Biofeedback, Medical or Educational? | Biofeedback Equipment

Is biofeedback medical or educational?

Biofeedback equipment has been around since the 1960s, yet some people still don’t know about it.

Being able to use technology to help learn control over physiology has almost endless applications.

Many people have been working hard for a long time to make biofeedback more accepted by the medical system.  There are physical medical applications like tension and migraine headaches, neck pain, back pain, other types of chronic pain, muscle spasm, hypertension, and asthma.  There are also mental health applications like ADHD, anxiety, PTSD, and depression.

The Biofeedback Certification International Alliance (BCIA) provides certification for those meeting their established requirements including education, experience, mentoring, and a written exam to evidence their qualifications to provide biofeedback professionally.  The Association for Applied Psychophysiology & Biofeedback is a professional association for people who provide biofeedback.  They offer education, hold an annual conference, and publish a magazine and scientific journal as well as books on the subject.  All of this has helped biofeedback to become accepted by the physical and medical fields to a degree.  Many of us in the field of biofeedback are still disappointed in the reluctance of some insurance companies to reimburse health care professionals for providing biofeedback to their clients.  This sometimes discourages people from providing biofeedback in their practices purely financial reasons.  I have actually had doctors tell me that they believe biofeedback is really good for their patients but they aren’t doing it because one of the main insurance carriers their patients have doesn’t reimburse for it.  This is a shame.  If a therapy is effective, healthcare providers should be able to be paid for providing it.  This fight continues.

Another way to look at how biofeedback equipment is used is as education which can happen outside of the medical world.  We use technology to learn all of the time.  We use technology to help other people learn.  What if you are using technology to help someone learn about their physiology?  That is what we are doing with biofeedback.  This can open up a whole other world outside of the medical field.  If you are not treating a clinical, diagnosable, physical or mental health condition then you can use biofeedback to teach someone an increased level of control over things like their breathing, muscle tension, heart rate, skin temperature, or even brain wave activity.  It is still powerful but it doesn’t have to be medical.  It can actually be fun and rewarding to learn this kind of control.  It doesn’t only have to be used for someone who has something “wrong with them”.  People do pay for education.  Even if health care insurance doesn’t pay for biofeedback there are still ways to get paid for providing it.  Coaching or teaching using biofeedback equipment as an educational tool and charging a fee for it is a business model that can work well.  It is also a way that people can access biofeedback learning without having to do it through the medical world.

So, the answer is that biofeedback is both medical and education.  It all depends on how it is being used.  In reality, it is an educational tool that can be used as a medical intervention.

Harry L. Campbell

914-762-4646 – Harry@biofeedbackinternational.com

Author of What Stress Can Do, Available on Amazon.com, Youtube.com

Biofeedback Resources International Corp.

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Less Stress for the Holidays

The start of the holiday season is upon us.  This should be a wonderful time to look forward to and yet many people experience this as one of the most stressful times of the year.  What makes it stressful? The crowds and expense of shopping, the traffic, spending time with people who get on your nerves – shall I go on?  I’m sure you could easily add to my list.

What can you do to make it less stressful?

Give thanks. The season starts with the Thanksgiving holiday.  Take some time to actually give thanks for all of the things that you are blessed with.  All of us kind find at least a few things to be thankful for.  Here is a list of things you can pick through to find something that applies to you:

A place to live

Food to eat

A job

Family

Friends

Good Health

Sight

Clothes to wear

A car or bus or train fare

The ability to walk

Now I know there may be some who don’t have all of these things but I believe that there are few who don’t have at least one.

Spend some time thinking about what the holidays are supposed to be about.

You may get the opportunity to see some people that you hardly ever see.  Even if you don’t always get along great take it for what it is worth and find something enjoyable about spending time with them.  Remember the holidays don’t last forever.  It will soon be over and we all get back to our regular lives starting off a new year.  Don’t make it bigger than it is.

Remember to breathe.  If you start to feel stressed find a place you can be alone for a few minutes and take a few slow deep breaths to take the edge off and then rejoin the group.

If you set your mind to enjoy the holidays you probably will.

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Attention Or Sleep, Problems with Sleep related to ADHD

 

You wouldn’t want to have to make that choice for children.  Many children diagnosed with ADHD are prescribed medications to help with the symptoms.  Some popular medications in use are Ritalin, Concerta and Adderall.  These medications are helping some people.  The drug companies themselves are listing sleep problems as a possible side effect.

According to a November 23, 2015 online article in Pediatrics, research analysis led by Katherine Kidwell of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln found that children given stimulants tended to have sleep problems more often.  One of the studies compared the sleep of children given methylphenidate (generic Ritalin) with children given a placebo.  The children who took the generic Ritalin slept an average of 20 minutes less per night.  They also found that taking a stimulant medication more often during the day caused a child to take longer to fall asleep at night.

Dr. Trevor Resnick, who is chief of pediatric neurology at Nicklaus Children’s  Hospital in Miami says that it is extremely important  that all children get a good night’s sleep for healthy brain development.  It is his belief that only a small percentage of children will develop problems related to ADHD medications though.

I believe based on experience and reading that many attention problems may be due to poor sleep.  If the brain is tired it is not going to work as efficiently.  It is harder to learn, focus, and pay attention when you are sleep deprived.  Some problems are due to children not getting enough sleep.  This can be caused by going to bed too late.  As Dr. Michael Thompson of the ADD Centre in Toronto Canada says, another problem is that before many kids go to bed they are watching stimulating TV programs and playing stimulating video games.  When they finally do go to bed their brains are still too stimulated for quality sleep for some time.  Most children also have to wake up very early to get to school on time.  That doesn’t help things either.  Now this research review is showing that the medications intended to improve attention and hyperactivity symptoms may cause sleep problems in some of the children they are intended to help.

Many parents are now seeking alternatives methods of helping their children with ADHD symptoms.  Neurofeedback therapy is one option.   Neurofeedback uses EEG biofeedback instruments that measure and feedback the electrical signals from the brain.  The information is fed back in a way that helps a person learn how to regulate their brain activity.  Some of the brainwaves are slower like the ones that are present more during sleep.  Others are faster like the ones present more while solving a math problem.  The power of these waves are sometimes out of balance in people with ADHD.  Neurofeedback can help a person learn how to rebalance these brainwaves.  This can lead to improvement in symptoms.

More Read This Blog :  Attention Or Sleep, Problems with Sleep related to ADHD

For listings of certified neurofeedback providers visit www.bcia.org and click on the consumers tab and select find a practitioner.   If you are interested in becoming a provider you can visit our website and start by taking a free online introduction to neurofeedback course here: http://biofeedbackinternational.com/free.htm

 

Harry L. Campbell

President, Biofeedback Resources International

www.biofeedbackinternational.com

Author of the book “What Stress Can Do”

www.createspace.com/3839220

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BiofeedbackResources

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Biofeedback-Resources-International-Corp/118594803123

How Biofeedback Training Reduces Stress

The Problem of Stress

Biofeedback training is an effective method for reducing the negative effects of stress.  There are many sources of stress including politics, natural disasters, terrorist acts, work, family, and financial problems, and traffic.  In this world of 24 hour TV and radio news plus news on our computers, we are constantly bombarded with stressful, negative information.  If that wasn’t enough we have smart phones, tablets, and smart watches with us at all times to make sure that we don’t miss anything.  Wherever we are we can stay up on what is happening.  Besides the information we get from news sources, we also get blogs and podcasts.  In addition to these stress sources, the people who we interact with who cause us stress are able to call, text, or email us 24 hours a day 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Biofeedback Training Method of Reducing Stress

People need methods of reducing the negative effects of stress.  Many of the solutions that are offered are medications.  Even when they are effective they often come with unwanted side-effects.  Thankfully there are some non-drug methods of reducing stress.  Biofeedback training is one such method.  Biofeedback instruments measure muscle tension, skin temperature, skin conductance (sweat), breathing, heart rate, and brainwave activity.  With biofeedback training people learn to control the way their body reacts to stress by viewing a biofeedback device while they practice relaxation exercises.

Where can you get biofeedback training?

Biofeedback Training New York is available through some healthcare professionals like psychologists, psychiatrists, mental health counselors, social workers, physical therapists, and nurses.

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