About Biofeedback

Biofeedback can be defined as the science of Applied Psychophysiology. The immediate goal of biofeedback is to produce the psychophysiological (mind/body) improvements desired in specific body responses. The long-term goal is the reduction or elimination of problematic symptoms or behaviors.

Biofeedback's effectiveness is based upon a conceptually simple principle: Awareness equals Control. If a typically unconscious and involuntary physiological response (e.g., skin temperature, muscle tension, brainwave activity) is monitored, amplified and fed back so that a subject can become aware of its presence and magnitude, the subject can then learn to apply a level of voluntary control over that response. This guides the response toward a more balanced and healthful level of physiological equilibrium.

Clinical biofeedback practice began by using simple electronic devices housed in clunky-looking wooden boxes with an assortment of dials and gauges. The advent of the personal computer has both streamlined the appearance of biofeedback instrumentation and made possible the collection and analysis of extensive physiological data. Such precision was undreamed of by early researchers. Biofeedback is now used with a wide variety of medical and psychological conditions, as well as to promote so-called peak athletic and mental performance states.

There is nothing new about physiological self-regulation. Such feats, while rare in the Western world, are relatively common in societies with a more visible and long-standing mystical tradition. Meditation and yoga are two examples of low-tech self-regulation techniques, which have been used in the Orient for millennia.

The beauty of biofeedback is that, through the wonder of modern computer technology, these processes can be both accelerated and accomplished in a much more hospitable environment than a mountaintop cave in the Himalayas.

Mechanisms of Action

The physiological mechanisms by which voluntary control is exerted are neither simple nor well understood. The fact that we know that Biofeedback works, but are not totally clear on how it works, has caused the field to draw more than a fair amount of criticism from the scientific community.

For example, it is a simple matter to connect a person to a thermal biofeedback instrument, and request him to raise the temperature of his finger. Despite initial protests of ignorance, and pleas for a tangible strategy to help in achieving the desired goal, most people find that within a few sessions they are able to raise and lower their skin temperature at will. Ask them how they are accomplishing this, however, and you'll probably get a puzzled expression, a shrug, and an "I don’t know, I just do it."

If a person consciously tries, (i.e., expends what we would describe as mental effort) to control the response in question, he typically gets the opposite of the desired result.  It is like the fable of the centipede. One day, he was asked by the ant how he was able to coordinate all those legs.  When he started thinking about it, he became so self-conscious that he tripped all over himself and fell flat on his face.

However, by simply paying attention to a display which registers the measured level of the response, eventually the person "tunes in" to an intuitive type of control which can best be likened to maintaining one's balance while learning to ride a bicycle. It is more of a "feeling" than a consciously-mediated thought process.

Biofeedback researchers have labeled this type of control passive volition, as though labeling it will somehow contribute to its explanation. Biofeedback practitioners are undeterred by the criticism.  They are confident that decades of clinical experience and cases of dramatic improvements in their clients' various conditions have supported a demonstrable  effectiveness to this high-tech form of self-regulation.

Any physiological response that can be monitored is amenable to intervention via biofeedback techniques. Some of the more common biofeedback modalities include: muscle tension or Electromyography (EMG), Skin Temperature (Thermal), Skin Conductance (GSR or EDR), Brainwave Activity (EEG), Heart Rate Variability (HRV), Blood Pressure (BP), Respiration Rate, and Blood Flow among others. Treatment programs may progress from more peripheral, voluntary responses (such as EMG) to autonomic nervous system responses (such as thermal and EDR) to central nervous system interventions (various forms of Electroencephalographic or EEG biofeedback) that focus on brainwave activity.

Please note: This page is presented for informational purposes only as I am not currently practicing EEG Biofeedback or LENS Therapy.  Biofeedback treatment is a very powerful and effective therapeutic tool and I highly recommend it for the conditions mentioned in these pages.  Jim Giorgi