Regarding M. Witzel's posting below:
Witzel: His [Benson's] claims therefore should be seriously compared with those mentioned on the list, whether consisting of just 1 or some 500 studies...
WS: His claims have been seriously compared with others on the list. One result can be found in the following paper:
Eppley, K., Abrams, A., Shear, J., Differential effects of relaxation techniques on train anxiety: a meta-analysis, Journal of Clinical Psychology, vol. 45, 1989, pp. 957-975.
to summarize: 104 trait anxiety studies were compared. Data was entered on a large number of variables, such as population, experimental design, demand characteristics, experimenter's attitude, source of study, duration, hours of treatment, attrition, pre-test anxiety level, etc. Transcendental Meditation, other meditation, progressive relaxation, and other relaxation were compared for all outcomes and all independent outcomes. Transcendental Meditation had significantly (p<.005) larger effect size (2 to 3 X) than the other groups, which were not significantly different among themselves. This study included research on Benson's relaxation response.
Very best,
--
William Sands, PhD
From: Michael Witzel <witzel@FAS.HARVARD.EDU>
Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 21:51:14 -0400
Subject: Re: Impact of mantra recital, etc.
Re: Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School and of the Mind/Body project
( http://www.mindbody.harvard.edu/ ) ...
.... I heard it from the H[orse]'s mouth last Friday in a local conf. about Shamanism.
Benson has no prejudice/preconceived idea about any religion/technique and has worked with several of them.
His claims therefore should be seriously compared with those mentioned on the list, whether
consisting of just 1 or some 500 studies...
(The results mentioned by some go squarely against his express stress on reptetion of *any* syllable/word)
And (difference in) research methods should be highlighted as well.