Managing Stress - Biofeedback - Budzynski

When forced with a stressor you can have physical responses that are involuntary and biofeedback works so we can control these responses. Allowing people to monitor their own health and gian feedback about the effects of certain behaviours allows them to modify behaviour through positive reinforcement.

Biofeedback involves 4 processes: Feedback; Relaxation; Reinforcement; Application

Feedback: Attached to a machine which provides feedback about various physiological activities; Relaxation: They are taught to relax e.g. This should result in a reduced heart-rate, blood pressure etc; Reinforcement: Successful behaviours are repeated if they're rewarded meaning behaviour is strengthend; Application: Transferring the skills into the world e.g. Someone who shows stress in an exam and benefits from it by getting a good grade, they'd be more likely to reinforce that stressor

Aim/M&P: See whether biofeedback is an effective method at reducing tension headaches; 18 participants; aged 22-24; 2 males; 16 females; experiment; independent measures design; 3 groups; G1 = Had biofeedback; G2 = Had relaxation training but got pseudo-feedback; G3 = Control group were on a waiting list

Results/Conclusion: Group 1 had lowest muscle tension and fewer headaches; Biofeedback can reduce stress-related illnesses but one must remember biofeedback isn't a treatment but an educational process which requires practice to learn mind/body skills.