Effectiveness of autogenic relaxation training on children and adolescents with behavioral and emotional problems

Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of autogenic relaxation training in a mildly disturbed outpatient population of children and adolescents with mostly internalizing symptoms, and/or some aggressive, impulsive, or attention deficit symptoms. Method: Fifty children and adolescents from southern Germany (mean age 10.2 years; range 6-15 years; mostly intact middle class family background) participated in a group intervention program. Fifteen patients were randomly assigned to a waiting-list control group. Behavior symptoms (Child Behavior Checklist), psychosomatic complaints (Giessen Complaint List), and level of stress were assessed before and after the intervention or after the waiting phase. Individual goal attainment was evaluated at the end of the intervention and in a 3-month follow-up. Results: The parent report on CBCL reflected reduced symptoms compared with control. The child report indicated reduced stress and psychosomatic complaints both in the intervention and control group, and no significant group X time interaction effects occurred on these scales. Effect sizes of 0.49 in the CBCL and 0.36 in the complaint list indicated clinically relevant effects of the intervention compared with the control group. At the end of the intervention, 56% of the children and 55% of the parents reported partial goal attainment, 38% of the children and 30% of the parents reported complete goal attainment; 71% of the parents confirmed partial goal attainment 3 months postintervention. Conclusions: Autogenic relaxation training is an effective broadband method for children and adolescents.