Progressive relaxation therapy (PRT) emphasizes the importance of awareness concerning muscle tension by contracting and relaxing individual muscle groups. Training occurs sequentially in smaller steps, and the skill acquisition may require up to one hundred sessions to fully accomplish. This therapy does not include any hypnotic suggestion or imagery. 

Progressive relaxation training 

Passive relaxation therapy is designed to be effective in as few as seven sessions. A central element of the passive relaxation process is the use of guided imagery. The clinical use of imagery is verbally guided by the therapist and includes multiple sense modalities.

Passive Relaxation Therapy

Developed by Joseph Wolpe in 1958 as a refinement of earlier techniques, systematic desensitization is a form of exposure therapy that pairs graduated exposure to a feared stimulus with relaxation techniques. The process involves creating a hierarchy of anxiety-provoking situations and teaching the client relaxation methods. The client then confronts the stimuli, starting with the least frightening, while in a relaxed state. The therapy is based on the principle that an individual cannot be anxious and relaxed simultaneously, aiming to replace the fear response with a relaxation response.

Systematic Desensitization

Relaxation therapy training has various different protocols, including progressive relaxation therapy.  Relaxation therapy is often used alongside  cognitive-behavioral therapy and focuses on becoming aware of tension within the mind and body. Then, systematic relaxation methods (such as diaphragmatic breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery) are used to reduce tension and to change the perception of physical pain.

Michigan State University

Physiological approaches to health psychology: The physiological approach to health psychology focuses on the individual’s biological makeup, behavior and experiences. The goal of treatment in health psychology is to modify variables that affect illness, and therefore incorporate a physiological approach or utilize a combination of a physiological approach with another. Oftentimes, physiological approaches such as biofeedback and relaxation are used in combination with other treatment types. 

Physiological Approaches to Health Psychology

“Health Psychology Interventions - IResearchNet.” Psychology, Psychology Research net, 14 Jan. 2016, psychology.iresearchnet.com/papers/health-psychology-interventions/.

Health Psychology Interventions IResarchNET

Relaxation Therapy

Biofeedback is a mind-body technique that uses electronic instruments to measure and provide real-time information about a person's neuromuscular and autonomic activity, such as heart rate or muscle tension. This feedback, typically delivered through visual or auditory signals, helps individuals learn to gain voluntary control over normally involuntary bodily processes. The technique was developed by Gary Schwartz at Harvard University in the early 1970s as a method to combat stress.

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