Placebo-controlled evaluation of abbreviated progressive muscle relaxation and of relaxation combined with cognitive therapy in the treatment of tension headache.
Sixty-six tension headache patients were randomly assigned to one of four conditions for 8 weeks: (a) progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) alone; (b) PMR plus cognitive therapy (PMR + Cog); (c) pseudomeditation, a credible attention-placebo control; or (d) continued headache monitoring. A comparison of overall headache activity (headache index), derived from a daily headache diary, for 4 weeks before treatment to 4 weeks after treatment, revealed that active treatment (PMR and PMR + Cog) was superior to either control condition. Moreover, level of headache medication consumption decreased significantly for the active treatment groups. Although headache-index comparisons of the two active treatments showed no advantage for adding cognitive therapy to PMR, a measure of clinically significant change showed a trend for PMR + Cog to be superior to PMR alone.
Blanchard
E B
EB
Center for Stress and Anxiety Disorders, State University of New York at Albany 12203.
Appelbaum
K A
KA
Radnitz
C L
CL
Michultka
D
D
Morrill
B
B
Kirsch
C
C
Hillhouse
J
J
Evans
D D
DD
Guarnieri
P
P
Attanasio
V
V
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006261:Headache / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D009126:Muscle Relaxation; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic