Martin came to see me because of a dual problem. He ha. known for years that he had hypertension, and he had attacks c sweating and pounding heart whenever he had to wait for anything On his first visit he had one of these attacks as a result of sitting for one-half hour in my waiting room. His blood pressure was significantly elevated.

He told me that this response had been present for years, but that no one had ever told him it might be related to his high blood pressure. His emotions during these waiting periods were annoyance and impatience. The location didn't matter. Whether he was in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles, the post office, or the bus stop, he would get sweaty palms and armpits, his heart would pound, and he might even develop a headache.

Following a complete physical exam, including laboratory test to rule out the curable causes of hypertension, I started him on mild medication and explained the possible mechanism of his disease I sent him home with instructions on how to decondition this pat tern and tapes for spasm relaxation and positive programming Within a month he had all but eliminated the troublesome reaction. His blood pressure was well within the normal range, an' I slowly weaned him from his medication. Repeated examination have failed to detect any further elevation, even after long period in my waiting room. Thus we have an excellent example of how the course of this problem may possibly have been altered; it would be premature to assume it has been cured forever. There may still be a continual climb over the years, but if there is, I believe it will be much more gradual than if he had not learned to relax.