Blood pressure reduction in patients with essential hypertension through metronome-conditioned relaxation: A preliminary report

Four male patients with essential hypertension served as subjects in an experiment on the effects of a behavioral procedure, metronome-conditioned relaxation (MCR), on blood pressure. In an own-control experimental design three of the four subjects showed a significant reduction in blood pressure when MCR was instituted. Blood pressures rose again when MCR was discontinued. Two of the subjects who responded self-administered a second and protracted period of MCR in their own homes. Their blood pressures fell again, to diastolic levels which were 10 and 11 mm Hg below the levels of the first baseline period. One of these latter subjects discontinued his antihypertensive medication 6 months before the final blood pressures were recorded.