Abstract
One purpose of this conference is to bring various disciplines together. Thus for those scientists who are not yet too familiar with the behavioral sciences a number of basic data are included. For those who are acquainted with this discipline, a number of important areas for future research and practice of relaxation therapy with hypertensive patients are outlined. Since several good reviews have appeared (Seer, 1979; Agras & Jacob, 1979; Vaitl, this volume), the literature is not reviewed extensively. Rather, a few investigations are mentioned by way of illustration. Throughout the different sections ╌ the description of results, the section on the active ingredients of the techniques, méthodologie considerations and trends for the future ╌ a central idea is that relaxation training is not an isolated procedure. The presence and clinical attention of the trainer, together with other factors such as lifestyle and adherence to medication or diet, are important for the results. The individual characteristics of the patient must also be considered. It is strongly suggested that future work should take into account data from psychophysiological investigations, in the search for criteria that will predict which patients will benefit from a particular relaxation program.
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Reference Note
Godaert, G. and Schreurs, P., manuscript in preparation. Group-instruction relaxation treatment for essential hypertension.
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Godaert, G.L.R. (1982). Relaxation Treatment for Hypertension. In: Surwit, R.S., Williams, R.B., Steptoe, A., Biersner, R. (eds) Behavioral Treatment of Disease. NATO Conference Series, vol 19. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3548-1_12
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