The term biofeedback was coined in the 1960s to describe the art of controlling physiologic processes that were previously thought to be involuntary. Biofeedback therapy is part of the mainstream mind-body principle which purports that mental or emotional processes can affect physiologic function. The process of using the mind to help heal the body occurs through conditioning rooted in classical and instrumental learning and behavioral medicine.
This non-invasive form of treatment involves attachment of sensors or electrodes to the body that display real time readings of physiologic function, training patients to use signals from their own bodies to improve their health. These readings, which vary across practitioners and treatment, may involve measurement of skin temperature, galvanic skin response, heart rate, breath rate, muscle tension, and/or brainwave function. Aided by this feedback, patients learn to make subtle changes which at first may not be consciously perceived. With practice, learned responses and behaviors bring relief and improvement to a variety of disorders. Biofeedback has been shown to improve psychological symptoms/disorders including high stress or anxiety, PTSD, OCD, and sleep disorders. Additionally, research supports its use in a variety of physiologic-based disorders such as migraines, asthma, TMJ, hypertension, diabetes, seizure disorders, insomnia, Raynaud’s Syndrome, incontinence, and pain.
Although biofeedback has been practiced and researched for almost 50 years, it was only recognized as a proficiency under APA guidelines in 1997. There has been an increase in interest in recent years as alternative medicine has become more popular and new technology has made biofeedback equipment available in handheld devices and readily adaptable to computers.
New developments have focused on a combination of heart rate and breath rate as a modality of biofeedback. Specifically, studies have shown that poor Heart Rate Variability (HRV), the variability of intervals between heartbeats, is associated with illness and weak parasympathetic nervous system influence over the heart. HRV can be targeted through specific relaxation exercises to decrease the heart’s susceptibility to disease.
Breath rate is yet another modality that has been shown to have vast physiological implications. Good breathing used to be thought of as just a transitory sense of well-being, but now has been found to have vast implications for one’s long term health. Body chemistry is kept balanced with each breath as each breath contributes to balancing the blood’s acid/alkaline levels which maintain cellular pH levels. Your blood’s capacity to deliver oxygen throughout the body can be dramatically affected in only 5-6 incorrect breaths. Incorrect breathing for up to three minutes is enough to decrease the amount of oxygen to the brain and heart by up to 30%. Ultimately, a combination of retraining breath rate and heart rate has proven to be as successful as prevention and/or treatment for chronic disease.
As supportive research in the domain of biofeedback has increased, so has awareness and support by insurance companies. In many cases, insurance companies have a hard time denying that biofeedback is a more cost-effective form of treatment. Over recent years, specific biofeedback procedure codes have also been developed.
For more information about the field of biofeedback, visit the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback at www.aapb.org
Contributor:
Polly Shepard Westcott, Psy.D., HSPP
Clinical Neuropsychologist
Comprehensive MedPsych Systems – Professional Psychological Services
Indianapolis, IN
