The purpose of the investigation was to determine the effectiveness of Zen meditation practice in facilitating positive change on the personality variables time competence, inner direction, locus of control, and field independence, as well as to investigate the subjective experiences of novice meditators. Two population groups were included in the study: a student group and a clinical group. The student-population group consisted of forty-six undergraduate college students. The student subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups: experimental group (Zen meditation group taught to focus attention on the breath, as well as a formal Zen posture), placebo group (formal Zen posture only), or control group (no treatment). The clinical-population group consisted of thirty-seven in-patient volunteers from the alcoholic-drug unit of a psychiatric state hospital. The clinical subjects were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (Zen meditation group which practiced focused attention on the breath, as well as a formal Zen meditation posture) or a control group (no treatment).

Tardive dyskinesia is an insidious and debilitating extrapyramidal side effect of neuroleptic drug treatment. Recent research has suggested that lecithin has been effective in treating tardive dyskinesia. Lecithin's effects were evaluated under double-blind placebo controlled conditions. Treatment conditions included a placebo control group, a lecithin treatment group, and a no-treatment control group. Subjects in the lecithin group received 60 gms/day of lecithin (33 gms of phosphatidylcholine) . Subjects in the placebo group received a similar mixture which contained no lecithin. Subjects received mixtures for 9-11 days. Treatment effectiveness was determined by subjective, objective, and global evaluations. All subjects were evaluated 3 to 4 days prior to treatment and following 9 to 11 days of treatment.

Life events and one's ability to adapt to these events has significant effects on immune functioning. Immunosuppression has been related to a high magnitude of life stress and low adaptive ability. While studies have explored immune response in stressed individuals, no study has approached the area of prevention with low-immunity individuals. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether subjects who self-report stressful lives have lower immunity, and whether "low" immunity subjects under "high" stress could enhance phagocytic activity through biofeedback-assisted relaxation.

The major purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a stress-inoculation treatment and an equally credible attention-placebo control in alleviating self-reported test anxiety and in facilitating intellectual performance in nontraditional (aged 50 and over) college students. Many studies have demonstrated the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral approaches in the treatment of test anxiety among young college students. The literature suggests that persons returning to school after a long absence who have subsequently enrolled as college students experience greater test anxiety and decrements in test performance in evaluative situations than their younger counterparts.