Evaluated compliance with individualized relaxation, group relaxation, group relaxation plus contingency contracting for home practice, or a waiting list in hypertension treatment. All conditions showed significantly greater reductions in blood pressure than waiting list controls but did not differ from each other. Self-reports exceeded monitored…

Determined adherence to relaxation practice of hypertensive patients (N=23) using tape recorders equipped with concealed adherence monitors. Results showed that subjects overreport their practice of relaxation and that the overreporting is greater during the last four weeks of practice. (LLL)

Evaluated essential hypertension patients (N=30) 15 months after treatment consisting of either relaxation training or blood pressure monitoring. Results showed significantly greater lowering of diastolic blood pressure for those receiving relaxation training both in clinic and during the working day. (LLL)

Evaluated social competence of 22 male borderline hypertensives in relation to cardiovascular responsivity to Behavioral Role-Play Test of assertiveness and in comparison with normotensives. Identified two distinct groups of hypertensives based on pulse pressure changes (high/low) in response to social challenge. Both groups showed deficits in…

Evaluated the emotional consequences of using wish-fulfilling fantasy (palliative) and information-seeking (instrumental) coping strategies among patients (N=151) faced with chronic illness. Results showed information-seeking to have positive effects on adjustment and wish-fulfilling fantasy to have deleterious consequences. (LLL)

Assessed the performance of hypertensive patients in increasingly demanding interpersonal interactions. Twelve extended role-played scenes were employed. Results indicated that the hypertensive patients responded less assertively than the nonpatient comparison group. However, the performance of the normotensive patient group was similar to that of…

Examined coping styles and health behaviors of 25 hypertensive patients and 25 normal patients visiting primary care setting for acute medical problems. Hypertensive individuals were more likely to display "high monitoring" (information-seeking) mode of coping than normal individuals, who tended to be "low monitoring" (information avoiding) in…

Sought to determine the role of endogenous opioid mechanisms in the circulatory effects of relaxation training. Subjects were 32 young men with mildly elevated casual arterial pressure. Assessed opioid mechanisms by examining the effects of opioid receptor blockade with naltrexone on acute cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stress before and…

Cardiac surgery patients were assigned to information-only, information-plus-coping, or control preoperative preparation groups. Preoperatively, both experimental groups were significantly less anxious than were controls. Both experimental groups increased patients' belief in control over recovery. Postoperatively, experimental patients were less…

Stress has been hypothesized to be both a negative and a positive prognostic factor. Stress was examined in relation to total symptomatology as rated by the patient and a significant other and to five symptom factors. This was accomplished at the time a patient was hospitalized and one year subsequently. (Author)

Provides an overview of dietary risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including diet sodium intake for hypertension and dietary fat and cholesterol for hypercholesterolemia, exacerbation of these conditions by obesity, and intervention strategies for their modification. Describes clinical strategies for modifying diet: education, skills…

Contains 18 articles discussing the uses of behavioral medicine in such areas as obesity, smoking, hypertension, and headache. Reviews include discussions of behavioral medicine and insomnia, chronic pain, asthma, peripheral vascular disease, and coronary-prone behavior. Newly emerging topics include gastrointestinal disorders, arthritis,…