Exploring the effectiveness of a comprehensive mind-body intervention for medical symptom relief.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to describe possible changes in physical and psychologic symptoms among outpatients completing a 12-week mind-body medical symptom reduction program related to chronic medical conditions. DESIGN The cornerstone of the program is elicitation of the relaxation response, and the curriculum also incorporates trainings on mind-body interactions, cognitive restructuring, nutrition, and physical activity. The Medical Symptom Checklist (MSCL), Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II) and Symptom Checklist-90R (SCL-90-R) were used to assess 331 patients' physical and psychologic symptoms before and after the intervention. RESULTS Significant post-treatment improvements in symptom frequency occurred for 12 individual symptoms on the MSCL, all 6 of the HPLP-II subscales, and 8 of the 9 SCL-90-R subscales from pre- to post-treatment. CONCLUSIONS The results from this uncontrolled study suggest that a comprehensive mind-body intervention program might be useful as a complementary or adjunct therapy for treatment of chronic medical symptoms.