What is Biofeedback, Neurofeedback and Applied Psychophysiology?

 

"Wonderful opportunity. Positive learning environment. Technically on target, practical, good depth. I appreciated inclusion of theoretical and philosophical discussion. Super learning experience." - Dick A. Genardi, Ph.D., Director Behavioral Health Associates, Inc.,Dayton, Ohio

There have been scores of books written on Biofeedback, Neurofeedback and Applied Psychophysiology. We introduce you to those we feel are the best and most relevant of them through our training,website etc. New books for the general public and several for professionals have been published recently. Most of the focus at present is on Neurofeedback because it is the most dramatic and fastest growing type of biofeedback. One of those books is our own, MINDFITNESS TRAINING: Neurofeedback and The Process.

There have been thousands of scientific studies in this field - many of them published in the most refereed journals in their respective disciplines. Some world class scientists, practitioners and neurophilosophers believe that biofeedback and neurofeedback discoveries rank among the most important technological, educational and medical breakthroughs of the last several centuries. If you consider that self-knowledge and heuristic (self) learning are generally considered to be the most important skills most human beings can develop, then it is easy to understand why biofeedback is receiving so much attention.

The simplest explanation is that biofeedback is the use of instrumentation to feed back information about the psychophysiology (mind and body) of a human being to him or herself. Given this information most individuals can increase their control (self-regulation) of whatever activity is being monitored. Things begin to get exciting when we look into the implications of these extraordinary levels of control and what the benefits are to those learning these high levels of self-regulation.

The resulting profound mind/body changes are applicable to over four hundred common clinical disorders and the list is growing continuously. There are also extraordinary applications to Performance and Life Enhancement. This means there are many forms of biofeedback and many types of instrumentation. Some of the most common are: electromyograph (EMG) Electrical activity of the muscles (Voluntary Nervous System), Electroencephalograph (EEG) Electrical activity of the brain (Central Nervous System), Temperature (TEMP) Peripheral blood flow, Electrodermal Response (EDR, SCR, GSR, etc., Sweat Gland activity, Heart Rate (HR) including the extraordinarily exciting new field of neurocardiology), and Blood Pressure (BP) all Autonomic Nervous System measures. Applied Psychophysiology is the large field of study of the mind and body and the practical applications of that research. Biofeedback and Transactional Psychophysiology are important parts of this greater field.

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The Role of Biofeedback Equipment in Stress Management

Stress management is a huge subject. There are many methods of managing stress.

 

One thing that is constant is that the body reacts to stress in several ways, many of which can be measured using biofeedback equipment. People who are experiencing stress often have sensations that they can feel, if they are sensitive and present enough without biofeedback equipment.

 

These sensations may be related to changes in cardiovascular activity like your heart beating faster or more forcefully, blood vessels constricting, muscles contracting, increased sweat, changes in brain activity, or changes in digestive activity. These changes are related to what is called physiology. Whether a person feels these changes or not, they are happening. What biofeedback equipment can do is make the invisible, visible.

 

It can show you the measurable changes that are happening, moment by moment so that you can connect the changes to the events that may have triggered them. You can also use this information to learn to train your physiology or affect how much change there is and reverse some of the changes if they are in an unhealthy direction. When we step on a scale and don’t like the number we see, we may regulate our behavior including eating and exercise to change the number we see on the scale over time. This is a slower process than what we see when using biofeedback equipment. The changes in the readings can happen in moments instead of days, weeks, or months. With practice you can train your physiology to behave in a more healthy way. The negative changes become smaller, and you recover from them more quickly.

 

The things that biofeedback equipment can measure include muscle tension, skin temperature, skin conductance (sweat activity), Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability, Respiration, end tidal CO2, and EEG/brainwave activity.

 

Free introductory biofeedback and neurofeedback courses are available at www.biofeedbackinternational.com

 

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What Can You Do About Stress?

Stress tends to trigger the fight, flight, or flee response which is supposed to be an emergency state which lasts for only a short time.  When there is not a short-term emergency requiring a physical response then the state can last for a long time.  It may also be triggered repeatedly over a long period of time.  When this happens, negative symptoms including pain, headaches, cardiovascular problems, and insomnia can result.

Try some of these things to reduce the negative effects of stress on your physical and mental health.

Monitor your muscles.  Several times during the day, take a few moments to scan your body from head to toe for any areas where you are holding tension.  You might notice that you are frowning, biting your teeth together, raising your shoulders, or holding tension in your arms, hands, legs, or feet.  Just release the tension and notice how much better it feels.  You can do this when you are feeling stressed too.

Slow breathing.  Most of us breath faster and shallower than we need to.  Males tend to breathe 12-14 breaths per minute.  Females breathe about 14-16 breaths per minute on average.  In my experience many people who are anxious are breathing 15-30 breaths per minute.  Simply practicing breathing at a slower pace can reduce anxiety and decrease the negative effects of stress.  Find a pace that is comfortable for you so that you will feel good about practicing it.  There are computer programs and smart phone apps that help you to practice slow paced breathing.  Some Heart Rate Variability biofeedback experts suggest practicing slow paced breathing for twenty minutes two times each day to relieve stress symptoms

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Biofeedback Applications in Education

Biofeedback is a process that uses technology to measure and feed back information about a person’s physiology so that they can learn how to gain increased control over it.  It is used clinically in healthcare settings by licensed mental or physical medicine professionals including psychologists, social workers, mental health counselors, physical therapists, chiropractors, nurses, occupational therapists, and rehab therapists.  It can also be used in educational settings.

Here is a list of biofeedback equipment modalities and what they measure:

Surface EMG (Electromyography) – Action potentials produced when muscles contract.

Skin Temperature – Temperature increases when blood vessels dilate with relaxation and decreases when blood vessels constrict in response to stress.

Skin Conductance – Increases when sweat increases on the hands in response to emotional reaction.

Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability – Changes with changes in the autonomic nervous system.  It is related to vagal tone and can be affected by emotional state and breathing as well as physical activity

Respiration – Measures depth, mechanics, and rate of breathing.

Capnometer – Measures the amount of CO2 in the air that is exhaled through the nostrils into two tubes connected to an instrument.

EEG (Electroencephalograph) – Measures action potentials produced when neurons in the brain fire as part of their communication and function.

I will briefly discuss a few ways that biofeedback equipment can be used in K-12 schools as well as colleges and universities.

Science exploration – Educators can use biofeedback equipment to teach students about the various signals that can be measured from their bodies and the things that cause those signals to change.  Students of any age might be interested to learn about the measurable signals produced by their bodies like the energy given off by their muscles or brain, or the fact that their hand temperature or sweat activity can change in response to a thought.

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Adding The Intelligence of the Heart in Performance Enhancement Training

 R. Adam Crane BCIA Senior Fellow, BCIAEEG, NRNP Diplomate

Science of The Heart: The Role of the Heart in Human Performance

Introduction

For centuries the heart has been considered the source of emotion, courage and wisdom. Neurocardiology is the relatively new science of exploring the physiological mechanisms by which the heart communicates with the brain; thereby influencing information processing, perceptions, emotions and health. Neurocardiology asks questions such as: Why do people experience the feeling or sensation of love and other positive emotional states in the area of the heart, and what are the physiological ramifications of these emotions? How do stress and different emotional states affect the autonomic nervous system, the hormonal and immune systems, the heart and brain? Over the years scientists have experimented with different psychological and physiological measures, but consistently heart rate variability, or heart rhythms, stands out as one of the most dynamic and reflective measures of inner emotional states and stress.

It is clear that negative emotions lead to increased disorder in the heart’s rhythms and in the autonomic nervous system, thereby adversely affecting the rest of the body. In contrast, positive emotions create increased harmony and coherence in heart rhythms, and improve balance in the nervous system. The health implications are easy to understand. Disharmony in the nervous system leads to inefficiency and increased stress on the heart and other organs, while harmonious rhythms are more efficient and less stressful to the body’s systems.

More intriguing are the dramatic positive changes that occur when techniques are applied that increase coherence in rhythmic patterns of heart rate variability. These include shifts in perception and the ability to reduce stress, and deal more effectively with difficult situations. Apparently, the heart is acting as though it has a mind of its own, and is profoundly influencing the way we perceive and respond to the world. In essence, the heart is affecting intelligence and awareness.

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Professional Peripheral Biofeedback BCIA Program

 This innovative seminar is designed to teach clinicians biofeedback fundamentals and cutting-edge applications. This program covers all 42 hours of the BCIA Didactic Biofeedback Education requirement through powerful demonstrations of biofeedback and adjunctive procedures, imaginative hands-on lab exercises with multi-channel computerized equipment, professional multimedia presentations and comprehensive review materials. This program integrates personal hands-on training with equipment with didactic presentation.

Participants will learn:

• The foundations of biofeedback
• Physiological basis and recording of surface electromyography (sEMG), temperature, electrodermal activity (EDA), respiration patterns (strain gauges and pCO2), electroencephalography (EEG), peripheral blood flow (BVP), heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and economic biofeedback approaches (including incentive inspirometers and scales)
• How to identifying artifacts and determining appropriate recording
• How to record and interpret data
• How to perform a psychophysiological profile and pre and post data comparison
• The use of adjunctive techniques such as progressive relaxation t raining, autogenic training, imagery, guided breathing, desensitization, mindfulness training, quieting reflex.
• The role of home biofeedback devices such as EmWave, Unyte and GSR2
• Overview of clinical and educational applications

Online Dates:
September 22

In Person Dates:
October 14-16, 2022 – Hawthorne, NY

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Biofeedback and Neurofeedback Applications for Military and Law Enforcement

 

Military service people and law enforcement officers have a lot in common.  In fact, many military veterans go into law enforcement after their military careers end.  Two other similarities are that both military service and law enforcement involve high stress and require high levels of performance.  Both, at times, can come with daily life or death high-stress situations.  These service people and officers naturally would experience their fight or flight responses being activated more often than most other people. It is also super important that they both perform their duties at a high level.  Many lives may depend on how well they perform.

Biofeedback and neurofeedback can apply to both, helping people manage stress and improve performance.  We don’t have to wait until there is a clinical problem.  These interventions can be used to prevent problems, help people manage stress, and improve performance.

When working with military service people and law enforcement officers it may be helpful not to use terms like relaxation or stress management.  Many of the people who work in these areas have negative thoughts about relaxation or the thought that they might need stress management.  They might be more accepting of working on learning self-regulation or improved control of their nervous system in order to improve performance.  You can make the case that in these lines of work you need to use your mind and body together at a high level to perform at your best.  Learning to be more aware of how your body reacts to your thoughts and learning better control of things like your muscles, breathing, and focus sound obviously helpful.  Biofeedback and neurofeedback can help in these areas.

Biofeedback uses instruments that measure and feedback signals from the body including surface EMG (Electromyograph) for muscle activity, skin temperature for peripheral blood flow, skin conductance for sweat activity, Heart Rate, and Heart Rate Variability for cardiovascular responses, and Respiration for breathing.  Neurofeedback uses instruments that measure EEG (Electroencephalograph) which measures and shows brain activity.  Through reinforcement, the subject can learn to change the activity to improve mind-body wellness.

Through the use of surface EMG biofeedback, one can learn to contract the muscles that need to contract for a task and keep the others relaxed.  Through regulation of breathing, using respiration biofeedback, one can either become more alert and activated or become calmer under pressure. By using skin conductance biofeedback, one can learn to regulate the level of emotional reaction during stressful conditions.  Through EEG biofeedback/neurofeedback training, one can learn to improve mental focus or decrease nervous brain states which help allow better decision making, clear thinking, and performance.  This type of training can be very beneficial for military service people or law enforcement officers.  These applications can be considered non-clinical so that a person who is not a licensed health care professional can learn to use biofeedback and neurofeedback with military service people or law enforcement officers in an educational model.

Harry L. Campbell

914-762-4646 – Harry@biofeedbackinternational.com

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

Biofeedback Resources International Corp.

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