Biofeedback Therapy

Biofeedback is a type of therapy which uses electronically instruments to measure information from the body and present that information back to the patient on a moment-to-moment basis.  Through this kind of immediate feedback of muscle tension, heart rate, sweat gland arousal, skin temperature, gastric motility, brainwaves, blood pressure, and respiration rate, learning to self-regulate or control these physiological systems becomes easier.  Just as it would be difficult to teach someone to apply make-up to the face or tie a necktie without the use of a mirror, it would be very difficult to teach someone how to control a psychophysiological response, such as shoulder of facial tension without the use of sophisticated and exacting information systems such as the one seen in the above picture. Biofeedback therapies are used in the treatment of stress related medical disorders such as muscle tension headache, migraine headache, irritable bowel syndrome, Reynaud's disease, back and neck pain, asthma and temporal-mandibular joint syndrome, to name a few.  There are several specialties within biofeedback such as Neurofeedback (electroencephalographic biofeedback or EEG) to look at brain wave activity for the treatment of Attention Deficit Disorder, Seizure Disorder, Substance Abuse and Head Injury... and vaginal or rectal biofeedback for the treatment of pain and incontinence.   For more information on biofeedback and neurofeedback please go to Steve's Professional Sites. The Biofeedback Foundation of Europe would like to bring to your attention a selection of video clips from the Canadian TV show Health On The Line. Health On The Line, from the Canadian Discovery Health channel, focuses on a wide variety of health-related conditions, profiles individuals who have been affected by the condition and interviews medical professionals who are involved in their diagnosis and treatment.  An interview is conducted with Dr. Rob Nolan about Cardiac rehabilitation and Dr. Lynda Thompson discusses EEG biofeedback. The 6 part video clip series includes: Part 1 - Cardiac rehabilitation: Interview with a client Part 2 - Cardiac rehabilitation: Interview with Dr. Robert Nolan, Ph.D. Part 3 - Cardiac rehabilitation: Biofeedback software demonstration Part 4 - EEG biofeedback: Interview with Dr. Lynda Thompson, Ph.D. & Software demo Part 5 - EEG biofeedback: Interview with a client Part 6 - Biofeedback: Status with mainstream medicine To view these movie clips directly from the BFE website, please visit www.bfe.org Contact the Biofeedback and Family Therapy Center at s@kassel.us. ©1997-2010 Steven C. Kassel - All Rights reserved