Article: Hospital soothes the mind before healing the heart; At Abbott Northwestern, relaxation therapy and spiritual counseling are being used to try to reduce patients' anxiety.(NEWS)

1/3 The day before she had open-heart surgery in June, Shirley Wood, 64, of Willmar, Minn., sat with her mother and daughter in a small circle at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, eyes closed, thinking comforting thoughts and imagining soothing colors.

Twenty minutes later, they all felt better - especially her daughter and mother, who were doing all the worrying.

"I was ready to tell her, let's go home," said her mother, Lucy Bangtson, 85, of Spicer, Minn. But after listening to Linda Carole, a hospital psychologist, lead them through some relaxation therapy, she changed her mind. "It was really helpful," she said. "You could feel it in every part ...

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