Abstract
M.A. (Clinical Psychology)
Hypertension is a current health science priority. This is because it is associated with
chronic diseases such as coronary disease. Further it is known to cause end organ
damage. It has been clearly established over the last 20 years that antihypertensive
drug therapy decreases mortality in those with moderate or severe hypertension.
However, the use of drugs for long-term prophylaxis carries with it the risk of long-term
side effects. It is for this reason that the need for non-pharmacological treatment of hypertension has risen. The wider acceptance of a more cautious. conservative approach towards drug therapy in general seems necessary. Biobehavioral approaches to the treatment of hypertension have been a 'promising' aItemative or adjunct to drug treatment programmes. However. these approaches have been met with limited success due to the fact that they fail to take into account the effect of family systemic variables as a contributing factor in the causation and maintenance of hypertension. This study investigated the possibility that biopsychosocial techniques offer an added dimension to the biobehavioral approach to the treatment of hypertension by taking into account the familial systemic variables which may contribute to maintaining hypertension. The biopsychosocial techniques may playa significant adjunctive role in permitting control of blood pressure to be maintained without the side-effects seen with the chronic use of medication. An exploratory study was conducted in which a single-subject. AS design was utilized in order to determine whether the added component of a systemically based family intervention would add to decrease or increase the effects obtained with the Fahrion Mayo-protocol. In this context five subjects were consecutively Subjected to health information. muscle relaxation training and biofeedback-assisted training. The systems-based family intervention occurred-throughout the procedure. There was significant decrease across all five subjects of baseline to follow-up systolic blood pressure. This could indicate that the programme as a whole provided an effective decrease in systolic blood pressure. Of particular interest is the possibility that the biofeedback-assisted training intervention could be a placebo intervention associated with the technological nature of the intervention. It is therefore quite clear that the data would be indicative of a non-biofeedback, but relaxation. health information and systemic family intervention to be effective in the treatment of hypertension.