Budzynski (1970) behavioural treatment to improve stress

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

To see whether biofeed back is an effective way of reducing tension headaches

Question 2

Method

Answer 2

Experimental with patients being trained in a laboratory

Question 3

Particpants

Answer 3

18 16 female 2 male

replied to an advertisement in a local paper in colarado

Question 4

Design

Answer 4

Independent design with participants randomly allocated to one of the three groups

Question 5

Procedure

Answer 5

For two weeks patients kept a record of their headaches
Groups A/B 16 sessions of training with 2 sessions each week for 8 weeks
A - taught relaxation and told the clicks would reflect their muscle tension (slower clicks = less tension)
B - told to concentrate on the varying clicks and given pseudo feedback
C - no training but told they would begin in two months

Question 6

Results

Answer 6

After 3 moths group A’s tension was significantly lower than group B’s
Group A headaches dropped significantly from their baseline whereas others didn’t also reported less headaches than other groups
Drug usage in group A decreased more than B

Question 7

Conclsuion

Answer 7

Biofeedback is an effective way of training patients to relax and reduce their tension headaches so can be seen as an effective method of stress management
Relaxation training is also more effective than just being monitored but is better when used together with biofeedback