Many people know that therapy is an essential element of the addiction recovery process. Rarely do individuals engage in just one type of therapy during rehabilitation; rather, individuals often participate in a wide range of evidence-based and holistic therapies to foster a well-rounded recovery. One breakthrough therapy that is helpful for many working to establish and sustain sobriety from alcohol and other drug use is biofeedback therapy. Biofeedback therapy is unique in that it provides participants with immediate feedback about their physiology.
At Renaissance Ranch, biofeedback therapy is one of many different types of therapies we offer to help our clients overcome addiction and co-occurring mental health disorders. Both in early and long-term recovery, physical cravings and withdrawals can place individuals at risk of relapse. Biofeedback therapy can provide individuals in recovery with the opportunity to identify these physical symptoms before they become problematic. It can also teach individuals how to self-regulate and reduce sympathetic arousal by bringing psychological processes into their control.
What Is Biofeedback Therapy?
According to the publication titled Biofeedback by authors Malki and Dua, “Biofeedback is a technique to augment the normal sensory feedback and allow better control of body functions that are usually considered involuntary.” It is a type of mind-body therapy that helps clients gain conscious control over their body’s internal functions, including, but not limited to, breathing patterns, muscle responses, and heart rate. Like other mind-body therapies, biofeedback therapy is used to improve whole-person health of the mind, body, and spirit in tandem.
As explained in Mental Health in Family Medicine, biofeedback therapy is best understood as a process of training rather than a type of treatment. During a biofeedback therapy session, electrodes are attached to different areas of a client’s body, and these electrodes are responsible for measuring and recording internal activity. Such activity is displayed on a monitor in real-time, represented by a specific medium such as a sound, image, or flash of light. With the help of a trained practitioner, clients learn how to analyze this feedback and how to use the feedback to redirect and regulate their physiology in a healthy way.
Furthermore, as highlighted in the journal mentioned above, “Biofeedback also helps to make patients aware of the thoughts, feelings and behaviours related to their physiology. Over time, they can learn to self‐regulate without feedback screens in front of them.” In other words, biofeedback therapy training ultimately trains an individual to understand the connections that exist between their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors and recognize that they can redirect unpleasant physiological responses to more pleasant, peaceful ones.
What Are the Benefits of Biofeedback Therapy?
One of the most valuable benefits of biofeedback therapy is its potential to help clients gain awareness about their overall health and wellness. It does this in unique ways, depending on an individual’s diagnosis and symptomatology. For instance, consider individuals who struggle with symptoms of anxiety and panic. Biofeedback can help individuals both identify when they are becoming anxious as well as implement effective responses when faced with stressful stimuli. With consistent correction during sessions, this training can enable individuals to feel greater control in their daily lives.
Similarly, biofeedback therapy can also be effective for pain management, especially for those who struggle with tension headaches, migraines, and other forms of chronic pain. It can assist clients in identifying tight muscle groups and provide them with new strategies that promote relaxation. Additionally, biofeedback therapy has also proven effective in the treatment of high blood pressure, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and more.
Biofeedback Therapy and Addiction Recovery
Certainly, individuals in recovery from addiction will endure an exhaustive list of physical, emotional, and spiritual symptoms that can interfere with their ability to sustain sobriety long-term. For instance, physical experiences of cravings and withdrawals can be common and increase an individual’s risk for relapse. With the help of biofeedback therapy, individuals can learn how to self-monitor physical and emotional signals that could make them vulnerable to relapse. From there, they can respond and correct these signals by using breathing techniques or muscle relaxation strategies that they learned in biofeedback therapy sessions.
Another way that biofeedback can help with addiction recovery is by promoting mindfulness strategies. In the past, it may have become commonplace for an individual to attempt to escape from problematic symptoms and experiences with alcohol and other drug use. Yet, in recovery, biofeedback can enable them to be more present and proactively redirect these challenging experiences.
At Renaissance Ranch, we believe that it is most effective to combine biofeedback therapy with evidence-based psychotherapies in treatment, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). When used in tandem, these therapies can be effective for symptom reduction and stress management and enhance the overall quality of life for those in recovery.
Individuals in recovery from alcohol and drug addiction can benefit from a wide range of therapeutic approaches available to achieve whole-person healing. Biofeedback therapy is a type of mind-body technique that helps individuals gain awareness of their body’s involuntary processes. As electrodes measure these processes, an individual can receive feedback about them via a monitor in real time. From there, an individual can lean into different strategies, including breathwork and muscle relaxation strategies, to redirect unpleasant physiological symptoms. At Renaissance Ranch, we offer biofeedback alongside many other therapies to assist in the addiction treatment process. To learn more about our programs and services, give us a call today at (801) 308-8898.