Relaxation strategies have become increasingly influential in various forms of psychotherapy, as well as assuming a central therapeutic role in the growing field of behavioral medicine. Drawing upon a diverse literature spanning five thousand years and coming from several continents, this volume presents, for the first time, an integrated, comprehensive treatment of the subject of relaxation therapy. The book reviews 1 800 references, and contrasts and teaches the ten main methods of relaxation, including progressive relaxation, self-control relaxation, autogenic training, and the main approaches to meditation. The history of relaxation therapy is reviewed, and the psychological and physiological mechanisms of relaxation processes are explained. This book offers comprehensive scientific critiques available on basic and clinical relaxation research; it also explains how to incorporate relaxation into existing psychotherapeutic systems.