A group self-care approach to stress management.

A procedure is described for teaching patients the use of relaxation as a coping skill. The procedure, called Stress Management Training, combines Progressive Relaxation and Clinical Meditation into a standardized but flexible seven-session protocol. The technique has been used to treat a variety of stress-related medical and psychological problems. The training consists of three components. The first is giving the patient a cognitive understanding of stress and relaxation. The second, teaching the patient to relax by controlling the muscle tension and sympathetic nervous system activity. The third, teaching the patient to generalize the relaxation skill to real-life stress situations. Patients are also instructed in the relationship between stress, basic health practices, and physical health status.