Odds are you already have and will again experience anxiety. For some, it starts with a quick tightening of the gut that may progress to an increased heart rate and rapid breathing, all natural responses to the extra adrenalin your body supplies when you face a threatening situation. Unfortunately, our minds often consider activities like preparing a special dinner as threatening as an encounter with a grizzly. Biofeedback may give you control over how your body handles stressful situations and decrease the health risks associated with chronic anxiety.
Effects of Anxiety
Anxiety is likely a natural response when you are about to engage in your first bout of public speaking or facing another fearful situation. In these instances, taking a few deep breaths may help you focus and calm your tripping heart. If anxiety becomes an ongoing part of everyday life, however, it can wreck your emotional health and negatively affect your physical well-being. Linked to depression, alcohol and other substance abuse, the University of Maryland Medical Center states that anxiety may also contribute to elevated cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome and other serious medical conditions.
Biofeedback to Control Anxiety
Using medical instruments to measure blood pressure, heart rate and other physical changes your body undergoes when encountering stressful situations, biofeedback focuses on helping you recognize how you feel when worry begins to take hold. Proponents believe recognizing this physiological response and countering it with known actions that create relaxation, such as deep breathing, will help you at least recognize what is triggering your anxiety and potentially enable you to keep it at a reasonable level.
Typical Biofeedback Session for Anxiety
After taking a detailed history, including any medical conditions or life experiences that may contribute to your anxiety, the practitioner will attach electrodes to measure skin temperature, brainwaves, heart rate and other pertinent functions displayed on a screen you can both see. Using descriptive phrases, stories or possibly videos, the practitioner will take you through imaginary stressful situations and coach you with suggestions on how to relax. Some patients imagine peaceful scenes, relax muscles one at a time, or use a combination of techniques to achieve the goal of shutting down the anxiety. When your heart rate has slowed or your blood pressure has returned to a certain level, a light may flash or a tone sounds to signal success.
Effectiveness
In studies conducted in a "reliable, operationally defined manner," the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback rates biofeedback as a "4" on a scale of 1 to 5 in efficacy for treating anxiety when compared to other forms of behavioral therapy. The National Institutes of Health reports that biofeedback may help in relieving symptoms of anxiety, but cautions that the effectiveness of biofeedback "remains controversial."
Expert Insight
While worry and stress occur naturally and for most are only temporary, chronic anxiety may interfere with even a seemingly simple task like grocery shopping. The most successful treatment for debilitating anxiety, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center, involves a combination of medication and cognitive behavioral therapy, such as biofeedback, under the close supervision of a physician.
References
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Anxiety Disorders - Complications
- The Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback: About Biofeedback
- The Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback: Efficacy
- National Institutes of Health: Biofeedback
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Anxiety Disorders -- Treatment
