What is biofeedback?
Biofeedback or biofeedback training, which can literally be translated as "biological feedback", is a therapeutic method born in the United States thanks to researchers such as Miller, Brener, Snyder and Noble, around the 1960s and is a study that falls within the field of psychotherapy and the search for psychological well-being. Basically it is based on behaviorist theory as it helps the patient to become aware and therefore to exercise control over his behavior, increasing the state of relaxation.
Our behavior is in fact often unconscious, linked to the context in which we are: sometimes we put in place a behavior that psychology defines as "adaptive" to self-regulate with the world around us, and we do it in an unconscious and automatic way. Other times, on the other hand, one becomes aware of the change that has occurred, for example if we feel pain in some part of the body, if the heart beats faster, if we sweat: all physical changes that are the consequence of a done action. When the person perceives these signals he can act to modify them, forming an elementary biofeedback system. Biofeedback is the application of these alterations with the appropriate technologies, when the signals are not perceived.
For example, elements such as muscle tension, arterial pressure or change in body temperature are detected through electrodes applied to the body. The patient, who sees a light signal and hears a sound, can therefore voluntarily control what his reaction is. This is why electronics comes to the aid of psychology and physiology. Yes, because in this way the patient can control his own physiological changes and relate them to his mental and somatic attitudes, learning to modify them to bring them back to a "normal" condition .
When is biofeedback useful?
Biofeedback training is used in many cases. For example in the pediatric field: young patients can benefit from this practice to alleviate muscular tension, headaches, migraines or other nervous disorders. the rational and behaviorist part of the technique leads the patient to be re-educated on his own physiological functions, for example to manage emotions and muscular tensions. In general, even for adults, biofeedback is ideal for the management of migraines and headaches .
Biofeedback is also used when there is a need for piscological rehabilitation, following severe stress or in the presence of symptoms such as anxiety or depression . In these cases, once the alteration is perceived, the patient learns to restore normal body movement through concentration, breathing and relaxation techniques. Biofeedback can also be helpful in cases of insomnia, muscle pain due to tension and contraction, psychosomatic or behavioral disorders .
Even some researchers have studied the importance of biofeedback in the treatment of cardiovascular disorders or hypertension. The patient is led, through a gradual process, to learn to detect his own pulse, to recognize the variations and to implement behaviors that restore the normal pulse and re-stabilize the beating of the heart.
The disadvantages of biofeedback? One of the major risks may be due to the fact that the patient can rely too much on the machine to "feel" his body, becoming unaccustomed to recognizing and developing his own body conscience and thus precluding the possibility of increasing the ability to relax on his own.
