Biofeedback
Biofeedback is a form of alternative medicine that involves measuring a subject's quantifiable bodily functions such as blood pressure, heart rate, skin temperature, sweat gland activity, and muscle tension, conveying the information to the patient in real-time. This raises the patient's awareness and conscious control of their unconscious physiological activities.
The Biofeedback MethodBy providing the user access to physiological information about which he or she is generally unaware, biofeedback allows users to gain control of physical processes previously considered an automatic response of the autonomous nervous system. Interest in biofeedback has waxed and waned since its inception in the 1960s; it is, however, undergoing something of a renaissance during the early 21st century, which some experts attribute to the general rise in interest about all alternative medicine modalities. Neurofeedback, a type of biofeedback treatment, has also become a popular treatment for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); electromyogram biofeedback, used for muscle tension, has been widely studied and is currently accepted as a treatment for incontinence disorders, and small biofeedback machines are becoming available for a variety of uses in the home. The role of biofeedback in controlling hypertension is also becoming recognised.[1]
The Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, or AAPB is the non-profit scientific and professional society for biofeedback, much akin to the American Psychological Association.
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Origin of biofeedback
Neal Miller, a psychologist and neuroscientist who worked and studied at Yale University during the middle of the 20th century, is generally considered the father of modern-day biofeedback. He discovered the basic principles of biofeedback by accident while performing animal experimentation of classical conditioning behavior of rats. Miller theorized that any measurable physiological behavior within the human body would respond in some way to voluntary control. His team found that by stimulating the pleasure center of a paralyzed rat's brain with electricity, it was possible to train them to control phenomena ranging from their heart rate to their blood pressure and body temperature. Until that point, it was believed by the scientific community that physiological processes (e.g. heart rate) were solely under the control of the autonomic nervous system and not responsive to conscious effort[2]. Miller later retracted many of his claims because he was unable to replicate much of his data and one of his primary research assistants, Leo DiCara, committed suicide around the same time.
The theories proposed by the Miller group make up one of three major approaches to understanding the mechanism of self-regulation of the body. Voluntary control of the autonomic nervous system had previously been considered impossible, something only controlled by conditioning.
Other threads of inquiry that led to the present-day "biofeedback" emerged from clinical attempts to use mind/body self-regulation techniques in healthcare. Dr. Elmer Green of the Menninger Foundation performed some of the original research on the limits of human self-regulation of processes normally controlled by the unconscious mind and then applied these techniques successfully to the treatment of migraine headaches and hypertension. Dr. Barbara Brown was the first to coin the word "biofeedback" during the early days of experimentation, at the same time as the formation of the Biofeedback Research Society. Other early pioneers were interested in the study of "consciousness" and looked towards electroencephalogram (EEG) self-regulation as a way to approach mind vs. brain dichotomy (see the work of Dr.Kamiya). Other early efforts in the field of biofeedback were directed toward the examination of claims by yogis and others who meditate who were able to demonstrate mind/body control and markers of states of consciousness.[3] See Elmer Green et al Beyond Biofeedback and Barbara Brown Stress & The Art of Biofeedback for some early writings. The Biofeedback Research Society evolved into the Biofeedback Society of America and more recently the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback.
