Bio-feedback Therapy
Biofeedback is a treatment technique in which people are trained to improve their health and skills by using signals from their own bodies.
Along with other things we use it to help clients
Learn to relax
To prepare for an event
To improve skills
To reduce anxiety
To improve focus and attention
Chances are you have used biofeedback yourself. You've used it if you have ever taken your temperature or stepped on a scale. The thermometer tells you whether you're running a fever, the scale whether you've gained weight. Both devices "feed back" information about your body's condition. Armed with this information, you can take steps you've learned to improve the condition.
Bio-feedback therapists reply on more complex biofeedback machines in somewhat the same way that you rely on your scale or thermometer. Their machines can detect a person's internal bodily functions with far greater sensitivity and precision than a person can alone. This information may be valuable. Both clients and therapists use it to gauge and direct progress.
For clients, the biofeedback machine acts as a kind of sixth sense that allows them to "see" or "hear" activity inside their bodies. One commonly used type of machine, for example, picks up heart rate and heart rhythm signals from the ear lobe using a sensor that feeds the information to the computer. As the person relaxes they are able to move a car forward in a race and as they get tense the car starts to slowdown.
When the car starts to slow, the biofeedback trainee makes internal adjustments that alter the signals. The biofeedback therapist acts as a coach, standing at the sidelines setting goals and limits on what to expect and giving hints on how to improve performance.
With practice the client learns to activate these relaxation responses in their everyday life improving performance and quality of experience.
