TREATMENT OF MENOPAUSAL SYMPTOMS WITH APPLIED RELAXATION - A PILOT-STUDY

Applied relaxation (AR) was tested in a series of six women with postm enopausal hot flushes. The AR program consisted of group instructions 1 hour per week over a 12 week duration. The number of flushes were re gistered from 1 month before to 6 months after training AR. Menopausal symptoms (Kupperman Index), psychological well-being (Symptom Checkli st), and mood (MOOD Scale) were measured at various moments during the study. For the six patients the number of flushes decreased from the baseline period to 6 months follow-up with 59, 61, 62, 67, 89 and 100% respectively, in mean 73%. While the scores on the Kupperman Index an d the Symptom Checklist followed the pattern of the flushes, a similar trend was not seen for the scores on the MOOD Scale. (C) 1997 Elsevie r Science Ltd. All rights reserved.