The American Association for the Advancement of Tension Control was founded in 1973 as an interdisciplinary effort encompassing the fields of dentistry, education, medicine, physical therapy, psychology, and speech pathology. The broad purpose was to facilitate the acquisition, dissemination, and application of sound knowledge for the benefit of society throughout the world.

Name changes were first to the International Stress and Tension-Control Association and then to the International Stress Management Association (ISMA) whereupon international meetings were held in 1979, 1981, 1983, 1988, 1992, 1995 1996 and 2001. In 1973, Edmund Jacobson, Ph.D., M.D. (1888-1983) asked F. J. McGuigan, (1924-1998) through Professor Marigold Edwards, to develop an Association for the Advancement of Tension Control. Jacobson modeled the title after the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The general purpose of the association is to facilitate the acquisition and dissemination of scientific knowledge about tension control, with emphasis on technological applications for the benefit of society throughout the world. The public is encouraged to use only relaxation approaches that satisfy the highest criteria of scientific and clinical validation. Principally, validation of a method is that it reduces muscle tension electromyographically measured, using sound methodology. Clinical validation is that as muscle tension is reduced, complaints are alienated or eliminated. Electromyography is a major tool because the classical, standard definition of tension is the contraction of striated muscle fibers just as relaxation is their elongation. There were no set requirements for membership, such as a minimal level of academic degree or field of specialization.

The first meeting of the association was held at the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago in 1974. Annual meetings continued to be held at the Bismarck Hotel in Chicago through 1978.

In 1979 the Association sponsored its first international conference organized primarily by Joe MacDonald Wallace, Director for Europe, at the West London Institute of Higher Education. The organization's name was changed to the International Stress and Tension Control Association.

Today ISMA has branches around the world: Australasia, Brazil, France, Hong Kong, India, Japan, The Netherlands, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The International Stress Management Association is the oldest ongoing international organization for stress management and with its international branches promises to fulfill its original purposes of 1974 of bringing relief from stress-tension disorders to the peoples of the world.

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