Biofeedback therapy for children and adolescents?

All materials on our site are presented in a simple and understandable form, easy to understand and designed to help you solve sensitive problems related to your health and physical performance!

Biofeedback therapy is a technique that helps your child learn to control different parts of their body that are not usually considered to be under conscious control. The goal of biofeedback therapy is to help your child better understand how their body works and how to control it in healthier ways to get rid of illnesses. Biofeedback therapy is an opportunity to achieve better results in a shorter period of time. An opportunity for a child to understand what processes and what exactly is happening in his body. Any pain, negative emotion or stress is expressed in changes in physiology (GSR, plethysm, breathing, encephalogram). By changing (controlling) your physiology, you can calm pain, reduce stress and the manifestation of negative emotions.

The human brain has the ability to change the parameters of its activity thanks to its very interesting property - neuroplasticity.

These changes in the activity of the brain and nervous system to restore their functions through qualitative and quantitative changes are possible under the influence of experience. This explains their ability to restore lost connections after certain injuries (a person can learn to walk and talk again after suffering a stroke and various physical injuries). The human brain can change not only under the influence of damage. Other manifestations of neuroplasticity are directly related to brain development, more precisely to the mechanisms responsible for memory, learning and other processes.

Biofeedback therapy method.

The biofeedback therapy method uses neuroplasticity to achieve absolutely balanced, consciously regulated brain activity by a person. The physiological basis of this method is the exceptional plasticity of the brain, the procedural basis is conditioned reflex learning or conditioning. The use of these unique methods gives remarkable results both in the treatment of many chronic diseases, clinical syndromes and symptoms, and when working with practically healthy people, to reduce the level of anxiety, stress, phobias and fears, etc.

The brain retains plasticity throughout life, but it is at its maximum at an early age.

The structure of the brain is formed to a greater extent in the first years of life than in any other period. Today we know that adolescence is an equally significant period for the reorganization of brain structure and neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity of the brain increases during adolescence and remains at this relatively high level until adulthood. The adult brain is certainly not as capable of change as the adolescent brain, but the brain's lower capacity for neuroplasticity does not mean its complete absence!

During adolescence, the brain is particularly sensitive to environmental influences. During this period, the child learns intensively and easily. For the developing brain, the acquisition of knowledge and skills is a basic and completely natural process.

Based on the above, we can clearly conclude that biofeedback therapy is most effective in childhood. Its essence lies in teaching the brain new ways of working, allowing it to respond to proposed situations in an unusual, but desirable way for a child or adolescent.

Hyperactivity or ADHD.

Hyperactivity or ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is a serious problem and is the most common behavioral disorder in children and adolescents. That is why the main goal of biofeedback therapy for children is: increasing attention and learning ability, improving memory and enhancing intelligence, the ability to use their knowledge in practice, as well as solving and overcoming difficulties, everything that will allow the child to quickly adapt to new situations and circumstances .

Children with hyperactivity typically require many more days of work than children without hyperactivity. To work with hyperactive children, it is first necessary to conduct special classes aimed at teaching the child proper breathing and relaxation.

What is biofeedback therapy?

Biofeedback (BFE) is a “physiological mirror” that gives the child the opportunity to see and control many of his physiological functions. The biofeedback therapist teaches your child to transfer the unconscious regulation of internal processes into the sphere of the absolutely conscious. Using the most optimal training for each child individually, biofeedback therapy allows the child to learn to control their own breathing, pulse, blood pressure, muscle activity, emotions and even their own fears. Biofeedback therapy is a method that helps a child learn to control various parts of their body that are not usually considered to be under conscious control.

Where can I get biofeedback therapy (biofeedback) in Moscow?

All materials on our site are presented in a simple and understandable form, easy to understand and designed to help you solve sensitive problems related to your health and physical performance!
Biofeedback refers to methods of self-regulation of the body’s autonomic functions that allow one to directly conduct audio and video monitoring of one’s own physiological processes and their indicators and consciously influence them.

Biofeedback therapy for children is aimed at:

correction of attention disorders in children, improvement of concentration and distribution of attention and switchability
improvement of cognitive functions (memory, attention, thinking)
improvement of short-term and long-term types of memory
development of self-control and perseverance
improved perception
normalization of the functional state of the nervous system
increasing stress resistance
reduction of emotional tension
reduction in anxiety levels
increasing the level of self-organization
reduction of negative emotional background and acquisition of relaxation skills
suppression of excessive autonomic activity in response to external stimuli
training in the skills of muscular and general emotional and mental relaxation

Biofeedback training on alpha rhythm

Alpha rhythm is wave oscillations of the EEG rhythm with a wave frequency of 7-13 Hz, most often grouped in modulations (“spindles”) lasting 0.2 seconds, with a smooth increase in amplitude and its decay—the “spindle” type.

Alpha rhythm relaxation training is used for most neurotic, psychosomatic disorders of the neurasthenic and/or astheno-depressive type, for sleep disorders, neurotic disorders such as panic attacks, for stuttering, tics, situational affective disorders, some forms of phobias and obsessive states, as well as headaches.

Also, EEG biofeedback training can be a preventive method of adaptation to stress in people engaged in intense work or experiencing prolonged or acute personal psycho-emotional stress.

Therefore, the method of biofeedback-EEG training is an important addition in equipping psychological relief rooms for professional indications.

The patient undergoes a training course on alpha-ri to manage his emotional background and mood in situations that are relevant to him. The state of relaxation is “remembered”, and when sessions are repeated, it becomes a kind of automatic compensatory mechanism of self-regulation during stress.

The alpha rhythm is most pronounced in the occipital regions, so it is necessary to set the EEG recording in the O1 and O2 regions in the program settings.

Conducting biofeedback training with children is recommended if the child:

poor adaptation in kindergarten or school
attention disorder
difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep
excessive fears, anxiety
nocturnal enuresis
moodiness, irritability
anxiety-depressive disorders
tics and stuttering
headache
doctors diagnose vegetative-vascular dystonia or other psychosomatic diseases (neurodermatitis, bronchial asthma)
parents wish to strengthen the autonomic nervous system for preventive purposes.

The goal of biofeedback therapy is to help your child better understand how their body works and how to control it in healthier ways to get rid of illnesses. The advantage of biofeedback therapy is that it is nonspecific with regard to diagnosis, i.e. allows you to work not with individual diseases, but with the main types of dysfunctions of the body’s regulatory systems - nervous (central, peripheral, autonomic), immune and humoral. The consequence of this is the possibility of correction of almost any non-infectious and non-surgical disorder with biofeedback therapy.

Biofeedback training on beta rhythm

Beta rhythm is a rhythm of cortical activation, with a wave frequency from 14 to 25-30 Hz, low amplitude up to 40 μV, most pronounced in the frontal and temporal leads during active wakefulness.

In a state of increased beta rhythm, our brain trains to bear loads and perform tasks that require concentration and concentration. Staying in such a state contributes to the maturation of the subtle cognitive abilities of the brain in children with disharmonious development. This state is not something artificial - after all, many of us are already “looking” for various challenges in life, actively learning, devoting a lot of effort and activating our attention and concentration on some highly specialized activity.

The beta rhythm is most pronounced in the temporal regions, so it is necessary to set the EEG recording in the T3 and T4 regions in the program settings.

Equipment for biofeedback therapy.

Equipment for biofeedback therapy is special medical equipment: hardware and computer systems for functional biofeedback, with many touch bioparametric sensors and specialized software. Bioparametric sensors attached to certain areas of the body record pulse and respiration rates, brain signals and, if necessary, bioelectrical muscle activity. Information about the functioning of the cardiovascular, motor, central and autonomic nervous systems in a normal state and with existing deviations is received in real time. The received signals are recorded by special equipment, and later, using special software, in an absolutely simple, understandable and accessible form for children - in the form of an image or sound - they are displayed on the monitor.

The influence occurs through certain images, music and other audio/video stimuli. Bioparametric sensors attached to the child's body record changes in physiological parameters in response to these irritations. This gives us a greater understanding of the processes occurring in the child’s body and allows us to exercise voluntary control: first, we teach the child to manage external signals and, ultimately, thanks to this, we will teach the child to recognize, correctly interpret and use internal signals, remembering and controlling his state.

Experts distinguish three types of ADHD:

type with a predominance of hyperactivity/impulsivity (with minor signs of inattention)
type with a predominance of attention deficit (signs of hyperactivity/impulsivity are minor)
mixed type (in which symptoms of attention deficit and hyperactivity/impulsivity appear)

The human brain emits electrical activity in waves that can be measured by a device called an electroencephalograph (EEG). When EEG measurements are analyzed, biofeedback therapists can identify specific brain waves recorded by the computer. When we are awake there are several frequencies of brain waves: they are called alpha (medium), beta (fast) and theta (slow) waves. Alpha waves are visible when a person is in a relaxed state and not actively thinking or interacting with the environment. Beta waves are present when a person interacts with the environment and concentrates, thinks or solves problems. Theta waves are often seen during drowsiness or light sleep, but can also occur during mindless, restless hyperactivity. The fourth type of brain wave, called delta, is observed during deep sleep.

In scientific terms, biofeedback therapy is a procedure of so-called instrumental conditioned reflex training (or conditioning) in relation to certain rhythms of the electroencephalogram (EEG) of the child’s brain. Such training manifests itself in a gradual change in the “trained” EEG rhythm parameter, either upward (for example, increasing the beta rhythm or alpha rhythm) or downward (for example, decreasing the theta rhythm), which leads to improvement and normalization of the functioning of the “trained” rhythm. "area of the cerebral cortex, which, in turn, leads to the expected improvement in behavioral and clinical indicators - improvement in the function of attention, working memory, emotional self-regulation, the ability to plan and forecast, and the level of self-esteem.

The brain of a child who has problems with attention produces mainly slow waves (alpha and theta) and very few fast waves (beta), especially in those parts of the brain that are responsible specifically for attention, concentration and planning.

Biofeedback (BFE) is a “physiological mirror” that allows your child to see and control many of his physiological functions.

With the help of bioparametric sensors installed on the body and surface of the child’s head, the bioelectrical activity of his brain and other certain physiological parameters are recorded (these parameters vary depending on the tasks of a particular activity). A biofeedback therapist, using a special computer program, processes these signals and receives information about the key functional components of the body, including the child’s brain activity, the so-called brain rhythms (theta, alpha, beta and others). Depending on the task and the child’s condition, to correct his psychophysiological state, some of them need to be strengthened, while others need to be weakened. To do this, in a computer training test, which is prepared in advance by a specialist, the behavior of a certain character (for example, the speed of a car or train) changes in real time depending on how pronounced the reinforced and suppressed brain rhythms are. In such a situation, play motivation, as well as the child’s excitement, are the determining factor that forces the child’s brain to change the nature of its work towards more stable and functional states. Depending on the specific situation with a given child and his individual characteristics, the biofeedback therapist identifies those areas of his brain that will receive special attention and emphasis during therapy and training, while, of course, the child remains the main character.

During therapy (training), the child sits in a comfortable chair. In a fun and relaxed manner, in the form of images, sounds and symbols understandable to the child (the so-called feedback signals), the monitor screen shows his physiological parameters changing as the training progresses, teaching him to control his own activity and behavior, as well as to train certain cognitive abilities. The biofeedback therapist closely monitors changes in the child’s physiological state, which allows him to dose the load during the session (breathing training, muscle relaxation training). The child himself is drawn into the healing process, learns to consciously manage his emotions, concentrate, consciously coordinate motor skills, and respond to external stimuli and stressful situations. It is not the child who is controlled, but the child himself who learns to control his body and psyche. The child’s active and fully conscious participation in biofeedback training explains the high effectiveness of this biofeedback technique.

The absence of side effects and reactions makes biofeedback therapy very effective in working with children and adolescents. For productive treatment with biofeedback, a very important factor is required that is specifically related to your child - motivation, that is, his most immediate active desire to get well. However, beneficial results require time and effort for improvements and achievements to be achieved. If your child does not want to follow the instructions of the biofeedback therapist and the assigned tasks, then even if all other conditions are met, there will be no result. Thus, the child's level of motivation is key to the success of biofeedback therapy, as well as the desire to actively participate in the treatment regimen. A high level of motivation can be ensured by a psychological attitude toward recovery, and not only the biofeedback therapist needs to work closely on this during sessions, but also the parents themselves.

Treatment for ADHD is a combination of medication therapy, psychotherapy, and behavior correction methods. It also involves involving parents and teachers in the process of getting rid of ADHD by creating a child-friendly environment in the family and school, based on an understanding of the problems associated with his disease.

How does biofeedback therapy work with children?

Working with a child takes place in the form of a game and consists of watching a video image or cartoon specially selected in each specific case, taking into account the individual characteristics of the child, and completing tasks based on it. This method is so simple that it is absolutely accessible to children from the age of 5. The biofeedback therapy procedure is absolutely painless and has no side effects; bioparametric sensors attached to the child’s body only take readings without affecting the child’s body. The game form of presentation will maintain children's keen interest in participating in biofeedback therapy and promote the natural development of skills. Children master the ability to balance their emotional swings, identify their emotions and perceive psychological information much faster than children who have not been treated with biofeedback methods.

The child is in a comfortable chair and special bioparametric sensors are attached to his body and head, which record brain activity and various other physiological indicators. This data is processed by a special computer program and provided to the child in the form of visual and audio signals. On the monitor screen, the child can observe how his physiological processes, depicted in pictures, change. With the help of a biofeedback therapy specialist, the child learns to control his body functions.

To achieve certain goals, some rhythms in the child’s brain need to be increased, while others need to be decreased. Therefore, in the tasks that the child performs, the behavior of various characters may change depending on how effectively the child reinforces or suppresses the brain rhythms recorded by the sensors. It is the play motive and excitement of the child that is the most important, key factor that forces the child’s brain to change the nature of its work towards stable states (so that the car continues to move and does not stop, the baby mammoth continues its path, and the flowering meadows do not turn gray). In the process, the child's brain adapts to new ways of working, relying on feedback signals to do this. At its core, the process of Beaus-therapy for children is very similar to the game of “near-far”: if you regularly inform the child how close he is to the intended goal, then very soon, of course, not without some “bumps”, he will find “pirate treasures” "

Depending on the problems and individual characteristics of the child, the specialist identifies those areas of the brain that will be targeted by the main work and biofeedback therapy program, while the main character in this complex process is, of course, the child himself.

Biofeedback therapy maintains a balance between the two hemispheres of the brain, as well as between the nervous and immune systems, thereby influencing physical, emotional, and intellectual processes, ensuring optimal use of all the child’s capabilities.

The second common problem among children and adolescents is nocturnal and daytime enuresis.

Before starting work using the biofeedback therapy method, first of all, you need to make sure that a child with such a problem does not have any signs of inflammation or disorders of the urinary system (you need to do the appropriate analysis and conduct the necessary examination as prescribed by a nephrologist or urologist). If the child’s genitourinary system does not have pathology, then we can draw a definite conclusion that the transmission of information to the brain about the fullness of the bladder is disrupted, that is, there is partial immaturity of the central nervous system.

The arrival of a newborn child in the family may well lead to problems with incontinence in older children. At the same time, the older child suddenly forgets how to control urination in the form of a conscious or unconscious protest against the seeming lack of attention, love and affection on the part of parents who are fully occupied, first of all, with the newborn. A similar situation very often occurs when a child moves to another school or another unfamiliar kindergarten, or the whole family moves to a new place of residence.

Excessive strictness of parents or guardians and physical punishment, as well as quarrels between parents and, of course, divorce can also lead to problems in the child.

As a rule, the first results after starting biofeedback therapy appear after the tenth day of work. The duration of work with a particular child usually depends on the type of ADHD and the presence of various accompanying disorders.

Biofeedback therapy is strictly individual, dosed and controlled by a biofeedback therapist during each session throughout the entire treatment and correction course.

We provide a full range of professional services for biofeedback therapy, using all the most advanced techniques known today and the most reliable and scientifically based methods of psychophysiological diagnostics, as well as certified modern medical equipment made in Russia.

Portable electroencephalograph-recorder for neurofeedback, training and rehabilitation with biofeedback:

Electroencephalograph-recorder "Encephalan-EEGR-19/26"

multi-parametric ( 10 or more
) registration of indicators, allowing you to create and use more effective scenarios of biofeedback procedures in sports, education and science, for special training and rehabilitation
providing professional neurophysiological support with the help of the main software for EEG studies “Encephalan-EEGR”
and additional software
differential diagnosis of epilepsy
psychophysiological studies
neuromarketing research

Our specialists have undergone professional training at Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov: Faculty of Psychology, Department of Psychophysiology and Department of Social Psychology in the direction of “Practical Psychophysiology”, have official certificates and permits to conduct professional activities as specialists in biofeedback therapy, issued by Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov, the right to conduct professional activities in the field of psychophysiological research, as well as higher psychological and special medical education.

The biofeedback method (BFB) [] is a modern rehabilitation method aimed at activating the body’s internal reserves to restore or improve physiological skills. Its ultimate goal is effective self-regulation of important physiological functions of the body [1-5].

The creation of the biofeedback method was based on fundamental research into the mechanisms of regulation of physiological and development of pathological processes, as well as the results of applied studies of rational methods of activating adaptive systems of the brain of a healthy and sick person [6]. In this regard, it is necessary to mention the great Russian physiologists I.M. Sechenov and I.P. Pavlov and their successors - K.M. Bykova, P.K. Anokhin and N.P. Bekhterev. Active study of the method began in the late 50s of the 20th century [7]. Pioneers in the development of biofeedback methods in our country were specialists from the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences (Leningrad), where systematic research in this direction has been carried out for over 30 years [3, 8]. Research on the use of the biofeedback method in clinical practice is currently also being carried out at the Scientific Center for Mental Health of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Novosibirsk under the leadership of Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences M.B. Stark and a number of other institutes.

As a treatment area, biofeedback therapy was formed in the 60s of the last century. The greatest contribution to its development in the USA was made by the research of L. DiCara and N. Miller [9] on the development of visceral conditioned reflexes of the operant type in animals, and the research of M. Sterman [10] on an increase in the thresholds of convulsive readiness after a conditioned reflex increase in the sensorimotor rhythm in the central gyrus of the cortex brain of both animals and humans, as well as the discovery by J. Kamiya [11] of the ability of subjects to voluntarily change the parameters of the electroencephalogram (EEG) in the presence of feedback.

At the same time, it became clear to the first researchers of biofeedback training that operant control of the bioelectrical activity of the brain and autonomic nervous system (ANS) can have important clinical applications [12]. Around the middle of the 20th century, methods began to be developed and used in which biofeedback was established with the body based on changes in various parameters (pulse wave, muscle strength, blood pressure).

The essence of the biofeedback method is to “return” to the patient on the computer monitor screen or in audio form the current values of his physiological indicators, determined by the clinical protocol (a protocol is a set of conditions regulating the conduct of the biofeedback procedure). In this sense, all biofeedback protocols are divided into two large groups - firstly, this is a direction, in the English literature referred to as “neurofeedback”, within the framework of which various parameters of the EEG of the brain are modified (amplitude, power, coherence, etc. the main EEG rhythms are also referred to as “neurotherapy”); and secondly, the direction denoted by the concept of “biofeedback”, within which the indicators of autonomic (sympathetic-parasympathetic) activation (skin conductivity, cardiogram, heart rate, respiration, electromyogram, temperature, photoplethysmogram, etc.) are subject to change [1, 12]. According to modern concepts [13, 14], regulatory changes in the activity of the ANS, caused by severe and/or chronic stress, are one of the most important factors in the occurrence of a large group of diseases: psychosomatic disorders, regulatory diseases, etc.

Schematically, the biofeedback procedure consists of continuous monitoring of certain electrophysiological indicators and “reinforcement” using multimedia, gaming and other techniques for a given range of values. In other words, the biofeedback interface represents a “physiological mirror” for a person, which reflects his internal processes. During a biofeedback session, the patient, through a sensor, transforming and recording device, receives information about minimal changes in any of his physiological indicators (muscle tension, body temperature, electrical resistance of the skin, blood pressure level, etc.) associated with his emotional state, and tries change it in a given direction, which allows you to acquire and develop skills of directed self-regulation, thereby influencing the course of the pathological process [15]. During the course of biofeedback sessions, it is possible to strengthen or weaken one or another physiological indicator, which means the level of tonic activation of the regulatory system whose activity it reflects. An important feature of biofeedback is the presence of a relationship between autonomic and mental functions [16].

Currently, biofeedback therapy is considered one of the most promising approaches in the arsenal of preventive medicine, the main goal of which is to prevent the development of the disease [12]. Non-invasiveness, non-toxicity, reliability and efficiency make it possible to use biofeedback methods in the treatment of many chronic diseases in a variety of clinical areas, as well as in restorative and preventive medicine [1, 2, 17, 18].

Recently, searches have been carried out for predictors of the effectiveness of biofeedback therapy. It was revealed that the leading factors contributing to the success of mastering the method are the personal characteristics of patients. So, according to T.A. Ayvazyan [19], the effectiveness of biofeedback training is associated with such personal characteristics as radicalism, increased activity, a tendency to experiment, and change activities. S. Tsutsui et al. [20] showed that the effectiveness of biofeedback training depends on the degree of motivation, social adaptation, communication skills and has little connection with age, course of the disease, and social factors. The only contraindications to biofeedback sessions are a state of acute psychosis, photosensitivity epilepsy and severe dementia [21].

Neurofeedback is successfully and effectively used to treat diseases of the nervous [24-24], cardiovascular and respiratory systems [4, 8, 19, 25, 26]. The most promising direction is α-stimulating training (ACT) [13, 27-30]. In sports practice, it is possible to use biofeedback for the purposes of personal growth and improving sportsmanship [31, 32].

To date, the effectiveness of the biofeedback method has been proven in the treatment of many functional disorders (including tension headaches, migraines, sleep disorders, etc.), as well as a number of psychosomatic diseases (anxiety and depressive disorders, chronic pain syndrome, etc.) [ 18, 33-39]. In particular, in the treatment of hypertension, biofeedback allows one to achieve a significant reduction in blood pressure and improve the prognosis of the disease [7, 24, 40-41].

Scientific studies have also been conducted on the effectiveness of the biofeedback method in the treatment of gastrointestinal (gastritis, chronic cholecystitis, peptic ulcer of the stomach and duodenum, irritable bowel syndrome) and spastic bronchopulmonary diseases, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Raynaud's disease, tinnitus, phantom pain, alcoholism, post-traumatic stress disorder, post-stroke disorders, premenstrual syndrome and menopause, erectile dysfunction, hyperhidrosis, blepharospasm, diabetes mellitus types 1 and 2, fibromyalgia, scoliosis, multiple sclerosis, psychoimmunological disorders, thyrotoxicosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, dyslexia, etc. Good results have been achieved in the treatment of borderline mental disorders using biofeedback [9, 18, 22, 38, 42-65].

Biofeedback has found its widest application in the clinic of psychosomatic disorders. Biofeedback training for psychosomatic pathology is a unique method that helps restore the processes of self-perception, fine differentiation of internal sensations and emotions. The biofeedback method can be used both as an independent psychotherapeutic technique and as an effective tool that helps the doctor achieve a more pronounced and lasting therapeutic effect [2, 5, 21, 66].

A number of authors note [21] the paradoxical combination of muscle relaxation and internal tension inherent in biofeedback associated with the need to maintain a high level of consciousness during training, which requires increased energy consumption, often leads to fatigue, increased mental exhaustion, but is accompanied (with effective training) by a feeling of satisfaction , completeness, awareness of one’s own capabilities and generally creates a positive emotional background.

The effective use of biofeedback methods makes it possible to reduce the drug load by 1.5-2 times in such chronic diseases as hypertension, epilepsy, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents, migraine, bronchial asthma, etc., and in more than 60 % of patients with neuroses, depressive and anxiety disorders should completely eliminate medications during the treatment and recovery period. Biofeedback therapy, included in the standard program of restorative treatment and rehabilitation, reduces recovery time by 2-5 times, and also significantly reduces the number of repeat visits. All this indicates not only the medical feasibility, but also the economic feasibility of the widespread introduction of biofeedback technologies [13, 20, 25, 36, 47, 65, 67-69].

The advantage of the biofeedback method is that it is nonspecific with regard to diagnosis, i.e. allows you to work not with individual diseases, but with the main types of dysfunctions of the body’s regulatory systems - nervous (central, peripheral, autonomic), immune and humoral. The consequence of this is the possibility of correction of almost any non-infectious and non-surgical disorder using the biofeedback method [8, 12].

There are several modifications of biofeedback:

1. Electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback, used primarily in the treatment of movement disorders and relaxation training, when a state of relaxation is achieved by reducing muscle activity caused by mental maladaptation, which helps improve mental state. A particularly effective EMG biofeedback training in states of psycho-emotional stress is biofeedback based on the myogram of the frontal muscles, which are less under the control of consciousness than other muscle groups.

2. Biofeedback according to parameters characterizing the activity of the cardiovascular system (blood pressure, heart rate, pulse wave propagation time, etc.).

3. Biofeedback based on temperature and galvanic skin response to enhance blood supply to various parts of the body. During the procedure, the level of psycho-emotional stress is reduced by acquiring the skill of voluntary control of the temperature of the fingertips of the extremities as an effective way to dilate the vessels of the extremities, reduce blood pressure, and increase peripheral resistance.

4. Electroencephalographic biofeedback. Training methodology for changing the degree of concentration, controlling the level of emotional arousal (depression, addictive disorders, attention deficit disorder).

5. Biofeedback for respiratory parameters, successfully used in the treatment of hyperventilation syndrome and bronchial asthma.

6. Multiparameter biofeedback.

7. Biofeedback therapy with the use of stress loads and the use of psychotherapeutic techniques (training for optimal functioning in athletes, military personnel, people in dangerous professions) [4, 8].

Electroencephalographic biofeedback is currently, of course, a priority among other methods using biofeedback, as it allows you to change the bioelectrical activity of the brain, which leads to changes in cerebral blood flow and correction of a person’s functional state, including the psycho-emotional and motivational spheres [4, 23, 51, 70-72]. The first reports on the effectiveness of AST for addictions (alcohol dependence) belonged to American researchers, in particular E. Peniston [73-75]. The effectiveness of AST therapy for opium-morphine addiction was first shown by A.B. Skokom et al. [4]. ANT helps to increase the patient’s activity and autonomy, forcing him to construct a new effective life strategy [4, 22, 39, 70, 73-76].

The method of computer EEG biofeedback, based on the principle of biofeedback (ACT) and the traditions of behavioral psychology, allows you to correct emotional disorders. It promotes the development of personal qualities such as self-efficacy, high self-esteem, and enables the patient to receive positive reinforcement and learn assertive behavior associated with a sense of self-confidence, determination and independence in interpersonal contacts [5, 8].

The most common data on biofeedback in the treatment of psychosomatic pathology are studies of the EMG training method for tension headaches, temperature training in the treatment of migraines, and combined temperature-myographic training in the treatment of hypertension. Recently, there have been reports of the successful use of electromyographic, temperature and EEG biofeedback training in the treatment of post-traumatic headaches. And the effectiveness of AST is high in the treatment of somatoform disorders comorbid with depression [4, 7, 37, 50, 77-79].

The results of using biofeedback therapy in the treatment of psychoimmunological disorders deserve special mention. In addition to the established fact of conditioned reflex immunosuppression (the so-called learned reduction of immunity), numerous studies have shown a significant and long-term weakening of the body’s defenses caused by chronic stress. The restorative effect of relaxation and EEG-feedback therapy on immune mechanisms has been revealed, which strengthens the body’s resistance to external pathogenic influences, as well as autoimmune reactions, which include rheumatoid arthritis, allergies, etc. [9, 80].

Thus, computer biofeedback can be represented as a complex multifaceted methodology that combines behavioral, psychological, and physiological mechanisms, exerting a therapeutic effect on several pathogenetic links of the disease at once [2, 12].

Among the prerequisites for the rapid development of biofeedback technologies, experts currently consider the following factors: firstly, the emergence of new computer technologies that make it possible to record, process and mathematically analyze a physiological signal in real time. Secondly, caution and increasing skepticism regarding the use of pharmacological drugs not only among patients, but also among medical workers. In cases where symptoms are not amenable to pharmacological control or the side effects of the drugs used are unacceptable for health reasons, non-invasive, drug-free and reliable biofeedback procedures are irreplaceable. Thirdly, in contrast to the predominantly symptomatic nature of pharmacotherapy within traditional medicine, the main goal of biofeedback therapy is to restore the normal activity of the body’s regulatory systems, which leads to the elimination of pathological symptoms and improved quality of life [8, 13, 17].

Currently, the question of the need to conduct studies that could demonstrate the effectiveness of the method when compared with other alternative methods of therapy, show the duration of preservation of the clinical effect depending on concomitant somatic pathology, and identify the most sensitive groups of patients to this method [36] remains relevant. , 44].

Based on the accumulated experience of many years of research, we can say that the effectiveness of biofeedback regulation is primarily associated with facilitating the restoration and maintenance of homeostasis at many levels, including the balance of the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the ANS. Biofeedback therapy maintains balance between the cerebral hemispheres, as well as the nervous and immune systems, thereby influencing physical, emotional, intellectual and social processes, ensuring optimal use of all the individual’s capabilities [81].

[] This method is also referred to as “adaptive biofeedback”, “biorehabilitation”, “operant conditioning”, etc.

What is good about the biofeedback device?

No matter how our emotional state changes, it will inevitably cause changes in the body. So, if we are excited, the pulse speeds up, if we calm down, it becomes slower. Blood pressure, respiratory rate, muscle tension, electrical conductivity of the skin, and rhythms of electrical activity in the brain change.

It has long been discovered that this is not a one-way connection, but mutual influence: breathe deeply and measuredly - you will calm down.

Computer-based biofeedback training allows you to use the entire range of indicators to influence your internal state. Observing changes on the screen, a person becomes more deeply aware of his emotions, feels their dynamics more subtly, learns to manage his feelings by controlling the reactions of the body.

Of course, this is not the first attempt to regulate emotions indirectly through the body; those who practice yoga, qigong or tai chi know this. Academic medicine was also involved in self-regulation; Schultz and his auto-training can be cited as an example.

However, those who master these practices on their own often do not know what to focus on and do not always understand the correctness of the exercise. Even an experienced trainer cannot always find words that everyone understands in order to form this understanding (“did everyone feel the energy rising?”).

Compared to these practices, Biofeedback has a number of advantages:

Allows you to register a larger number of indicators;
Registers the slightest changes in indicators that are inaccessible to self-observation;
Shows changes in a form accessible to anyone;
Gives a clear idea whether the exercise is being performed correctly or not.