biofeedback

biofeedback A method of treatment that uses a monitor to measure patients’ physiologic information of which they are normally unaware. By watching a monitor, patients can learn by trial and error to adjust their thinking and other mental processes in order to control “involuntary” bodily processes such as blood pressure, temperature, gastrointestinal functioning, and brain wave activity. Biofeedback is now used to treat a wide variety of conditions and diseases, including stress, alcohol and other addictions, sleep disorders, epilepsy, respiratory problems, fecal and urinary incontinence, muscle spasms, partial paralysis, muscle dysfunction caused by injury, migraine headaches, hypertension, and a variety of blood vessel conditions, including Raynaud’s phenomenon.