Table 1.

Salivary cortisol concentrations and blood pressure responses to as well as subjective ratings of the SECPT vs. control procedure.

	Stress	Control
SALIVARY CORTISOL (nmol/l)
Before treatment	9.55 ± 1.18	8.65 ± 0.74
1 min after treatment	10.63 ± 1.31	9.08 ± 0.98
25 min after treatment	12.51 ± 1.53**	7.71 ± 0.80
45 min after treatment	8.90 ± 0.85*	6.46 ± 0.59
SYSTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE (mmHg)
1 min before treatment	127.00 ± 2.81	124.70 ± 2.97
During treatment	144.20 ± 3.29***	121.70 ± 2.57
1 min after treatment	121.50 ± 3.01	117.30 ± 2.49
DIASTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE (mmHg)
1 min before treatment	70.30 ± 1.12	69.90 ± 1.44
During treatment	88.70 ± 1.65***	72.00 ± 1.40
1 min after treatment	68.80 ± 1.37	66.90 ± 1.37
SUBJECTIVE RATINGS AFTER TREATMENT
Unpleasantness	58.61 ± 4.05***	6.39 ± 2.62
Stressfulness	46.94 ± 4.40***	3.33 ± 1.20
Painfulness	63.61 ± 4.07***	2.50 ± 1.22

Data represents means ± s.e.m.

Significant difference between stress and control group,

^*p < 0.05, and

^**p < 0.01,

^***p < 0.001 (t-tests).