Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback
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Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback · Mar 2013
Peak high-frequency HRV and peak alpha frequency higher in PTSD.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is difficult to treat and current PTSD treatments are not effective for all people. Despite limited evidence for its efficacy, some clinicians have implemented biofeedback for PTSD treatment. As a first step in constructing an effective biofeedback treatment program, we assessed respiration, electroencephalography (EEG) and heart rate variability (HRV) as potential biofeedback parameters for a future clinical trial. ⋯ Peak high-frequency HRV was lower in the PTSD group (F(2,78) = 26.5, p < 0.00005) when adjusting for respiration rate. All other EEG and HRV measures and respiration were not different between groups. Peak high-frequency HRV and peak alpha frequency are sensitive to PTSD status and may be potential biofeedback parameters for future PTSD clinical trials.
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Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback · Jun 2012
Physiological responses induced by emotion-eliciting films.
Emotion-eliciting films are commonly used to evoke subjective emotional responses in experimental settings. The main aim of the present study was to investigate whether a set of film clips with discrete emotions were capable to elicit measurable objective physiological responses. The convergence between subjective and objective measures was evaluated. ⋯ Physiological variations were associated with arousal measures indicating a convergence between subjective and objective reactions. Women appeared to display significantly greater SCL and HR responses for films inducing sadness. The findings suggest that physiological activation would be more easily induced by emotion-eliciting films that tap into emotions with higher subjective arousal such as anger and fear.
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Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback · Jun 2012
Randomized Controlled TrialThe effect of heart rate variability biofeedback on performance psychology of basketball players.
Coping with pressure and anxiety is an ineluctable demand of sports performance. Heart rate variability (HRV) Biofeedback (BFB) shall be used as a tool for self regulating physiological responses resulting in improved psycho physiological interactions. For further analysis, the present study has been designed to examine the relationship between anxiety and performance and also effectiveness of biofeedback protocol to create stress-eliciting situation in basketball players. ⋯ The Placebo group showed improvement in self efficacy and performance post training. The Control group showed no change in any variable except performance. The results of the study support the idea that HRV BFB lowers the anxiety and thus there seems to be a potential association between HRV BFB and performance optimization.
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Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback · Jun 2012
Cortisol awakening response and pain-related fear-avoidance versus endurance in patients six months after lumbar disc surgery.
Recent research indicates that stress-induced, prolonged deviations in basal adrenocortical activity might contribute to ongoing/recurrent pain following lumbar disc surgery. Further, fear-avoidance and endurance responses to pain (FAR and ER) are regarded as important risk factors for pain after surgery. In patients with non-specific low back pain, FAR appear to possibly increase pain-related arousal, whereas ER may have an arousal-lowering effect, indicated by adrenocortical activity. ⋯ While the ER variables pain-persistence behavior and positive mood despite pain showed negative associations with the CAR, the FAR variables fear-avoidance beliefs and avoidance of social activity were positively correlated with it. Additionally, higher CAR levels were found in patients with high versus patients with low fear-avoidance beliefs and, conversely, in patients with low versus high positive mood and pain persistence. These results indicate that FAR may increase the individuals' level of pain-related stress among patients after disc surgery, while ER may lower it.
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Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback · Mar 2012
Case ReportsHypoventilation training for asthma: a case illustration.
Hyperventilation-induced hypocapnia is common among asthma patients. This case study illustrates both methodology and results from a patient undergoing training in capnometry-assisted respiratory training (CART). ⋯ Improvements were accompanied by improvements in lung function and reductions in diurnal lung function variability. Improvements remained stable throughout follow-up.