Efficacy of Progressive Muscular Relaxation on Coping Strategies and Management of Stress, Anxiety and Depression

The present study is an attempt to examine the efficacy of Progressive Muscle Relaxation on coping strategies and the management of depression, anxiety and stress in patients. Background: The rising prevalence of mental illness in today’s world is mainly due to stress, tension or negative life experiences in our day to day life. In this regard, the way in which one’s response to stress and negative life events may be more directly connected to mental health and psychopathology. When people experience anxiety, stress or depression in life, one of the ways our body responds is with muscle tension. Progressive muscle relaxation is a method that helps to relieve that tension. Sample: A purposive sample of 60  patients, in which 30 patients who has given only Pharmacotherapy & other 30 patients who has given both Progressive Muscle Relaxation and Pharmacotherapy, between age group of 25 – 65 years diagnosed with depression, anxiety and stress by Psychiatrist, were used for the study from the Out Patient Department of Geetanjali Medical College & Hospital, Udaipur (Raj.). Research Design: Pre – post test control group design, Tools: Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) was used to to assess the degree of severity of the core symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress and Coping Strategies Inventory (CSI) was used to assess coping thoughts and behaviors in response to a specific stressor. Result: The results of t- test showed that, there exists a significant difference by PMR sessions and pharmacotherapy in pre and post scores of coping strategies, stress, anxiety and depression. There exists a significant difference by pharmacotherapy in pre and post scores of depression. And difference between the pre test and post test scores of dimensions like anxiety, depression, stress and coping strategy of patients who were given PMR+ Pharmacotherapy was found   higher than the pre and post scores of dimensions like anxiety, depression, stress and coping strategy of patients who were given only Pharmacotherapy. Conclusion: The study concluded that, regular practice of PMR has been proven to decrease the anxiety, depression and stress symptoms. PMR is an efficient method to enhance individual’s ability to cope with their daily life pressure and to use specific coping strategies in response to stressful events.