Biofeedback

Biofeedback is a technique and a technology that operates where the mind meets the body. It is based on the idea that we have considerable mental control over how our bodies function.

Proponents tout biofeedback's benefits in relieving a variety of diseases and disorders:

• migraine headaches
• stress
• tension headaches
• chronic pain
• incontinence
• high blood pressure
• cardiac arrhythmias (abnormal heart beats)
• attention deficit disorder
• Raynaud's disease (a circulatory disease of the hands)
• epilepsy
• spinal cord injuries and paralysis

What is biofeedback? Does it work?

The science behind biofeedback is well known. The procedures were invented in the 1940s, and the term “biofeedback” first became popular in the 1960s. According to the Association for Applied Psychophysiology & Biofeedback, the professional organization of biofeedback practitioners, the practice trains subjects to “alter brain activity, blood pressure, muscle tension, heart rate and other bodily functions are that not normally controlled voluntarily.”

How does it work?

In some ways, biofeedback devices are the exact opposite of polygraph machines, which, it is claimed to record the physiological effects of the stress caused by lying. In biofeedback, you try to reduce stress by controlling the effects of stress.

In a biofeedback session, a trained therapist will attach electrodes to your body to monitor electrical responses on skin and muscles, which are translated into auditory and/or visual feedbacks. For instance, one device picks up electrical signals from the muscles and translates the signals into a form such as a flashing light or a beeping tone. If you want to relax tense muscles, you try to slow down the flashing or tone mentally, sometimes by visualizing the slowdown. With sufficient training, it becomes possible to achieve the desired relaxation responses without the equipment, according to therapists.

Besides muscles, biofeedback devices can also monitor skin temperature, heart rate, sweat gland activity and brain wave activity.

Biofeedback has been around long enough to be the subject of considerable research, so it's possible to say whether or not there is evidence it works in some people or for some conditions. (Remember that having no evidence that something works is not the same thing as saying it doesn't work. It may, even if no scientific proof of it exists.)

According to Leslie J. Heinberg, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins, biofeedback has been shown to be effective for tension headaches, high blood pressure and Raynaud's phenomenon, a disorder in which the hands feel very cold.

It sometimes is effective as an aid to people who are trying to relax, says Dr. Heinberg, but for most people, learning how to induce a relaxation response without biofeedback is sufficient.

The National Institutes of Health report that there is moderate evidence that biofeedback can lead to relief of chronic pain. It also appears to work very well for 20 percent of the people who suffer from urinary incontinence and moderately well for another 30 percent. Biofeedback also helps some people suffering from insomnia. Despite claims to the contrary, NIH says biofeedback appears to have no effect on attention deficit disorder and, though it is commonly used for nonspecific headaches and vascular conditions, no evidence supports its efficacy in treating these conditions.

Nor is there any evidence that biofeedback works for the treatment of substance abuse, diabetes or cancer, except perhaps in helping people deal with pain associated with these conditions. There appears to have been very little scientific research on biofeedback's use for epilepsy, spinal cord injuries or cardiac arrhythmias.

The most common use of biofeedback is for the treatment of stress, but NIH says there is no evidence that people who use biofeedback as a therapy for stress experience any statistically significant change due to the treatment.

There are no negative side effects of biofeedback.

Last Updated: 3/5/2003
The Johns Hopkins University 1996-2003.  All rights reserved.  This information is not intended to provide advice on personal medical matters, nor is it intended to be a substitute for consultation.