Biofeedback is a technique that has been used for generations. Biofeedback enables a person to control a select biological function which is usually controlled automatically. Usually, the body dynamics which can be monitored in this manner are temperature, pulse, blood pressure, and muscle tension. The exercises one uses to control these functions are both mental and physiological and based on the premise that your brain can only perform one action at a time. For instance, it is impossible to feel rage, if your body is totally relaxed. Lamaze courses for pregnant women are built on this premise: by reducing anxiety the associated pain is also reduced.
It’s mind over matter: something that the Eastern religions have practiced for eons.
Various biofeedback machines are currently used by psychologists across the country to help a person reduce their anxiety, fears, phobias, or other emotional states. All of them are based on controlling the vital functions of temperature, heart beat, muscle tension and blood pressure.
A lie detector works on the same premise. Different electrodes are connected to the person who will be asked questions. These electrodes are connected to a monitoring device (the lie detector). When a person tells a lie various physiological parameters, such as muscle tension, also change. In this case, the biofeedback is being provided to the person using the machine, not the liar. If a person uses biofeedback for therapeutic reasons, the results will be displayed for the patient through various beeps or visual effects. The patient, over the course of approximately 12 biofeedback sessions, will use the exercises which have been effective, to change the biological function and the corresponding emotional state.
So, for instance, if one’s pulse and blood pressure increase during an anxiety filled situation; by reducing the pulse and blood pressure, the anxiety can also be reduced.
Two types of machines are currently used:
• An EMG machine which monitors muscle tension
• A thermometer which monitors temperature peripherally or in one’s hands.
Now a third type of machine is being studied: the MRI machine. Admittedly, this is a lot more expensive and will not be owned quite as easily by the individual psychologist. However, in certain recalcitrant cases of pain, the MRI machine may be the only treatment available which is effective. In a very small study, patients treated with the MRI reported a 64% reduction in pain level. Currently, billions of dollars are spent on pain treatments and medications for chronic pain, which are ineffective, for the most part. Isn’t it time to think outside of the box at other treatment modalities?
The MRI machine which is being tested is called the Omneuron. Its creator calls it the functional MRI or fMRI, as the person uses visual displays from their own brain to control many neurological functions. Not only pain, but addiction, depression and other intractable neurological problems are potential targets for therapy. Tests have already indicated that the fMRI is more sensitive than the lie detector, so it also has potential legal benefits.
"If Omneuron is successful, and can teach us to train our brains to manage neurological and psychological conditions, they will have given us something that has challenged philosophers, psychologists and yogis alike: gaining some reliable control over our own thoughts." (NYT, August 26, 2007)
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