Abstract
The effectiveness of two primarily self-administered treatments for chronic tension headache were compared. Twenty-four recurrent tension headache sufferers received either relaxation therapy alone or relaxation training plus cognitive-behavioral therapy in a primarily self-administered treatment format. Both treatments yielded substantial reductions in headache activity and smaller but significant reductions in depression. However, patients who received the combined treatment recorded significantly larger reductions in headache activity than patients receiving relaxation training alone. In addition, high pretreatment levels of headache activity and daily life stress were associated with a poor response to relaxation training but were unrelated to patients' response to the combined treatment. These results suggest that cognitive-behavioral interventions may enhance the effectiveness of primarily self-administered relaxation training, particularly with selected subgroups of patients.
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Tobin, D.L., Holroyd, K.A., Baker, A. et al. Development and clinical trial of a minimal contact, cognitive-behavioral treatment for tension headache. Cogn Ther Res 12, 325–339 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173301
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173301