So I’ve seen ads in the paper advertising biofeedback therapy. These ads say that biofeedback (or neurofeedback) can make you quit smoking, lose weight, concentrate better, and for all I know whiten your underwear. As I understand it, they slap electrodes to your noggin and make you think happy thoughts. What’s the story with this? How effective is it?
Biofeedback refers to a broad area of research/practice that is still outside the accepted mainstream of psychology, though it’s gaining acceptance. Any physiological data can be monitored, not just neural data. A number of devices take readings from your fingertips, not your brain. The subject generally focuses on an exercise of some kind and the feedbak data is monitored. In some cases the subject is asked to use the exercise to try to affect the feedback data (ie, think happy thoughts and if the EEG changes like so, you’re doing better). Of course, it’s much more complicated. It’s probably gained more acceptance toward the treatment of ADD/ADHD than things like somking, weight loss, etc. Suffice it to say that getting good results require effort and concentration, like anything else that’s worthwhile. No one just straps you up and tells you to think happy thoughts: you have to work at it. The feedback just allows you to monitor your progress. They’ve actually designed a number of software programs that work in tandem with biofeedback devices that are really cool and downright freaky when you see them work. As to how sound the theory behind all this is I can’t tell you; I’d bet there plenty of dopers out there who will be happy to register their opinion, though. 
It’s also worth noting that this is not the same as some light and sound machines, which attempt to stimulate the brain into a new pattern, or TENS/CES units which actually deliver electric shocks to the skin. These are sometimes called biofeedback devices but are not, as the vast majority of them don’t monitor data coming from your body.
NOTE-I am not affiliated with any BF company at this time. This is not just an attempt to drum up business.
It DOES have legitimate uses. It is NOT a magic cure-all. Simply put, BF is a tool to grant awareness of certain functions and responses in order to teach the patient how to control them. While I can easily monitor my heartbeat or respiration rate, I need senors and read outs to keep track of my Galvanic-skin-response or blood flow to my fingertips.
Uncle Cecil addressed Kegel excercises recently. Several companies manufacture sensors to increase the effectiveness of these exercises. While studies show that BF is good at restoring continence, the training takes work. Sessions may be needed from twice a week to daily, depending on the patient. The treatment requires a minimum of several weeks. Add to this that the sensor for incontinence treatment must be inserted in either the anus or the vagina, and you’ll see why this treatment is not more widespread.
BF is also useful in treating ADHD. But, again this takes a lot of time and effort. Many parents, teachers, and even kids prefer the quick and easy pill. Other common uses include chronic pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and stress reduction. The sensors and other equipment used in BF are mostly standard equipment you'll find in any hospital. Last time I visited a relative in the ICU, not only were the same types of electrodes, pneumatrodes, and photoplathysmagraph used, many were the same brand we sold with BF software.
Any one telling you that BF is some sort of panacea is misinformed, an idiot, or a quack after your wallet. Sadly many catalogs that carry BF equipment also sell crystals, healing magnets, and light wands. The Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum in Atlantic city exhibits both a magnetic belt and a light wand as examples of medical frauds from the 1800's. There is no conspiracy to keep BF down. It simply has a stigma and is often lumped in with alternative medicine. Herbal remedies of questionable value have gained acceptance in the USA in the past few years. But for reasons I can not understand, biofeedback is mostly derided or ignored.Thanks for your responses.
Anyone had personal experiences, good or bad, with this? Did you find it effective? Also, are there “home kits” available with software that one could use without forking over $50 for an hour session?
A friend of mine has an ADHD daughter (yes, she really is ADHD, and not just a typical energetic kid), and they’ve been trying biofeedback as a treatment. I don’t know the exact procedure (how often, where, price, etc.), but he says that it’s been very effective.
There are some BF products intended for home use. Most of these measure skin temperature or GSR. They’re useful for stress reduction or controlling blood flow and serve as good starter kits. For a while, RadioShack was selling a digital thermometer with thermistor for about ten bucks.
Brain BF, requires a few grand worth of software and equipment and is not something most folks can do at home. Training with a home kit will obviously be cheaper. But, it will also save time if you do elect to have sessions with a professional.
I recall seeing something on television a few months ago about an Australian study or program. Basically a “helmet” of sensors measured the kids’ brainwaves while they were playing a computer game. The longer the kids concentrated on the game the more “points” they got; if they were concentrating really well, they could play for hours. It was just the sort of game kids enjoy too, to make it attractive for them; lots of rapid action, shooting down meteors or enemy spaceships or something.
They didn’t give any firm results, since the program was in its early stages, but Head Scientist Dude did seem rather encouraged by their progress.