A procedural analysis and review of relaxation training research

Applied Relaxation in the Management of Chronic Pain

“…The current trend in the use of relaxation training is to stress generalization and application (Barrios and Shigetomi, 1979;Chang and Denny, 1976;Hillenberg and Collins, 1982;Marquis et al, 1980). Traditionally, patients are met once per week, for about 4 to 10 weeks, at which time relaxation exercises are gone through.…”

Relaxation Training Techniques — A Review Part Two: How Effective is Relaxation Training?

“…1 The most recent, and so far the most optimistic, results have been shown by anxiety/stress management programmes in their comprehensive approach to anxiety reduction. Nevertheless, since research on this technique is still in the initial stages, some scepticism may be warranted.…”

Psychophysiology and Perceived Locus of Control: Critical Review, Theoretical Speculation, and Research Directions

“…For example, the psychophysiological correlates of meditation are reported to include a wide variety of changes that suggest decreases in arousal, including various EEG changes and decreases in heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, muscle tension, skin conductance, oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide elimination, and arterial blood lactate (see West, 1980). For example, in an extensive review of the progressive relaxation training literature published from 1970 to 1979, in 12 research journals, Hillenberg and Collins (1982) reported that only 1 of 80 studies employed Rotter's I-E Scale as a dependent measure. Borkovec and Sides (1979) reviewed a number of critical procedural variables related to the physiological effects of progressive relaxation.…”

“…It would be useful to pursue this line of research by extending the number of relaxation training sessions (Bernstein & Borkovec, 1973, recommend 10 sessions, although this recommendation has been followed in less than 6% of published studies; see Hillenberg & Collins, 1982), and recording physiological measures in order to determine whether I-E predicts changes in physiology that are related to other dependent measures of treatment outcome. Pickett and Cium suggested that relaxation training may be too complicated to learn in a single session (especially for subjects in a high-stress situation) and that the attention redirection procedure may be more consistent with typical approaches to dealing with stress (i.e., by attempting to divert attention).…”