MORE ABOUT BIOFEEDBACK AND ITS APPLICATIONS IN STRESS MANAGEMENT, TRAINING AND THERAPY
► Biofeedback methods & technologies are scientifically validated tools which will help an employee |  |
to recognize and self-regulate his or her mind-body processes for the purpose of improving his or her health or performance in a drug & surgery-free way.
► Biofeedback methods are very useful for creating of readiness for self-exploration. They reduce the resistance to any psychotherapy or training and create possibilities for the trainees to realize the interconnections between the mind and the body. Biofeedback display can objectively prove and show the real physiological effect from soft skills for anger management, conflicts resolution, public speaking & self-control, arousal regulation & stress resilience.
► It is well known in the science, technology and business world that if it can't be found reliable metrics and ways to measure any process it can not be controlled - "if you can't measure it you can't manage or improve it" . The power of biofeedback comes from its main feature to measure and thus fine - tune very specific mind-body states. Biofeedback itself doesn't heal anything but the mind-body states it promotes reinforce mental & physical health as well as assist to attain peak performance.
► For these reasons the different biofeedback modalities have been proven effective in varying degrees in a wide range of affective, psychosomatic, neurological and stress-related health disorders like anxiety, depression, PTSD, attentional disorders (ADD/ADHD), epilepsy, high blood pressure, irritable bowel syndrome, sleep disorders, chronic pain, panic disorders & PTSD, addictions and others ( click here to see all conditions where biofeedback has been applied with evidence-based support and the results you can expect ) . Also biofeedback has been very effectively applied in sport, art, business and military mental training as a training tool for learning self-control and stress-resilience skills. Biofeedback is compatible with the conventional and alternative therapies, psychotherapy, food or training regimens and can increase significantly their effectiveness. Biofeedback training may take 5 to 15 or more sessions for reaching trainee's goals.
BENEFITS OF BIOFEEDBACK INTEGRATION INTO OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS
Biofeedback in its core is a tool for measurement of the changes in certain physiological parameters in response to behavior modification, psychotherapy, counseling, mental training or any other treatment. One of the strongest points of biofeedback integration into EAP or OH programs is its inherent provision of reliable bio-parameters for objective tracking & measurement of the progress of any therapy or soft-skills & resilience training program. In this sense there are at least several ways to integrate biofeedback into occupational health or employee assistance programs:
► Biofeedback-assisted psychotherapy or counseling. Biofeedback and biological monitoring are useful in creating readiness for selfexploration, reducing therapeutic resistance, and enabling the patient to recognize mind-body linkages. Display of physiological signals enables therapist and patient alike to identify maladaptive and stereotypic responses to stress, and to retrain more flexible and adaptive responding. Biological monitoring during the course of psychotherapy can provide a “window into the soul” – alerting both patient and therapist to attune to specific topics and life situations which activate somatic threat and distress reactions. Obviously this application of biofeedback is more suitable for face-to-face counseling but it can be done also through Skype connection if the client has biofeedback hardware & software in his home. If you are interested in more details about biofeedback integration into psychotherapy you can download an excellent article explaining the principles of biofeedback use in psychotherapy through case examples.
► Biofeedback-assisted corporate trainings for stress management, resilience or soft skills ( public speaking & presentations, negotiations, conflicts resolution, anger management ). In high-stakes situations like negotiations, conflicts management or public speaking peak performance will occur as an end result of both excellent professional and mental preparation. Mental skills for peak performance involve the developed ability to flexibly regulate emotional arousal and attention in stressful situations in order to allow the rational thinking and creativity to solve the problem at hand or to unleash fluid performance without over-analyzing. Biofeedback has been used very successfully in sport, military, art and business peak performance training for the purposes of:
- To illustrate how thoughts affect body and performance.
- To monitor and modulate physiological relaxation and emotional arousal.
- To identify stressful components of the performance during corporate role play trainings or imagery rehearsal.
- To facilitate concentration training in a stressful environment.
- To employ behavior modification strategies in situations which would previously have resulted in stressed, angry or violent behaviours.
Obviously the integration of biofeedback into soft skills corporate trainings requires face-to-face contact and customization of the training in order to correspond to the needs of the organization. We are experienced in the delivery of soft-skills corporate trainings ( stress management, conflicts management, public speaking ) supported by biofeedback.
If you are interested to know more about this approach of biofeedback implementation you may find additional information in the following files for download:
- Biofeedback Protocol for Peak Performance Training in Sport ( the protocol is applicable also to soft skills business trainings and anxiety disorders )
- Biofeedback used to support group work with school kids with anger and violent behavior ( the protol is applicable also to soft skills training for conflicts management)
- Biofeedback applied in the training for Public Speaking & Presentation Skills
► Home-based biofeedback training. This way of biofeedback training is especially suitable for the model of short-term counseling applied by the EAP programs. The employee gets biofeedback hardware & software for home use and is being supervised for a few sessions in the beginning by a trained-to-use biofeedback EAP counsellor or by ourselves through Skype connection. In this format biofeedback training may be used standalone or in combination with the regular EAP counseling, psychotherapy or resilience training.
Psychotherapy, counseling or soft-skills/resilience trainings are tools to enrich the mind, whereas EEG-biofeedback or neurofeedback for example is a tool to enrich the brain. The mind depends upon healthy brain metabolism and electrical functioning when attempting to draw conclusions and make changes. Two intervention methods are better than one. A healthy brain is a flexible brain which wil adjust its electrochemical activity according to the task at hand. The brain which favours peak mental performance easily adjusts the emotinal arousal and is able to use rational thinking and creativity in a balanced way. There is a close correspondence between the different mental states like anxiety, calmness, depressive mood, etc. and their relevant brainwave electrical patterns. Through the new neuroimaging devices the neuroscience revealed that widespread mental disorders like anxiety, depression or chronic fatigue syndrome have specific brainwave “signature “ or characteristic pattern of brainwave activity.
EEG-biofeedback or neurofeedback helps to effortlessly disrupt unwanted neural patterns and to fine tune the brain activity into healthier patterns. Thus through changing the brain neurophysiology underlying and supporting the mental disorder we create the necessary conditions for positive change – for example it is very difficult , if not impossible, to be anxious with muscles fully relaxed, slow and smooth breathing, warm and dry hands and feet, as well as brainwaves frequencies' amplitudes distributed in a healthy proportion.
► Home-based biofeedback training ( especially EEG-biofeedback for retraining the brain electrical activity and cerebral blood flow ) used standalone is a kind of mental "gym" - similarly to the muscles' weights/resistance training the brain is gradually challenged to reach and maintain specific measurable states which promote health and peak performance. Done in regular fashion this kind of brain training makes the brain stronger, more flexible, enduring and resilient when facing stress. Just like the physical weights training of the muscles the EEG-biofeedback of the brain is a measurable process which allows to track the progress of the training. Often, depending on every particular case, EEG-biofeedback training helps to resolve mental disorders like depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder or phobias. The method also has been proven effective in the therapy of chemical addictions. To get an idea of EEG-biofeedback used as a "mental gym" please see the second video below.
To get more details about how EEG-biofeedback home training is being used to support therapy or peak performance click here to download an article about Mind-Reflector home training software protocols.
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU TO IMPLEMENT BIOFEEDBACK IN YOUR BUSINESS ACTIVITY OR TREATMENT
► We provide complete solutions for occupational health or employees assistance programs consultants as well as for employees themselves :
► High-quality and affordable hardware and software suitable for in-office or home use. We are authorized dealer of reputable producers.
► Aftersales support - we shall support you to start use the equipment very fast without loosing any time for learning the application method itself no matter if you are healthcare specialist or end user.
► We can train some of your people ( HR specialists, psychologists, occupational health specialists, health and safety specialists, doctors ) how to apply the method and the hardware in the context of different medical or psychological treatments. Training size may vary from 1 or 2 hours to 1 or 2 days supported by presentations and learning materials in pdf files in English.
► We provide supervising sessions support to home users for installation of the software and to customize biofeedback protocols for help with their condition.
► We provide support and training by e-mail or Skype.
► More information about us and our contact details
VIDEOS AND RESEARCH ARTICLES ABOUT BIOFEEDBACK APPLICATIONS RELATED TO MENTAL HEALTH, PSYCHOTHERAPY AND PEAK PERFORMANCE TRAINING
IN THIS VIDEO YOU MAY FIND A SHORT AND POPULAR INTRODUCTION TO BIOFEEDBACK HEALTH IMPROVING APPLICATIONS
FROM THIS VIDEO YOU MAY UNDERSTAND HOW BIOFEEDBACK IS BEING USED IN SPORTS, MILITARY, ARTS AND BUSINESS FOR THE PURPOSE OF IMPROVING PERFORMANCE AND CONCENTRATION IN STRESS ENVIRONMENT
Click to download an excellent introduction to the applications & history of the different Biofeedback modalities as an ultimate_self_help tools
Click here to download very informative introduction to biofeedback and physiology assessment clinical applications.
Click here to download study for HRV-biofeedback application as s new training approach for operators’ cognitive performance enhancement
Click here to download an overview of EEG-biofeedback or neurofeedback use in the treatment of PTSD,addictions and as a peak performance training tool.