Transcendental meditation and progressive relaxation: Their psychological effects

Administered the Eysenck Personality Inventory, the State-Trait-Anxiety-Inventory, and two questionnaires on health and drug usage to 39 Ss before they learned Transcendental Meditation (TM) or Progressive Relaxation (PR). All Ss were tested immediately after the had learned either technique and then retested 5, 10, and 15 weeks later. There were no significant diferences between groups for any of the psychological variables at pretest. However, at posttest the TM group displayed more significant and comprehensive results (decreases in Neuroticism/Stability Extraversion/Introversion, and drug use) than did the PR group. Both groups demonstrated significant decreases in State and Trait Anxiety. The more pronounced results for meditators were explained primarily in terms of the greater amount of time that they spent on their technique, plus the differences between the two techniques themselves.