This paper critiques a negative 1984 review, "Meditation and Somatic Arousal Reduction" (Holmes), on the absolute effectiveness of meditation in reducing somatic arousal and reviews research on the relative effectiveness of meditation compared to techniques such as biofeedback, hypnosis, progressive muscle relaxation, and autogenics in reducing somatic and cognitive arousal and treating stress-related disorders. Meditation is compared with biofeedback, hypnosis, progressive muscle relaxation, and autogenics as to their possible advantages and indications for treatment as well as to their potential adverse effects and contraindications. Suggestions are made for future research and practice, especially in the areas of examining possible differential effectiveness of these methods for different circumstances, optimizing placebo effects, tailoring to individual proclivities, and combining relaxation techniques with other stress-coping strategies such as communication training. (Author/CG)