Glyn Blackett □ Psychotherapist
Psychotherapy □ Hypnotherapy □ NLP □ Stress Management □ Based in York

Glyn Blackett is a trained psychotherapist and hypnotherapist, practising at York Science Park. With free parking it is readily accessible to residents of York, Leeds and the Yorkshire area.

tel: 01904 435 267

FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION

An opportunity to
meet the therapist -
up to 30 mins

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Biofeedback In Psychotherapy

Biofeedback is a powerful adjunctive tool for psychotherapy. Disorders such as anxiety and depression are mind-body phenomena: they have a basis in both psychology and physiology. Psychotherapy needs to address both.

In biofeedback a therapist uses scientific instruments to measure physiological correlates of mental states, and feed the signals back to the user via computer. This usually means displaying the signal as a graph of some sort. The feedback enables us to become more aware of how thoughts and feelings affect us physically. With training and practice with biofeedback, we can learn to create the physiological conditions for more positive states of mind.

A simple example of a biofeedback parameter is EMG (electromyography) - this is an electrical correlate of muscle tension. You probably know from your own experience that muscle tension tends to increase with stress. But it's not always easy to be aware of, or to change - that's how biofeedback can help.

brain scan of hyperventilation

Another useful biofeedback parameter is the level of carbon dioxide in exhaled air, which can be measured with an instrument called a capnometer. Depleted levels of carbon dioxide are an indication of over-breathing. In my experience over-breathing is one of the most significant factors in anxiety and depression. The figure above shows the effect of over-breathing: reduced brain activity levels. Breathing retraining using capnometry biofeedback can appreciably ameliorate physical symptoms of stress.

Neurofeedback

Neurofeedback is biofeedback that uses some measure of brain activity, most typically EEG or electroencephalography. It is a powerful modality and can help almost any disorder of the nervous system including psychiatric disorders such as depression or OCD, developmental disorders such as Attention Deficit Disorder or ADD, and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) to name just a few.

Biofeedback Links

Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (AAPB)

Biofeedback Foundation of Europe

York Biofeedback Centre - this is sister-site of the present one, giving more information on both biofeedback and neurofeedback.