Henry C. Rickard

Relaxation training for psychiatric inpatients

In Exp. 1 the effects of progressive and imaginal relaxation training were examined for 51 psychiatric inpatients. Relaxation Inventory scores indicated significant changes in the direction of greater relaxation for each training procedure; there were no significant differences in responses to the two types of training. Significant relaxation effects were found for each of three training sessions, but the effects were not cumulative. Only one patient was withdrawn because reaction to training was overtly negative. Exp. 2 was an analysis of Exp. 1 data in combination with data from a prior study. Patients and college students responded much alike but students reached greater relaxation within sessions. Further experimentation on relaxation training with psychiatric inpatients appears justified.

Concurrent Socially Undesirable Behavior in Cooperative and Independent Play

Six behaviorally disturbed boys in each of 2 age groups played a game in which negotiable tokens were made contingent upon cooperative responses; 2 additional groups engaged in individual game-play for identical prizes. After 5 daily 30-min. periods, cooperative and independent conditions were reversed for the groups. Judges recorded the concurrent undesirable social responses of: (a) verbal abuse and (b) aggression, withdrawal, and inattention. Fewer socially undesirable responses were seen in older Ss and in the cooperative condition.