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Breathing Awareness as a Relaxation Method in Cardiac Rehabilitation

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Stress and Tension Control 3

Abstract

Opinions differ as to the feasibility and utility of relaxation therapy for cardiac patients. Although it seems obvious that relaxation is helpful for reducing stress in the recovery period after acute myocardial infarction (1–5), as well as for changing risk behavior (6, 7), its usage in cardiac rehabilitation is limited and variable. Only in West-Germany, it seems, is relaxation offered in all rehabilitation centers, mainly as autogenic training classes (5). In the Netherlands, application for admission is rapidly increasing, up to about 50% for all centers (8). Cardiac patients pose a particular challenge with respect to relaxation. They tend to be skeptical, to prefer strategies that allow them to remain in control, to be impatient and to have little power of self-observation (5, 9). Certainly it is true that relaxation may provoke anxiety and resistance (10). Many professionals involved in cardiac rehabilitation consider it useful for all patients to learn relaxation (5, 11), even though it may have appeal to a minority only. Others assume that only some patients need to learn it (12).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. St. Joannes de Deo Hospital, Haarlem, The Netherlands

    Jan van Dixhoorn

  2. Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Hugo J. Duivenvoorden

Authors
  1. Jan van Dixhoorn
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  2. Hugo J. Duivenvoorden
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Stress Management, United States International University, San Diego, California, USA

    F. J. McGuigan

  2. Biofeedback and Stress Management, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

    Wesley E. Sime

  3. West London Institute of Higher Education, London, England

    J. Macdonald Wallace (Health Education Consultant) (Health Education Consultant)

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© 1989 Plenum Press, New York

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van Dixhoorn, J., Duivenvoorden, H.J. (1989). Breathing Awareness as a Relaxation Method in Cardiac Rehabilitation. In: McGuigan, F.J., Sime, W.E., Wallace, J.M. (eds) Stress and Tension Control 3. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7915-1_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7915-1_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4615-7917-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-7915-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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