1/8. Successful management of claustrophobia and depression during allogeneic SCT.As psychological problems are frequent in SCT patients we report on a patient with chronic myeloid leukemia, claustrophobia and depression. The successful allogeneic stem cell transplant of this patient in a reverse isolation setting required intensive interdisciplinary hematological, psychological and psychiatric collaboration. Psychopharmacologically the patient was treated with lorazepam 1 mg at 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. and after crisis on day 6, and 2.5 mg twice daily i.v. until one day before discharge (total 20 doses). Psychological counseling followed a cognitive-behavioural approach including progressive muscle relaxation and cognitive techniques focusing on the actual coping processes.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = relaxation (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/8. The use of electromyographic biofeedback in treating a client with tension headaches.EMG biofeedback was used during a 4-week treatment program to decrease upper trapezius activity related to tension headaches. The headaches were believed to be caused by general tension and anxiety and affected the patient's ability to adequately attend to activities of daily living, including child care, homemaking, and vocational activities. The program combined deep-breathing exercises, progressive muscular relaxation exercises, resisted shoulder elevation exercises, and EMG monitoring during upper extremity tasks involving shoulder flexion. An important adjunct to clinic sessions was a home exercise program to be completed 2 to 3 times per day. In this case, the EMG biofeedback program was successful in assisting the patient to eliminate tension headaches for at least an 8-week period. At the same time, the patient reported an increased ability to attend to activities of daily living, stating that she was able to "do more around the house" and had not missed a day at work in 2 months.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = relaxation (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/8. Preliminary results from the self-regulatory treatment of high-medication-consumption headache.Data are presented from a prospective clinical replication series of ten consecutive high-medication headache patients who presented for nondrug treatment of their headaches. For the first eight, an attempt was made to withdraw the patients from medication, with the assistance of relaxation training, prior to entering a comprehensive self-regulatory treatment program. For the last two, drug withdrawal accompanied the treatment. Six of the ten patients showed clinically significant reductions in headache activity, which held up over follow-ups of up to 12 months. psychological tests provide some discrimination between success and failures.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = relaxation (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/8. Relaxation training as a treatment for chronic headaches in an individual having severe developmental disabilities.We have assessed effects of a simplified relaxation training on the frequency of headaches and consumption of analgesic headache medication in an adult male with severe developmental disabilities as well as chronic mixed headaches. The subject received Behavioral Relaxation Training (BRT) after a baseline period during which frequency of headache complaint, analgesic medication consumption, and independent relaxation behaviors were monitored. BRT consists of the utilization of modeling, prompting, feedback, and positive reinforcement in order to establish and maintain the subject's participation in 10 overt relaxed postures. The behaviors were learned to at least an 80% proficiency during a 10-minute alternating self-regulatory (1 min)/corrective feedback (1 min) relaxation phase across several sessions. headache complaints were reduced by 48% and analgesic medication consumption by 51% as assessed during a 2-month posttreatment evaluation. These results should be considered not only as support of BRT as a viable method of relaxation training but also as a suggestion that BRT and other self-regulatory treatment should be considered for use with individuals having moderate to severe developmental disabilities.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 4keywords = relaxation (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/8. Behavioral management of childhood headache: a pilot study and case history report.Many chronically recurrent disorders of children and adolescents are often unresponsive to standard medical therapy. The Stress and headache Management Clinic was established as a prototype behavioral medicine clinic to provide integrated therapeutic modalities. Using biofeedback and relaxation/mental-imagery techniques, 119 patients with the chief complaint of recurrent headache were evaluated. This paper describes the use, application, and efficacy of behavioral techniques for the management of headache in children and adolescents. Relevant treatment factors in behavioral treatment of pediatric headache are also discussed.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = relaxation (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/8. The use of a new relaxation method in a case of tension headache.A tension headache sufferer was treated with a newly developed procedure called behavioral relaxation training that assumes relaxed postures. The client was a 21 yr old female who had a 15-yr chronicity of headaches. During treatment, headache activity was reduced to a near zero level. After the first week of behavioral relaxation training, a second week of that training was administered combined with EMG biofeedback, followed by one more week of behavioral relaxation training alone. The combination phase was employed to determine if the addition of biofeedback would produce a more relaxed state. There were no significant differences in terms of EMG levels of muscular activity. Results are discussed regarding alternative explanations of the results and future research proposals.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 7keywords = relaxation (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/8. Outcome of biofeedback-assisted relaxation for neurocardiogenic syncope and headache: a clinical replication series.Preliminary evidence exists through single case reports that psychophysiological interventions may be useful in the treatment of syncope (fainting). To explore this possibility, a case series of ten patients with histories of recurrent unexplained syncope or near syncope, headache, and a poor response to or tolerance for medication was performed. All patients were treated with electromyographic, thermal, biofeedback as well as progressive and autogenic relaxation. Six of the ten patients showed a major decrease in symptoms at the end of treatment. Descriptive comparisons between the improved and unimproved group were made and a detailed case study of one improved patient is presented. The results suggested that biofeedback-assisted relaxation treatment was most effective in younger patients whose syncope was associated with a strong psychophysiological response and whose headaches were intermittent, not daily occurrences.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 6keywords = relaxation (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/8. EMG-biofeedback reduction of tension headache: a cognitive skills-training approach.The biofeedback literature affirms the therapeutic efficacy of EMG-biofeedback-assisted relaxation for the treatment of tension headache. However, this form of therapy has failed to focus on the role of cognitive variables in the control and perception of tension headache. The present case study provides a prototype treatment combining cognitive behavior--modification procedures with EMG-biofeedback training to treat a subject with chronic tension headache. Phase I, baseline, involved collecting mean EMG and daily headache activity, emphasizing specification of environmental stressors. Phase II, cognitive skills--training, focused on: (1) identifying negative self-statements (cognitions) related to stressors, and (2) training the subject to replace negative self-statements with coping self-instructions. This treatment resulted in a 33% headache reduction over baseline, with no concomitant changes in frontalis EMG. Phase III, EMG-biofeedback training, resulted in a 38% reduction in mean EMG level and a 66% reduction in mean headache activity when compared to baseline. The results suggest the importance of attending to cognitive factors in the treatment of tension headache.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = relaxation (Clic here for more details about this article) |