A comparison of progressive relaxation and autogenic training as treatments for insomnia.

Two relaxation techniques, progressive relaxation and autogenic training, were evaluated as treatments for insomnia. No-treatment, a baseline control group, and a self-relaxatio n group designed to control for nonspecific therapeutic elements were employed. Subjects were 30 adult insomniacs who had chronic and severe difficulties in falling asleep. As indicated by global measures of improvement and by reduction in time to fall asleep, progressive relaxation and autogenic training were equally effective as treatments and superior to both control groups. At a six-month follow-up, treatment gains had been maintained in time to fall asleep but not in self-reported global improvement, while control subjects showed no spontaneous improvement on either of the measures.