Biofeedback Therapy - Ireland

During a biofeedback therapy session fine electrodes, held either in the hand or attached to a band tied around your head, monitor your heartbeat, blood pressure, brain-waves and blood chemistry. With the help of a qualified therapist it is possible to learn to control your metabolism by watching the output from the monitor and correct their movements.

In this way it is possible to bring about a state of relaxation or to control nausea or pain. Biofeedback therapy was developed during the NASA space programme in the 1960s when it was employed by scientists at the space centre to enable astronauts to control motion sickness.

Since then people have been taught to control their blood pressure and heartbeat and, by controlling the side-effects of pain, like sweating and accelerated pulse rate, they can to some extent control the actual pain itself. By breaking down the consequences of tension or of pain into simple visible pointers, it seems to be easier for the mind to take control of physical symptoms.

Biofeedback therapy is very well established, in particular in the USA, as a safe, gentle and effective way of inducing and promoting relaxation. Since its introduction the technology used in biofeedback has become more sophisticated and it now takes in a wide range of equipment that vary in price and technical sophistication.

Individual units range from small handheld battery-operated models for use at home, to armchairs that are linked to computer monitors. These are used by biofeedback therapists at specialist therapy centres.