CLINICAL BIOFEEDBACK THERAPY

Clinical biofeedback therapy is a process by which you learn to identify and control your reaction to stressors. You learn to reduce stress by modifying attitudes, expectations, and behaviors that lead to emotional and bodily upset and you learn some voluntary control of your body reactions. You do this by working with our biofeedback therapist who helps you label and change your response patterns by using equipment that gives information about various bodily functions such as blood flow, pulse rate, muscle tension and electrical differences in your body. The equipment is not harmful to you, it only gives you information concerning what your body is doing at levels you are not normally aware. Patients are referred for biofeedback therapy when they have a stress related disorder such as the ones listed on the back of this brochure. Tension and migraine headaches are common disorders that respond well to this type of therapy.

Most of us are able to handle normal day-to-day stress without too much anxiety. For example, after an individual meets a specific stressful challenge, his tense body returns to its normal level of activity relatively quickly. However, when the stress is ambiguous, prolonged, or from several sources at once (i.e. pathological stress), he develops significant anxiety and his body stays in that state of tenseness long after the stressful circumstance is over. If he is exposed to pathological stress again and again without knowing how to handle it effectively, he may gradually lose his body's capability to recover to a normal level of activity. This condition often results in chronic headaches, colitis, ulcers, and/or high blood pressure etc. corresponding to their personality type and how they handle stress physiologically. Until recently, reliable ways to measure anxiety and stress in an objective manner were unavailable. Furthermore, there were few, if any, psychological techniques available to reduce one's anxiety and/or perception of pathological stress. The only alternatives were medications such as Valium and Librium. Much has changed today, there are many "non-drug" techniques available to reduce anxiety and stress.

Stress disorders are often hidden from the patient until it is too late. For example, there are many individuals who suffer from high blood pressure and are unaware of it. Therefore, normally the first step in the diagnosis of a stress disorder and/or generalized anxiety disorder is to be evaluated by your family physician in order to rule out any possible medically related diagnosis. Although we accept many self referrals, we normally work closely with the patient's family physician or specialist since stress disorders are both a medical and a psychological problem.

As part of our initial evaluation at Psychological Services, the patient is given a Psychophysiological Stress Test using our biofeedback instruments. Biofeedback instruments objectively measure the amount of stress-induced anxiety present in the various systems of your body, i.e., muscular, cardiovascular, digestive, respiratory and neurological systems. The results of the patient's Psychophysiological Stress Test are then compared to local, as well as notional norms, to see if the patient is exhibiting an excessive amount of anxiety physiologically and if he is recovering from a standardized stressful stimuli in an appropriate length of time. Finally, if appropriate, we also give psychological testing in order to determine the emotional and/or social etiology of the stress disorder. These tests ate health-related personality tests designed to help the therapist set up appropriate techniques for the patient to use to reduce their anxiety and speed their recovery from pathological stress. For example, we can reliably predict what type of stress-related disorder a patient is prone to get and if he is prone to get a stress-related disorder. There are four basic personality styles (A, B,C,D) that are prone to get these medical disorders if they are exposed to pathological stress and can't deal with it. If a stress-related disorder is diagnosed, we set up an appropriate, individualized treatment program for each patient.

How would you like to set your own blood pressure without taking a pill or losing a pound? Would you like to learn to stop having headaches of reduce or effectively eliminate arthritic pain without the use of medications? Biofeedback Therapy may be the answer for you. Since Biofeedback devices alert patients to subtle changes that are happening in the body that he cannot initially detect, he can learn to reverse the stress induced changes by using these devices to determine what mental, emotional, physical exercises uniquely work for him. Many stress-related disorders can be alleviated, if not eliminated, through the regular practice of the psychological techniques listed below without the use of medications. One of our goals is to reach our patients how to cope with life's problems and pathological stresses without becoming dependent on medication or other drugs. We also want to help them maximize their quality of life. Sometimes medication is necessary in the beginning of the process, but we are normally able to reduce and eventually eliminate medications in a relatively short period of time. At Psychological Services we teach and use a variety of proven psychological techniques in order to help the patient effectively. They include The Quieting Response, Neurostimulation Therapy, Autogenic Training, Hypnosis, Breathing Techniques, Biofeedback Therapy, Visual Imagery Training, The Relax and Learn Process, Behavioral Relaxation Techniques, Diet Therapy, and Exercise Therapy. These techniques are active in nature; and our patients can usually feel some relief almost immediately. In addition, we give specific, concrete instructions concerning how to use these techniques; and we evaluate whether our patients are using the techniques correctly through the use of our biofeedback instruments during the therapy sessions. Thus, the patient's progress and the effectiveness of the prescribed treatment are assessed objectively on a regular basis using the biofeedback instruments. The average number of treatments is approximately 10-12 sessions.

They include:

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