The relaxation techniques They fall into the category of psychophysiological interventions, that is, those interventions that take into consideration the inseparable interaction between mental experiences and body experiences, seeking integration and balance between the two components. The relationship between mind and body has been since ancient times and is still the subject of great interest.
While the research investigates the complex functions more and more that the mental level exerts in every moment on the biological one, each of us is already directed witness of the link between mental and physical experiences every time we experience a strong emotion or physical change in relation to a thought that crosses our mind.
What is the state of relaxation?
The state of relaxation that is induced with the relaxation techniques It is the normal state of nerves and muscles when they are not at work. It is the psychophysical condition characterized mainly by a reduction to the minimum of muscle tension but also by reduction of heart rate, blood pressure, secretory activity of the sweat glands, respiratory frequency and modification of brain activity towards the parameters indicating one state of mental calm.
The measurement of these parameters has made it possible to collect an important amount of data that gives scientific value to relaxation techniques. And these specific modifications of the body’s activity are accompanied by psychic sensations of well -being, serenity, tranquility.
Reach one state of relaxation through relaxation techniques It means reducing muscle tension and nervous and emotional hyperactivation that we all experience when we are under stress.
When we find ourselves in a situation that frightens us or that we perceive as threatening, the mind sees the danger and the body automatically reacts with a series of physiological responses that put us in defense attitude by preparing the body itself to the attack or escape, thus preparing a real physical reaction compared to a real danger.
The heart begins to pump, the blood pressure rises, breathing becomes rapid and superficial, the body temperature rises, we begin to sweat; The muscles come into tension ready to shoot. The level of sugar in the blood rises in anticipation of an immediate need for energy; The adrenal glands secrete a greater quantity of excitting hormones (cortisol, adrenaline, norepinephrine). The immune system is alerted in anticipation of possible injuries. The mind begins to work frantically to look for the escape route.
It is an alarm reaction and “attack – escape”, well known to which suffers from panic attacks: the engine is set “forward all”. Everything should last the time necessary to solve the problem, in order to cease the alarm status and return to the psychophysical condition of “relaxed” balance.
Unfortunately, however, nowadays, the perceived danger is very often only within our mind; What we perceive as threats are often thoughts compared to the past or the future and in this way the alarm reaction can persist for a long time, as well as the state of tension.
We often remain still (perhaps while we sit at work at our desk or while we are sitting in the car) and blocked in the states of anxiety, without finding a way to act in order to download the amount of energy produced by the body during the alarm reaction, making it increasingly difficult to return to the psychophysical state of rest and relaxation. From here the usefulness of relaxation techniques.
Relaxation techniques in behavioral therapy
All the different psychotherapeutic schools have always shown interest in relaxation, using various possible techniques as a method of accessing emotions and anxiety disorders. But it is thanks to Wolpe’s work that the relaxation techniques they become a fundamental component of the psychotherapeutic strategy.
Wolpe (1958) began to use the Progressive muscle relaxation by Jacobson in the technique of systematic desensitizationwhere the relaxation component was associated with a specific activating situation for the person. Based on the principle of “mutual inhibition”, if a person presented anxious stimuli (in vivo or in imagination) and at the same time one is induced state of relaxationthe incompatibility between anxiety and relaxation will lead to a progressive reduction of fear and tension.
In fact, since its dawn, behavioral psychology has been proposed to identify technical specifications and psychotherapeutic procedures aimed at modifying behavior in a more functional sense for the person and thus the treatment of different psychological disorders. This approach addressed to change passes through full and constant attention to the subject’s resources, to his coping and frontal ability.
The relaxation techniques In fact, mainly aim for learning strategies to reduce anxiety and psychophysiological activation, but also produce a very important cognitive effect: they increase self -esteem and a sense of personal effectiveness, favoring awareness of the fact that their body responses are at least partially controlled.
In the current cognitive-behavioral therapy the role oflearning to relaxation It is still very important but even more attention is given to a correct use of these learning. In the protocols for anxiety disorders, and in particular for the treatment of panic attacks, it has in fact become very important to evaluate that relaxation is not used as a protective behavior or avoidance strategy compared to body sensations that are erroneously considered dangerous (like anxiolytic drugs), thus paying attention to the use of these exercises if they interfere with the reduction of catastrophic beliefs at the basis of disorders.
What is progressive muscle relaxation?
There are several relaxation techniques and the progressive muscle relaxation It is one of the best known. It was conceived by Edmund Jacobson around 1920, in the United States, for the therapy of those psychosomatic disorders for which adequate care was not found at the time. Since then his system has come down to the present day adapted in various forms and ways and the reason for this long success is simple: it works and can be learned by anyone and any age.
In reality, the original form requires a considerable commitment and is difficult to use, with exercises to be performed several times a day for several weeks. However, it is due to the work of psychiatrists and behavioral psychotherapists such as Wolpe and Bernstein and Borkovec (1973) the adaptation of the original form to abbreviated forms that allow to obtain equally therapeutic effects, above all moving the scope of application from psychosomatic disorders to the problems characteristic of anxiety disorders.
The progressive muscle relaxation It is a relaxation technique that has as its primary objective to reduce the residual muscle tension that remains in the muscles when the person is in rest condition. It is based on contrast exercises, i.e. contraction and then release of muscle groups, thanks to which the person gradually learns to relax the muscles of the body.
This procedure was designed by Jacobson to help people better grasp and discriminate the difference between the state of tension and it state of relaxation. A real training for awareness of muscle sense. Our inability to grasp muscle tensions, if not after they have achieved high levels, derives from both an increasingly widespread lack of listening to the body, to which we are not very used to because it is hardly taught, and by a chronic excess of tension.
It is therefore a non -“mental” but “somatic” approach, which is however based on the mutual relationship between mind and body: starting from work on the muscles, the relaxation technique It aims at a reduction in physiological, but also mental activation, bringing a reverberation to an emotional and cognitive level. Through training, a decrease in voluntary muscles is systematically achieved, which in turn causes mental relaxation.
The deepest feeling of calm induces, in turn, greater muscle relaxation causing a sort of circular process within which the more the muscles are relaxed, the more individuals become calm; The more the individual becomes calm the more the muscles relax and so on. Fundamental for obtaining benefits from Relaxing training It is regular training.
Only with the practice can the person acquire the ability to relax and increasingly faster. And in the initial phases, the role of the therapist for the explanation of the rational, the maintenance of the motivation and in the guidance compared to the difficulties encountered, is also very important.
For whom and when progressive muscle relaxation is indicated?
Progressive muscle relaxation is not a panacea for all evils and does not “heal” dysfunctional emotions, but if negative emotions correspond to alterations in the muscle tone in the direction of greater contraction, the relaxation technique It allows a “relaxation” and a “lightening” that helps the person in daily tensions and challenges or in the moments when he wants to better understand and work on his internal world.
The progressive muscle relaxation It is first of all direct to people who recognize that they have a high level of physical and mental tension that interferes in their daily life. They can benefit from them who suffers from: insomnia, anxiety disorders (panic attack disorder, specific phobias, social anxiety, anticipatory anxiety, etc.), post traumatic disorders, tensive muscle headache and other psychosomatic disorders, chronic pain, etc.
Progressive muscle relaxation is also widely used in sports and work coaching for the pursuit of high -level performance.
The new frontiers of research on relaxation techniques
A study recently published on Frontiers in Immunology has new light on the effects of the interventions of mind – body. The study shows how the benefits of these practices are not limited to making us enter one physiological state of relaxationbut they could have much deeper implications: in fact they would seem able to correct the molecular alterations of the DNA caused by stress. The results of this research are the result of the revision of over a decade of studies on the effects of mind – body on the behavior of genes.
When people are exposed to a stressful event, there is an activation of the sympathetic nervous system which in turn determines an increase in the production of a substance capable of regulating the expression of genes, activating those in charge of the production of proteins that determine inflammation at cellular level. The inflammatory effects of the “attack-Fuga” reaction, which temporarily strengthens the activity of the immune system, played an important phylogenetic role in the prehistory of the hunter-racker man, when he was at high risk of infections deriving from wounds.
But in current society, imbued with mainly psychological and long-lasting stress, the persistent expression of pro-inflammatory genes seems to determine medical and psychiatric problems (such as depression), rather than protecting from the attack of some predator.
According to the results of this study, the people who practice relaxation techniques They present the opposite effects, or a reduced production of the substance that activates pro-inflammatory genes, the nuclear-k factor, with a reversal of the gene expression pattern. It would therefore seem that these techniques can correct the effects of stress by directing DNA processes in a direction in favor of our well -being.
