The use of biofeedback techniques in clinical practice

Abstract

In the past decades, biofeedback has become a widely adopted non-pharmacological option in the management of a variety of somatic, neurological, and psychiatric conditions. The biofeedback method is based on the associations between one’s vegetative and mental functions; during a session with the device, information about the change in his/her condition over time is “returned” to the patient as accessible audial or visual stimuli. The efficacy of biofeedback treatment may primarily be attributed to improvements in the state of the patients based on establishing an individual model of his/her best psychophysiological state, enabling effective rehabilitation activities at a rate suitable for each patient along with ensuring better awareness of the patient of his/her body functions; such an intervention is stepwise and helps sustain the patient’s motivation for success, thus affecting the pathological condition. This review describes the historical prerequisites for the development of biofeedback techniques and the principal mechanisms of their action; a brief summary of studies looking at the efficacy of this method in various somatic, neurological, and psychiatric conditions is also provided. The presented data clearly indicate that the use of biofeedback results in a decreased medication load in patients suffering from conditions such as arterial hypertension, epilepsy, ADHD, chronic pain, anxiety disorders, autism etc. while there are practically no contraindications for this method, except for acute psychosis, photosensitive epilepsy, and severe cognitive impairment. In this connection, clinical implementation of biofeedback techniques should be intensified in a variety of conditions.