1995 Volume 35 Issue 5 Pages 415-419
This article demonstrates the clinical application and the efficacy of two relaxation methods such as progressive muscle relaxation and autogenic training in the general hospital psychiatry. During the months between April through July 1993,ten patients were treated with these relaxation methods. Out of the ten patients, two were treated at the emergency service, four at the outpatient clinic of psychiatry and four were referred from the medical/surgical ward. Their symptoms were hyperventilation attack, panic attack, neurotic insomnia, agoraphobia and chronic pain and so on. As a result, nine patients out of ten (90%) were effectively treated with these relaxation methods. One patient with no improvement was suffering from insomnia. These methods should be more applied in the clinical settings of general hospital psychiatry for the following reasons. First, these relaxation techniques are simple and useful methods which are easily employed in general hospital psychiatry. Second, physically ill patients are likely to suffer from adverse reactions of psychotropic medications. Third, these methods can produce a rapid improvement especially for anxious patients with panic attack and/or hyperventilation syndrome. In this article, the modified methods of autogenic training and progressive muscle relaxation, which are more easily applicable in general hospital settings, are also demonstrated.
