About Biofeedback
Another word for Biofeedback is 'physiological feedback' or 'clinical
psychophysiology'. Biofeedback actually refers to those clinical applications
where physiological signals from the body are used for visual or auditory
feedback during a therapy or training session. This method was first used in the
seventies and has been subject of thorough scientific research ever since. Over
5000 scientific publications can be found in the
pubmed library on the Internet.
Stress
related disorders
Biofeedback is particularly useful when applied to stress-related disorders or
health problems that related to 'behavior' or 'lifestyle'. There is a growing
number of people that suffer from health problems which were in the past described as having
a significant 'psychosomatic' component. Examples are chronic tension headache,
hyperventilation, migraines, essential hypertension, RSI, burn-out, stress
related symptoms and so on.
Health problems like these often require a multidisciplinary approach.
Biofeedback can usually be applied there with good results, actually more so than Neurofeedback.
Research (some samples:
1,
2,
3
) has indicated that chronic stress can lead to (serious) health problems. Chronic stress often leads to overactivation of the sympathic nervous
system. This part of the autonomic nervous system is responsible for functions such as; the
acceleration of the heart rate, the constriction of blood vessels, the raising
of the bloodpressure and more. Stress also impacts the hormonal system.
Our body is constantly balancing itself in order to reach a state
that is known as 'homeostasis'. However our 'behavior' or the way we deal with chronic stress can interfere with that process
and can actually be harmful or even damaging. Our immune system responds
negatively to long term chronic stress as well.
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Biofeedback & Stress
Biofeedback shows the physiological effects of stress and our 'behavior'
directly as they occur. In the hands of a trained clinician or therapist, a biofeedback
system
becomes a powerful tool that visualizes the effects of stress or 'behavior' and helps the client to go
through a learning process. In this process the client becomes aware of these
effects work out in their body and how they can make the required 'behavioral'
or 'lifestyle' changes.
An example: a client has developed a habit to build up chronic tension in
the neck and shoulder muscles (upper trapezius) and has chronic headaches as a
consequence. Often, pain killers do not do much good in that case. They mainly
suppress the resulting phenomena (pain) but do not change much about the root
cause. The tension is visually displayed on a computer screen and through EMG-
Biofeedback the client learns to become aware of this tension and release it
before it leads to cramps, painful muscles or headaches. By making these
'behavioral' changes the headaches may occur less often or even disappear
altogether.
The advantage of Biofeedback...
With Biofeedback a clinician can actually help a client to become aware of
the effects of chronic behavior that is at the root of a health problem. In the example of
the headache patient, the EMG level of the neck and shoulder muscles level may
chronically be too high. After a while this causes restricted bloodflow,
fatigue, build-up of waste products and finally pain. The client can observe
their EMG level as they apply relaxation techniques and immediately see
(feedback) the results. This same technique applies to other health problems such as
for instance: overbreathing and hyperventilation, bloodflow problems, bruxism and essential hypertension.
The main principles are:
- Through observation of the physiological processes in their own body, clients
become aware of the negative effects of chronic stress or their 'behavior'.
- With help from the therapist and during application of relaxation
techniques, the immediate physiological effects (feedback) can be seen and
trained. (operant conditioning) This guides the
client and accelerates the learning process involved in making the
required behavioral or lifestyle changes.
- The training results can be monitored over several sessions. Thus the
improvements and the results of this method can be objectified and measured
over time.
Disadvantages?
The main advantage of biofeedback is also it's disadvantage! It is a clinical
method or form of therapy which requires that the client is actively participating.
In most cases behavioral changes can not be achieved by a 'pill' or on command.
It involves a learning process and thus requires time and motivation. There are 4 important
factors that are required in order for any clinical form of biofeedback to be effective:
- Reliable Equipment
- A trained and experienced clinician / therapist
- A motivated client / patient
- Enough time (sessions)
When these conditions are fulfilled, biofeedback can give good results for the applications such as the ones mentioned above. It is also a safe method that has no (known) negative side
effects. However we do warn, that Biofeedback is no panacea, or cure for everything! |
Biofeedback Applications In
the past 20 years, Biofeedback has been applied with varying degrees of succes in
the following fields:
- Chronic tension headaches
- Migraine
- Raynaud's Syndrome
- Essential Hypertension
- Attention deficit disorders (ADD/ADHD)
- Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
- Performance Enhancement (Sports)
- Anxiety
- Overbreathing & hyperventilation
- Incontinence
- Low back pain
- Bruxism
- Seizure disorders (Epilepsy)
- Addictions (Alcoholism)
This is only a short list of applications. The American Association for
applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (AAPB) has published a longer list
which you can find here:
AAPB List of
Disorders.
Biofeedback is powerful, but it is not magic!
Please note that Mind Media only sells it's medical products to health
professionals with the proper medical or clinical background. In the hands
of a properly trained clinician, biofeedback can effectively help in the
treatment of many health problems that are stress or lifestyle related or
psychosomatic in nature.
Caution: Biofeedback as a method is supported by over 25 years of scientific research and clinical experience. However there are still people around who make
unsubstantiated claims and promote biofeedback and neurofeedback as if they can
do 'magic'. We disagree. If you have questions about specific forms
of biofeedback therapy, we advise you contact one of the organizations in our
list of weblinks and verify whether biofeedback
of neurofeedback can actually help in the field you are interested in.
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