Biofeedback
What is biofeedback?
- Biofeedback can help people become more aware of the body's internal states and learn to self-regulate them.
- Electronic instruments are used to amplify and display information about a person's physiologic processes, such as skin temperature, muscle tension, blood pressure, heart rate, and brain waves.
- This feedback helps a person to learn ways to influence physiologic processes that are not typically under conscious control.
- Cardiac coherence training is a specific form of biofeedback that emphasizes the impact of the relaxation response on the cardiovascular system.
What is the background of biofeedback?
- Biofeedback was first developed by experimental psychologists in the 1960s.
- Biofeedback practitioners are trained in psychology, physiology, and the use of electronic instruments.
What are the indications for biofeedback?
- anxiety disorders
- tension and migraine headaches
- myofascial pain and fibromyalgia
- hypertension
- irritable bowel syndrome
- muscle tension
- Raynaud's disease
What are the contraindications for biofeedback?
- acute psychiatric emergencies
- use as the sole treatment for management of severe hypertension