Effectiveness of relaxation as an active coping skill.

In light of current conflicting evidence, the status of relaxation training as an effective treatment procedure is unclear. A possible reason for the inconsistent findings may rest with the way in which the training procedure is presented, or at least with the way in which the subject or client may construe it. Using public-speaking anxiety as a target behavior, the present study presented relaxation training in two ways: In the first condition, subjects were told that the relaxation exercises would more or less automatically reduce their anxiety level. The second relaxation condition was presented within a self-control context, in which subjects were told that they were learning an active coping skill. A third condition involved group discussion and was included as a means of controlling for attention-placebo factors. On a variety of different measures, within-group changes consistantly favored the selfcontrol relaxation condition. This was true of the speech anxiety measures as well as indicators of anxiety in other types of situations. The finding that subjects in the self-control relaxation condition continued to improve even after termination was interpreted as being consistent with a view of selfcontrol that involves a learned skill that improves with repeated practice. With the publication of Jacobson's Progressive Relaxation in 1929, training in relaxation was introduced as a potentially effective therapeutic procedure for various forms of tension and anxiety. Perhaps because of the 50-200 training sessions recommended by Jacobson and maybe also because of the Zeitgeist within psychotherapeutic circles at that time, Jacobson's book made little impact. It was not until Wolpe (19S8) modified the relaxation technique and incorporated it into systematic desensitization that the procedure actually achieved professional recognition. Although it is not yet clear exactly how relaxation training lowers anxiety, there is little doubt that it works. In addition to subjective reports of anxiety-free states from individuals following a relaxation training 1 Work on this study was supported in part by