The efficacy of the relaxation response in reducing anxiety and pain was studied on a population of adult patients during femoral arteriograms.

The three hypotheses of the study were: (1) patients who elicit the relaxation response will report less anxiety during the femoral arteriograms than patients listening to music or blank tapes; (2) patients who elicit the relaxation response will report less pain and need less medication during the femoral arteriograms than patients in the other two groups; and (3) patients who listen to music will report less anxiety and pain and need less medication during the femoral arteriograms than patients who listen to the blank tape.

Forty-five patients with peripheral vascular disease were enrolled into the study immediately prior to their scheduled femoral arteriograms. There were 15 patients in the relaxation response group, 14 patients in the music tape group, and 16 patients in the blank tape group. The three groups did not statistically differ on demographic, physical (except for mean pulse rate), psychological, or health care characteristics before the arteriogram.

As hypothesized, the patients eliciting the relaxation response had significantly less (p $<$.01) anxiety, pain and medication usage during the procedure than both the music and blank tape groups. There were no significant differences between the music and blank tape groups. The results support the first and second hypothesis, but not the third hypothesis.