Biofeedback In Psychology

A psychological topic that has recently caught my attention is biofeedback. Biofeedback is a technique in which an individual learns to use his thoughts to control his body’s functions, such as heart rate and breathing rate, to an extent. It is often used to help treat various health issues, including anxiety and stress. I first learned about biofeedback through reading the textbook and then focused my research on the effectiveness of biofeedback in treating stress. This topic is very relevant and potentially applicable to my life, as I am a college student trying to balance a healthy lifestyle with being successful in my classes and learning to manage stress well. In learning more about the application of biofeedback to stress management, I read a newspaper article as well as an article from an academic journal.
The newspaper article, Stress So Bad It Hurts—Really, from The Wall Street Journal describes the physiological effects of stress and proceeds to explore a variety of …show more content…
The different conditions that were tested were aerobic exercise (which was represented by a self- paced walk), a session of paced- breathing biofeedback, and a control condition of attentive quiet studying. All participants participated in all three groups in random order and their anxiety levels were reported and heart rate was monitored at various points throughout the duration of each condition. Results of the experiment showed that biofeedback was most effective at reducing anxiety and temporarily increasing calmness, while the exercise condition temporarily increased energy. The results suggest that both interventions may be effective, but produce different changes to affect anxiety