RELAXATION TRAINING FOR PSYCHIATRIC-INPATIENTS

In Exp. 1 the effects of progressive and imaginal relaxation training were examined for 51 psychiatric inpatients. Relaxation Inventory scor es indicated significant changes in the direction of greater relaxatio n for each training procedure; there were no significant differences i n responses to the two types of training. Significant relaxation effec ts were found for each of three training sessions, but the effects wer e not cumulative. Only one patient was withdrawn because reaction to t raining was overtly negative. Exp. 2 was an analysis of Exp. 1 data in combination with data from a prior study. Patients and college studen ts responded much alike but students reached greater relaxation within sessions. Further experimentation on relaxation training with psychia tric inpatients appears justified.