The study comprised both a cross sectional and an 8-week prospective design. The study sample included individuals with a long-term RR practice (¡°long-term practitioners?n = 28) and those with no prior RR practice experience (¡°novices?n = 28). The novices received 8 weeks of RR-elicitation training (¡°RR training? for the prospective analysis (short-term practice).
Long-term practitioners reported lower levels of psychological distress than the novices before they received RR training. As a result of the 8-week RR training, novices significantly reduced their psychological distress to levels comparable to that of long-term practitioners. Long-term practitioners had greater immediate (after listening to a RR-eliciting CD) decreases in psychological distress level than the 8-week trained novices. Furthermore, the reduction in psychological distress levels for long-term practitioners correlated with a reduction in biological measures of stress, after controlling for baseline values. There was no reduction in biological measures and no correlation with psychological measures in the 8-week trained novices.
While our data indicate that even a short-term 8-week RR-eliciting practice can decrease psychological distress levels, only after years of RR practice does psychological distress reduction coincide with biological change.