Effects of Flotation REST (Restricted Environmental Stimulation Technique) on Stress Related Muscle Pain: Are 33 flotation sessions more effective than 12 sessions?

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Sven A. Bood
Ulf Sundequist
Anette Kjellgren
Gun Nordstrom
Torsten Norlander
Cite this article:  Bood, S., Sundequist, U., Kjellgren, A., Nordstrom, G., & Norlander, T. (2007). Effects of Flotation REST (Restricted Environmental Stimulation Technique) on Stress Related Muscle Pain: Are 33 flotation sessions more effective than 12 sessions?. Social Behavior and Personality: An international journal, 35(2), 143-156.


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The aim of the study was to investigate whether or not 33 flotation sessions were more effective for stress-related ailments than 12 sessions. Participants were 37 patients, 29 women and 8 men, all diagnosed as having stress-related pain of a muscle tension type. The patients were randomized to one of two conditions: 12 flotation-REST treatments or 33 flotation-REST treatments. Analyses for subjective pain typically indicated that 12 sessions were enough to get considerable improvements and no further improvements were noticed after 33 sessions. A similar pattern was observed concerning the stress-related psychological variables: experienced stress, anxiety, depression, negative affectivity, dispositional optimism, and sleep quality. For blood pressure no effects were observed after 12 sessions, but there was a significant lower level for diastolic blood pressure after 33 sessions. The present study highlighted the importance of finding suitable complementary treatments in order to make further progress after the initial 12 sessions.

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The study was approved by the Ethical Board on Experimentation on Human Subjects (Forskningse- tikkommitté

n) at Ö

rebro Academic Hospital

Ö

rebro

Sweden.
The study was supported by grants from the County Council (Landstinget) in Vä

rmland (LiV)

Sweden.
Appreciation is due to reviewers including

Trevor Archer

PhD

Department of Psychology

teborg University

Box 100

405 30 Goteborg

Sweden

Email

[email protected]

Jan te Nijenhuis

Self-employed scientific consultant

Amsterdam

The Netherlands

[email protected]">[email protected] and anonymous reviewers.

Dr. T. Norlander, Department of Psychology, Karlstad University, SE-651 88 Karlstad, Sweden. Phone: +46 54 700 1178; Fax: +46 54 83 9165; Email: [email protected]

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