BIOFEEDBACK

 

Biofeedback is a form of alternative medicine that involves measuring a subject's quantifiable bodily functions such as blood pressure, heart rate, skin temperature, sweat gland activity, and muscle tension, conveying the information to the patient in real-time. This raises the patient's awareness and conscious control of their unconscious physiological activities.

By providing the user access to physiological information about which he or she is generally unaware, biofeedback allows users to gain control of physical processes previously considered an automatic response of the autonomous nervous system. Interest in biofeedback has waxed and waned since its inception in the 1960s; it is, however, undergoing something of a renaissance during the early 21st century, which some experts attribute to the general rise in interest about all alternative medicine modalities. Neurofeedback, a type of biofeedback treatment, has also become a popular treatment for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); electromyogram biofeedback, used for muscle tension, has been widely studied and is currently accepted as a treatment for incontinence disorders, and small biofeedback machines are becoming available for a variety of uses in the home. The role of biofeedback in controlling hypertension is also becoming recognised.^[1]

The Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, or AAPB is the non-profit scientific and professional society for biofeedback, much akin to the American Psychological Association.

 

 Origin of biofeedback

Neal Miller, a psychologist and neuroscientist who worked and studied at Yale University during the middle of the 20th century, is generally considered the father of modern-day biofeedback. He discovered the basic principles of biofeedback by accident while performing animal experimentation of classical conditioning behavior of rats. Miller theorized that any measurable physiological behavior within the human body would respond in some way to voluntary control. His team found that by stimulating the pleasure center of a paralyzed rat's brain with electricity, it was possible to train them to control phenomena ranging from their heart rate to their blood pressure and body temperature. Until that point, it was believed by the scientific community that physiological processes (e.g. heart rate) were solely under the control of the autonomic nervous system and not responsive to conscious effort^[2]. Miller later retracted many of his claims because he was unable to replicate much of his data and one of his primary research assistants, Leo DiCara, committed suicide around the same time.

The theories proposed by the Miller group make up one of three major approaches to understanding the mechanism of self-regulation of the body. Voluntary control of the autonomic nervous system had previously been considered impossible, something only controlled by conditioning.

Other threads of inquiry that led to the present-day "biofeedback" emerged from clinical attempts to use mind/body self-regulation techniques in healthcare. Dr. Elmer Green of the Menninger Foundation performed some of the original research on the limits of human self-regulation of processes normally controlled by the unconscious mind and then applied these techniques successfully to the treatment of migraine headaches and hypertension. Dr. Barbara Brown was the first to coin the word "biofeedback" during the early days of experimentation, at the same time as the formation of the Biofeedback Research Society. Other early pioneers were interested in the study of "consciousness" and looked towards electroencephalogram (EEG) self-regulation as a way to approach mind vs. brain dichotomy (see the work of Dr.Kamiya). Other early efforts in the field of biofeedback were directed toward the examination of claims by yogis and others who meditate who were able to demonstrate mind/body control and markers of states of consciousness.^[3] See Elmer Green et al Beyond Biofeedback and Barbara Brown Stress & The Art of Biofeedback for some early writings. The Biofeedback Research Society evolved into the Biofeedback Society of America and more recently the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback.

 

생리적 과정에서 동일 개체 내에 즉각적으로 공급되는 정보.

사람의 심장혈관 활성도(혈압 및 박동수), 체온, 뇌파 또는 근긴장(筋緊張) 등에 관한 자료는 전기적으로 관찰되고, 미터·빛·소리의 단위로 '되먹임'된다.

자율신경계의 활성 같은 것은 한때 개인이 조절할 수 없는 것으로 생각되었으나, 생물학적 자료를 사용하여 스트레스 또는 피부 밖에서 일어나는 일에 대한 신체의 반응을 임시로 조절하는 방법을 배울 수 있게 되었다.

개인은 생물 피드백 훈련을 통하여 자신의 신체반응(피부 내에서 일어나는 일)을 알아내고 조절하는 것을 배운다.

생물 피드백 훈련은 스트레스에 대해 학습된 반응을 변화시키려는 행동요법의 한 형태이다.

질병의 증세(예를 들면 통증·근긴장)를 성공적으로 완화시킬 수 있으며, 특히 환자가 스트레스에 대한 자신의 반응을 이해하는 데 도움이 되는 심리요법이 병행되면 그 효과가 지속될 수 있다.

생물 피드백 훈련의 대상에는 편두통·위장경련(예를 들면 대장염)·고혈압·티크증·간질발작 등의 빈도와 정도 등이 포함된다.

많은 심리학자들은 이론적으로는 대뇌 변연계(limbic system)나 다른 항상적 과정에서 일어나는 전기-생리적 활성을 포함하여 지속적으로 감지되고 나타낼 수 있는 생리과정은 모두 부분적인 통제를 할 수 있다고 믿고 있다.

 

뇌파를 가지고 하는 생물 피드백 훈련은 정신적 기능을 증진시키는 데 유용하다. α파(波) 훈련은 평온과 묵상의 내적 효과를 증진시키며, θ파 훈련은 '정신집중장애'와 불안의 조절에 좀더 중점을 두고 지도한다