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Effectiveness of Autogenic Relaxation Training on Children and Adolescents with Behavioral and Emotional Problems

NCJ Number
201781
Journal
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 42 Issue: 9 Dated: September 2003 Pages: 1046-1054
Author(s)
Lutz Goldbeck Ph.D.; Katharina Schmid M.D.
Date Published
September 2003
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study evaluated the effectiveness of autogenic relaxation training (ART) in reducing symptoms in school-aged children and adolescents with mild to moderate behavioral and/or emotional problems.
Abstract
Although the use of ART with child and adolescent patients is increasing, there is a lack of randomized and controlled studies concerning its effectiveness with this population. The authors reviewed the cases of 50 children and adolescents, aged 6 to 15 years, in southern Germany who participated in a group intervention program for mildly disturbed outpatients who experienced mainly internalizing symptoms with some aggressive, impulsive, or attention deficit symptoms. Fifteen of the patients were randomly assigned to a waiting-list control group. Behavior symptoms, psychosomatic complaints, and stress were assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist and the Giessen Complaint List both before and after the intervention program. Individual goal attainment was measured at the end of treatment and at the 3-month follow-up. Results indicated that the patients reported reduced stress and psychosomatic complaints in both the intervention group and the control group. Parents of intervention patients were more likely to report reduced symptoms than were parents of patients in the control group. No significant group by time interaction effects were noted. Effect scores of 0.49 in the intervention group compared with 0.35 in the control group indicated clinically relevant treatment effects for the intervention group. As such, the authors conclude that ART methods may be effective for the treatment of children and adolescents. Limitations of the study include its relatively small sample size. Tables, references