Progressive Muscle Relaxation in the Management of Behavioural Disturbance in Alzheimer's Disease

Abstract

Behavioural disturbances such as anxiety, irritability, and agitation are common in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and make a substantial contribution to the disability of the disease. These symptoms often are treated with psychotropic medication, which can lead to undesired or even dangerous side effects, such as sedation and increased risk for falls. Development of effective nonpharmacological treatments for behavioural disturbance is a desirable component of care for patients with AD, and the goal of the presentstudy was to develop such a treatment. We focused on progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), which we conceptualised as a motor memory skill that AD patients likely would be able to learn, given their relatively preserved procedural learning abilities. It was hypothesised that training in progressive muscle relaxation would lead to a reduction of psychiatric and behavioural difficulties in AD patients, and possibly, to improved performance on cognitive screening measures. Thirty-four patients and their caregivers were randomly assigned to progressive muscle relaxation or a control treatment. Results showed that patients who learned progressive muscle relaxation showed a significant decrease in psychiatric and behavioural disturbance, as well as improved performances on measures of memory and verbal fluency, from baseline to 2-month follow-up testing. The findings support the notion that PMR is an effective technique for managing psychiatric and behavioural disturbance in AD patients with mild to moderate dementia.