 244 articles and, from the criteria for inclusion and exclusion, 11 studies were analysed for this review as of May 2017. This research found evidence of the effectiveness of Relaxation Techniques in elderly populations, especially in reducing symptoms of anxiety, related cognitive difficulties, physical symptoms, especially tension headaches and increasing immunity through the diminishment of stress.*** Benefícios das técnicas de relaxamento em idosos: uma revisão sistemática ***Este estudo tem como área temática a psicologia clínica e o seu objetivo foi apresentar os possíveis efeitos terapêuticos das técnicas de relaxamento para idosos. A revisão sistemática foi conduzida por dois pesquisadores, que realizaram as buscas de forma independente nas seguintes bases de dados: PubMed, PsycInfo, Scopus e LILACS, em junho de 2015, utilizando a string: “relaxation” OR “relaxation therapy” AND “elderly people”. A seleção inicial resultou em 244 artigos e, a partir de critérios de inclusão e exclusão, foram analisados 11 estudos para esta revisão até maio de 2017. Foram encontradas evidências de eficácia das técnicas de relaxamento na população idosa, principalmente na redução de sintomas de ansiedade, bem como de dificuldades cognitivas a ela relacionadas e redução de sintomas físicos, sobretudo dores de cabeça tensionais e aumento da imunidade através da diminuição das consequências do estresse.Palavras-chave: relaxamento, técnica de relaxamento, idosos.

Transpersonal approach in psychotherapy is a controversial field, and there is a lack in scientific information. A search of Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, PsycINFO and SciELO databases using: ["Altered states of consciousness" AND "Psychotherapy"] and ["Transpersonal" AND "Psychotherapy"] in December 2017 was conducted. From 629 articles found, 14 empirical studies were analyzed. Studies were conducted with adults, most of them women. The benefits were improvement in the treatment of substance use disorder; increased sensation of relaxation, relief of physical pain. Future studies should have rigorous experimental designs; define concepts clearly; detail the method used; present clear guidelines for the ethical boundaries.

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