Twelve patients with chronic bronchial asthma were matched in pairs and randomly assigned to two treatment groups, one group received mental and muscular relaxation, the second group received muscular relaxation alone. Treatment consisted of 4 weekly treatment sessions. Pre, post and follow-up phases each consisted of 3 weekly sessions. Respiratory function was measured by the forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1). Two self-report inventories were used to measure change in the symptoms and signs of the patient's asthma. Following factor analysis, 3 factors were used -- Psychological, Physical and Bronchoconstriction. Results showed that for each of these 3 factors and for FEV1, there was no overall mean significant difference between results in either treatment group. In addition, patients showed no significant trend of improvement in respiratory function. No significant difference was shown between respiratory function recorded before and after relaxation treatment in each of the individual treatment sessions. There was a moderate correlation between objective recordings and the patient's subjective assessment of asthma severity.
With permission from Excerpta Medica Inc.

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