[Which patients benefit from treatment with respiratory feedback?].

The physiological and psychological data of 82 patients with essential hypertension, who participated in the treatment group of a respiratory feedback (RFB) evaluation (Franck et al. 1994), were examined, using clusteranalysis, to detect and to describe therapy responders and nonresponders. For patients with usual personality characteristics, active coping strategies and interest in games and technics the best blood-pressure decrease (systolic bp: 13.05 mmHg, diastolic bp: 10.63 mmHg) was found. Furthermore patients, who stopped RFB-treatment have been compared with patients, who finished the treatment program. Patients, who stopped the RFB-treatment, had more psychological symptoms in the sense of psychosomatic complaints.