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Psychological Changes Accompanying and Mediating Stress-Management Training for Essential Hypertension

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Abstract

In a previous controlled study, 21 participants with essential hypertension were treated with a program based on education, relaxation and D'Zurilla problem-solving training, and another 21 participants were assigned to a waiting list control condition (García-Vera, Labrador, & Sanz, 1997). In this report, the pre-post-treatment psychological changes accompanying those conditions were examined with the Jenkins Activity Survey, the Rosenbaum Self-Control Schedule, the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the D'Zurilla-Nezu Social Problem-Solving Inventory. Treatment yielded significant psychological changes that included an increase of problem-solving abilities. Moreover, correlation and multiple regression analyses revealed that, when clinic blood pressure (BP) values were considered, increases in problem-solving abilities were correlated with systolic and diastolic BP reductions for participants in the stress-management condition, and they mediated partially the antihypertensive effects of stress-management training on BP. No significant correlations were found between psychological changes and self-measured systolic or diastolic BP reductions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Personalidad, Evaluación y Psicología Clínica, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Campus de Somosaguas, Madrid, Spain

    María Paz García-Vera

  2. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Jesús Sanz & Francisco J. Labrador

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  1. María Paz García-Vera
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  2. Jesús Sanz
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  3. Francisco J. Labrador
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García-Vera, M.P., Sanz, J. & Labrador, F.J. Psychological Changes Accompanying and Mediating Stress-Management Training for Essential Hypertension. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 23, 159–178 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022295321208

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