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Stress management

What is stress management for PTSD?

Stress management is a broad term for interventions that mainly involve relaxation. These use imagery, biofeedback, muscle relaxation, and breathing exercises to assist the individual to manage their stress related to the traumatic event. In most clinical trials, stress management is used as a control condition.

What is the evidence for stress management?

Moderate quality evidence found a medium-sized improvement in PTSD symptoms with stress management compared to waitlist/no treatment. However, stress management was less effective for symptoms than cognitive therapies, exposure therapies, cognitive behavioural therapies, and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing. There were no differences in symptoms when supportive counselling was compared to supportive counselling.

August 2021

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Last updated at: 2:50 am, 12th October 2021
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Title Colour Legend:
Green - Topic summary is available.
Orange - Topic summary is being compiled.
Red - Topic summary has no current systematic review available.