therapy is a treatment technique that enables people to
use signals emitted from their own body to monitor and improve their
health. It is the "use of instrumentation to mirror psychophysiological
processes of which the individual is not normally aware and which may be
brought under voluntary control ( pamphlet)." These processes
include heart rate, respiration, skin temperature, electrodermal response,
muscle tension and other bodily functions that are usually controlled
involuntarily. "Bio" means "life" and the word "feed back" means the return
of data to its origin. So, biofeedback is "biological information with is
returned to the source that created it so that source can understand and
have control over it (O'Hair, D.)." The principles of biofeedback date
back more than a half a century. "Biofeedback" is a term that was coined
in the late 1960's. The theories involved in biofeedback and
psychophysiology began with the study on homeostatic mechanisms. The human
organism insures its survival through the maintenance of homeostasis. In
order to control or altar behavior, a person must have information that is
available through the senses.

In biofeedback, the client obtains information about his
biological state from feedback from the sensors. Margolin and Kubic (1944)
conducted an early example of this kind of feedback. They used a subject's
amplified respiration and heart beat to induce a hypnotic induction. Even
though the subjects were not told to adjust these physiological functions,
the feedback of their biological system was used to alter their conscious
and emotional state (O'Hair). The principles of operant conditioning have
often been used by people to explain biofeedback. In operant conditioning,
any activity that approximates the desired behavior or response is
reinforced or rewarded. By using these types of conditioning, feedback is
received. In 1969, Neal Miller demonstrated that animals could learn to
change levels of their autonomic functions on the basis of contingent
reinforcement. Miller gave rats feedback on its behavior when the were
rewarded for moving in the desired physiological direction. They were able
to increase the temperature in their ears, which showed that they could
alter their peripheral vascular system.

Biofeedback has developed considerably within the years. In the
early part of the 1960's first attempts were made at applying biofeedback
for managing stress. The majority of health care professionals did not
accept biofeedback. The public felt that biofeedback was an experimental
procedure used by researchers only. Therefore, it stayed on the outside of
conventional psychology and medicine. In 1968, the Biofeedback Society of
America was assembled by a group of professionals who believed that
biofeedback could make a substantial addition to behavioral medicine. With
their persistence they were able to organize their efforts and initiated to
research further new methods of biofeedback training. Within the last 10
years in the United States, the use of biofeedback has become a
commonplace in many practices of psychology. Along with the uses of
relaxation techniques, such as autogenic therapy, "biofeedback has now
become universally acclaimed as an important method to learning how to
achieve a state of deep relaxation (O'Hair). Today clinical biofeedback
techniques are used to treat an assortment of conditions (Runck, 1983).
Some include: Stress and anxiety Digestive system disorders, Tension
headaches, migraine headaches, and other types of pain, Raynaud's disease
( a circulatory disorder which causes uncomfortably cold hands), High and
low blood pressure, paralysis and other movement disorders, epilepsy,
Cardiac arrhythmia (abnormalities in the rhythm of the heartbeat).
Biofeedback training is provided by a variety of specialists ranging from
psychologists to psychiatrist to physical therapists, internists, nurses
and even dentists. Many use other techniques in accordance with biofeedback.
Clients are commonly taught different types of relaxation techniques such
as, imagery, autogenics, breathing and passive progressive relaxation.
They may be taught how to elude or face stressful events through
recognizing situations that may provoke their symptoms.

The goal of biofeedback training is voluntary self-regulation which
is ...