Group Relaxation Training with Adults who are Mentally Handicapped

Abstract

This paper describes and compares two relaxation training procedures with moderately and severely mentally handicapped people. Abbreviated Progressive Relaxation is a widely used procedure while Behavioural Relaxation Training is a relatively recent development which the authors felt might be more suitable for mentally handicapped people since it does not require a conceptual awareness of internal states of anxiety. While both relaxation procedures produced improvements, Behavioural Relaxation Training was significantly better than Abbreviated Progressive Relaxation. In addition to this the results during treatment showed Abbreviated Progressive Relaxation to produce very variable effects from session to session. In contrast the effects of Behavioural Relaxation Training were quick and consistent.

A review of the literature: interventions to maximize capacity to consent and reduce anxiety of women with learning disabilities preparing for a cervical smear test

“…BRT and APR are the two main relaxation techniques that have been used with people with learning disabilities, with different degrees of success (Lindsay and Baty, 1986a;Lindsay and Baty, 1986b;Lindsay et al, 1989a;Lindsay et al, 1989b;Lindsay et al, 1994). A summary of these authors' studies shows how effective they found the different relaxation techniques.…”

“…When discussing APR, it was found to be effective with people with mild learning disabilities (IQ 55±59) and less effective with people moderate learning disabilities (IQ 40±54) (Rickard, 1984). Lindsay and Baty (1986a) concluded that APR could be an extremely powerful technique for those who have a mild learning disability. However, people with moderate learning disabilities may misunderstand the use of APR and therefore may treat the training as a game, thus becoming more anxious rather than inducing a relaxed state.…”

Recent Studies of Mentally Handicapped Young People's Behaviour

“…Much of the literature concerns the mentally handicapped adult (Allen, 1989;Lindsay & Baty, 1989). However, many of the therapeutic techniques and the basic concepts behind these treatment strategies are applicable to children and adolescents with mental handicap.…”

An anxiety management group: strengths and pitfalls

“…R ave reviewed the paucity of literature for this client grou and have pointed out the need for further work ( L i n k y and Baty, 1989;Allen, 1989).…”

“…Much of the work has been anecdotal and, therefore, not evaluated. The few group studies have, with one exception (Emery and Allen, in preparation), focused specifically on phobias (Dixon and Gunary, 1986;Matson, 1981;Bryon and Weston, 1987) or relaxation (Lindsay and Baty, 1989).…”