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Psychological treatment of essential hypertension: A controlled comparison of meditation and meditation plus biofeedback

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Abstract

Twenty-one patients with essential hypertension were randomly allocated to eight 1-hour sessions of meditation training, meditation plus biofeedback-aided relaxation, or a no-treatment control group. Statistically significant falls in systolic and diastolic blood pressure occurred after both training programs, although overall reductions in blood pressure were not significantly greater in either program than in the control group. Meditation plus biofeedback-aided relaxation produced falls in diastolic blood pressure earlier in the training program than did meditation alone. All patients practiced meditation regularly between training sessions: The amount of practice did not correlate with the amount of blood pressure reduction after training. On questionnaire measures of psychological symptoms and personality, sex differences emerged, with females showing significant abnormalities in hostility scores and males showing significantly raised levels of somatopsychic symptoms. In females, outward-directed hostility fell significantly and assertiveness increased after training, but in males, somatopsychic symptoms were unchanged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Flinders Medical Centre, Bedford Park, South Australia

    R. Julian Hafner

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  1. R. Julian Hafner
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The author is grateful for financial support from the research fund of St. George's Hospital, London, where this project was conducted, and from the Society for Psychosomatic Research. He is indebted to Dr. Chandra H. Patel for invaluable help in conducting the meditation and biofeedback training.

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Hafner, R.J. Psychological treatment of essential hypertension: A controlled comparison of meditation and meditation plus biofeedback. Biofeedback and Self-Regulation 7, 305–316 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00998923

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00998923

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