Psychophysiological Stress Assessment Using Biofeedback

Summary

In this video we will describe one method of assessing person's psychophysiological reaction to stress using biofeedback. We will also present general guidelines for treatment planning.

Abstract

In the last half century, research in biofeedback has shown the extent to which the human mind can influence the functioning of the autonomic nervous system, previously thought to be outside of conscious control. By letting people observe signals from their own bodies, biofeedback enables them to develop greater awareness of their physiological and psychological reactions, such as stress, and to learn to modify these reactions. Biofeedback practitioners can facilitate this process by assessing people s reactions to mildly stressful events and formulating a biofeedback-based treatment plan. During stress assessment the practitioner first records a baseline for physiological readings, and then presents the client with several mild stressors, such as a cognitive, physical and emotional stressor. Variety of stressors is presented in order to determine a person's stimulus-response specificity, or differences in each person's reaction to qualitatively different stimuli. This video will demonstrate the process of psychophysiological stress assessment using biofeedback and present general guidelines for treatment planning.

Protocol

Part 1: Setting up and preparing the skin

1. Set up the following sensors breathing belt, EMG, ECG, skin conductance, temperature, ground;
2. Prepare the skin by gently rubbing with an alcohol wipe in the following locations: forehead above the eyes for EMG, inside of both wrists for ECG, back of left hand for the ground (location of ground electrode may vary depending on equipment used);
3. Attach sensors to the skin in the following locations: breathing belt around the waist, EMG on the forehead above each eye, ECG on the inside of each wrist, skin conductance on middle finger of left hand, thermometer on the pointer of left hand....

Discussion

Completed psychophysiological in the appendi stress assessment provides a biofeedback practitioner with information necessary for formulating a treatment plan. This assessment provides information about both the individual’s response stereotypy, or uniformity of certain physiological responses to all stressors, and stimulus-response specificity, or individual’s unique physiological responses to different kinds of stressors. With this information, the client is then able to learn to predict what kind of physio.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Physiolab I-330-C2	J&J
PLUS 12 ch