Abstract
The present study was primarily designed to test whether adding a relaxation training technique to the medical treatment of diabetes would lead to an improvement in the diabetic condition. A secondary purpose was to determine whether the State and Trait anxiety of individuals suffering from diabetes would be affected by participating in this program. Two separate main studies were developed, both involving patients with Type I and II diabetes mellitus. Forty-eight patients participated in the first study and they were randomly allocated to either an Experimental or a Standard Control group, for eight weekly sessions. The Experimental group participated in 8 sessions of relaxation training, while the Control group did not receive any training or any additional instructions. The subjects in both groups continued their regular medical treatment during the experimental period. In addition the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory was administered to the participants before and after the experimental period, also various physiological variables, which were good indices of diabetic control, were measured. The participants in the Experimental group filled the Daily Diary Check List and the Mood Adjective Check List. As expected the dependent psychological and physiological variables revealed significant differences for the patients in the Experimental group, between the pre- and postmeasurements. While non-significant differences were found for the Control group. The second study was developed to ensure that the experimenter has a similar level of interaction with both Experimental and Control groups. In case any effect in the first experimental study has caused any differences between the two groups. Forty-Eight diabetics were the participants of the second study, allocated to either an Experimental or a Placebo group, for eight weekly individual sessions. The same procedure was followed for the second study. The patients in the Placebo group received 8 sessions of blood circulation exercises. Furthermore, the same psychological and physiological measurements, as the ones measured in the first study, were collected during the second study. As expected, the psychological as well as the majority of the physiological variables revealed significant differences for the patients in the Experimental group. In addition emotions and mood improved over time. Non-significant changes were found for the Placebo group. These results give support to the findings of the first study. A follow-up study was carried-out 18 months, after the end of the second experimental study, which indicated that patients in the Experimental group maintained their gains while this was not the case for the Placebo group. The study's major finding that relaxation training can help to reduce a diabetic's state anxiety as well of some of the main metabolic parameters, has implications for the treatment of diabetes. Explanations of the possible relationships of the results obtained are provided. Clinical applications and recommendations for future research are also included.