Listen to a conversation in a physiology seminar. The professor and the students are discussing bio-feedback.
P:The focus of our conversation today is bio-feedback. Basically it's the technical in which patients are able to monitor their own body function. What it does is to monitor physiological changes in a patient that he or she would necessarily be conscious of. Generally speaking, these change are someone negative nature like rates of hear beat or mussel tension and are most often induced by stress. And once the patients become aware of the changes, they can learn to control them. It's a relatively new therapy
n. may possible by technology.
M:But what the technology have to do with this? It isn't obvious when someone is tense and
has rapid heart beat.
P:Well, some changes are very subtle and happen faster than the human can monitor alone.
M:So how is someone made aware of this physiological changes?
P:Well, the patient is hooked up to a machine. And it needs either a beep or a flashing light in response to…well like I said:mussel tension or rapid heart beat. And the beep or whatever signal to patient.
W:Would you say that this is kind of physiological conditioning. That it tried to change person behavior by negative reinforcement. So you are forced to relax because you are afraid the machine would feedback to you?
P:You are certainly not far off, but your example isn't quite right. I think the goal is to become more aware of what happen to your body when reacting to the stress. If you are aware of it, you have a greater degree to control over it. And theoretically, you can minimize it. And result is similar. You learn at least in case of stress disorders to control tension in your body.
W:Is bio-feedback used only for stress disorder?
P:No, it has lots of other applications. But right now, stress is what most successful treat. Interestingly, biofeedback is over weighted when they first came out in 1960. People claim that it could be used to control all kinds of things, like abnormally high blood pressure, severe hard condition what have you, I didn't turn out exactly to be true.
M:Do you think biofeedback will ever be used to treat other conditions thus successfully as has stress?
P:Good question. Now I've heard that some researchers are looking into the possibility that might someday be used to help certain paralysis people recover to use their arms, their legs. But that's quick away off.