Antihypertensive Effects of Behavioral Treatments and Medications Compared

Abstract

To the Editor: Reports of behavioral treatments for essential hypertension in the past 12 years have raised hopes that they may become viable alternatives to antihypertensive medications, at least for some patients. Many patients would prefer behavioral treatments to avoid the unpleasant side effects and expense of many drug regimens.We report here a study in which behavioral treatments were directly compared with medication. The patients, who had no evidence of target-organ damage, were mildly to moderately hypertensive, with blood-pressure measurements of 140/90 to 160/103 mm Hg during an extensive two-week, eight-session base-line period (four blood-pressure measurements per session). They . . .