The Transcendental Meditation Program and Progressive Relaxation: Comparative Effects on Trait Anxiety and Self-actualization

Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory ( STAI) and Shostrom' s Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) were completed by three groups of undergraduates at the University of New England at Armidale, Australia, a few days prior to either beginning a program of Transcendental Meditation (TM group, N = 25), a parallel program of progressive relaxation (PR group, N =40), or acting as controls (N =27). Seven weeks later both inventories were readministered to all groups. Only the subjects who regularly practiced the Transcendental Meditation technique showed a significant reduction in trait anxiety scores compared with control subjects (p < .05), while subjects who regularly practiced either Transcendental Meditation or progressive relaxation showed a significant improvement in self-actualization scores compared with control subjects (p < .05). Results confirm previous findings on Transcendental Meditation; the comparison with the widely used therapeutic technique of progressive relaxation gives further indication of the greater efficacy of the Transcendental Meditation program in psychotherapy and personal development.