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Biofeedback is based upon the concept of “feedback”. Information about an individual is fed back to that same individual about their physiology. Biofeedback has been likened to a mirror.
In therapy, a psychologist obtains information from a person through observation and from what they say. The psychologist then interprets this information based upon his knowledge and a theory and then feeds back to that person the interpreted subjective information. With biofeedback, the information that is fed back is totally objective. The person observes the information and then decides what must be done.
For example, a person sticks a thermometer in their mouth. They take the thermometer out to see what their body temperature is because they cannot tell what it is themselves. At this point, it is just a measuring device. The device becomes a tool when the person leaves the thermometer in their mouth and they do something to lower the temperature.
Most of what we do is automatic. We respond to life automatically without thinking. In the case of stress our bodies react automatically to a stressor. This can include the increase of our heart beat, our pupils becoming dilated, our muscles tighten, our breathing increases, our stomachs and our stop digesting. Once the stressor is no longer there we should be calming back down. This is called resilience. Unfortunately, now a days many people are unable to stop this reaction and often the harder we try to relax the worse the reaction becomes. Often people look to the outside to stop this reaction with medication, alcohol, music, eating, watching, television, playing computer games and the list goes on. At the beginning it helps but soon these cures can become addictive and we need more. In addition there can be many side effects.
With biofeedback we can learn how to stop some of these automatic responses. We can use the biofeedback to observe how are bodies respond and then we can learn how to stop or decrease these responses naturally. The biofeedback coach/trainer will teach the individual how they can do this.
As a person become calmer they can then learn how to focus better, be calmer, be more balanced and have more energy.
Once a person becomes calmer with the help of the biofeedback. But they may want to learn how to do this without the use of the biofeedback. They can learn this by working with the HeartSmart program which gently guides them through a process to independence.
Definition of Biofeedback
Biofeedback is a process that enables an individual to learn how to change physiological activity for the purposes of improving health and performance. Precise instruments measure physiological activity such as brainwaves, heart function, breathing, muscle activity, and skin temperature. These instruments rapidly and accurately "feed back" information to the user. The presentation of this information — often in conjunction with changes in thinking, emotions, and behavior — supports desired physiological changes. Over time, these changes can endure without continued use of an instrument.
This definition was ratified by the Task Force on Nomenclature in 2008
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