TREATMENT OF ACNE VULGARIS BY BIOFEEDBACK-ASSISTED CUE-CONTROLLED RELAXATION AND GUIDED COGNITIVE IMAGERY

A cognitive-behavioral adjunctive intervention involving biofeedback-assisted relaxation and cognitive imagery procedures for the treatment of acne vulgaris was investigated in this study with 30 patients, already receiving traditional dermatological treatment, as participants. A three-group design was used which consisted of a treatment (relaxation-imagery), a rational behavior group therapy attention-comparison, and a medical intervention control (medication and lesion extraction) group. The treatment and attention-comparison group subjects were administered the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire at pre- and posttreatment in order to explore personality changes as a function of the psychological intervention that they received. These subjects also engaged in daily home practice procedures in addition to their laboratory treatment sessions. Both these groups received an identical number of laboratory and home practice sessions, and similar experimenter-induced expectations and demand characteristics during treatment. None of the hypothesized therapeutic components of the treatment group were present in the attention-comparison group. The treatment and attention-comparison group subjects received the same medical intervention as the third group of acne patients who were routinely monitored to control for dermatological treatment effects.;The results of this research provided strong support for the efficacy of biofeedback-assisted relaxation-imagery therapy as an adjunctive treatment for patients with chronic acne vulgaris. Future research was suggested.;As hypothesized, the treatment group showed a significant reduction in acne severity as compared to the attention-comparison and the medical control group. A second hypothesis, which held that the attention-comparison and control group conditions would not significantly differ from each other was also confirmed. The hypothesis which held that treatment group subjects would exhibit equally low electromyographic biofeedback levels while engaging in either cue-controlled relaxation or guided cognitive imagery was also supported. Significant changes were found across treatment on each of the four second-order personality factors assessed. Data regarding subjects' self-grading of acne severity, expectations for treatment effectiveness, and frequency of home practice was obtained and analyzed for treatment and attention-comparison group subjects.