Final answer:
Jacobson's Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) involves proximal-distal relaxation, starting from muscles near the center of the body and moving outward. Herbert Benson's relaxation response technique, however, relies on creating a restful environment, utilizing a mental device, maintaining a passive attitude, and finding a comfortable position without a prescribed relaxation direction.
Step-by-step explanation:
Jacobson's relaxation technique is often thought to involve either distal-proximal or proximal-distal relaxation. However, this question may be a mix-up due to the terminology. The relaxation response technique, developed by Herbert Benson in the 1970s, is a method for stress reduction that is different from Edmund Jacobson's Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR). Jacobson's PMR indeed does use a proximal-distal order, where relaxation begins with the muscles closest to the center of the body and progresses outward towards the extremities.
Benson's relaxation response technique, however, is not specifically ordered from distal to proximal or vice versa, but encompasses four main components: a quiet environment, a mental device (like a word or phrase repeated silently), a passive attitude, and a comfortable position. This method aims to reduce sympathetic arousal and has been effectively used to treat conditions such as high blood pressure.
While the question mentioned Jacobson's techniques, it is important to clarify and differentiate between them and the relaxation response technique developed by Benson.