THE EFFICACIES OF 3 RELAXATION REGIMENS IN THE TREATMENT OF PTSD IN VIETNAM-WAR VETERANS

Ninety male Vietnam veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were administered relaxation instructions. relaxation instruction wit h deep breathing exercises, or relaxation instructions with deep breat hing training and thermal biofeedback. Improvement appeared on only 4 of the 21 PTSD and physiological dependent Variables studied. All 21 T reatment x Time interactions were nonsignificant. This suggests that t he treatments were mildly therapeutic, but that the additions of train ing in deep breathing and thermal biofeedback did not produce improvem ent beyond that associated with simple instructions to relax in a comf ortable chair. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.