Special Issue: Mindfulness, Compassion, and Biofeedback Practice
Association for Applied Psychophysiology & Biofeedback
Short Title:
Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback
Format:
Journal Article
Publication Date:
Nov 30, 2017
Pages:
1
Sources ID:
33926
Collection:
Biofeedback Devices and Wearables
Visibility:
Public (group default)
Abstract:
(Show)
The cover of this special issue of Biofeedback shows a word cloud expressing the intersection of mindfulness with abundance, connection, empathy, resonance, growth, ac- ceptance, and a host of other positive values deeply in harmony with biofeedback practice. (Thanks to CanStock Photo for the image.)This special issue on ‘‘Mindfulness, Compassion, and Biofeedback Practice’’ is a continuation of the themes presented in the Fall 2015 and Fall 2016 special issues on mindfulness. The guest editors are Inna Khazan, author of The Clinical Handbook of Biofeedback: A Step-by-step Guide for Training and Practice with Mindfulness, and Donald Moss, co-author of Pathways to Illness, Pathways to Health and Integrative Pathways: Navigating Chronic Illness with a Mind-Body-Spirit Approach. The editors have once again gathered a variety of authors and topics to chronicle the integration of mindfulness and compassion- based therapy approaches into biofeedback practice.
In the lead article, Inna Khazan discusses overbreathing, a common behavioral breathing dysregulation that con- tributes to both emotional and medical disorders. Over- breathing leads to deficiencies in carbon dioxide, respiratory alkalosis, and systemic physiological imbalances. She provides a practical overview of the physiology of respiration and overbreathing, and a detailed guide to using mindfulness-based skills in teaching healthy breathing.
Donald Moss describes changes in the face of illness in the past 100 years, and proposes that integrative medicine is better suited than a purely biomedicine approach to address the biopsychosocial aspect of modern illness. He also emphasizes the importance of a mindfulness-based ap- proach for integrative healthcare. His article introduces the concepts of the mindful practitioner, the mindful treatment encounter, mindful engagement of the patient, and mindfulness as treatment.
Saul Rosenthal provides an introduction to managing chronic pain through integrating biofeedback training with mindfulness. He shows how ‘‘watching the screen’’ during biofeedback training can enhance mindful awareness. He presents a case narrative of a woman in her 20s with
generalized anxiety disorder and gastrointestinal symp- toms, to illustrate the application of breath training with physiological feedback, enhancing mindful awareness of her physiology, her emotions, and her thoughts.
Debbie Callif discusses the integration of mindfulness with clinical biofeedback for pelvic floor muscle disorders, including bowel and bladder dysfunction and pelvic pain. She provides case studies of a 79-year-old woman with urinary incontinence and anxieties about incontinence in travel and social situations, and a 63-year-old man with fecal incontinence and diarrhea following colon cancer. In both cases, treatment included surface electromyographic biofeedback to retrain maladaptive muscle patterns, mind- fulness training to enhance awareness of somatic cues, and reestablishing neuromuscular control.