Pacificpsych.com

There’s more to psychiatry than writing a script and giving medications. Much more. Unfortunately, much of the profession has forgotten this and most patients don’t realise this either. The term ‘holistic’ has been co-opted by other people who position themselves as standing in contrast to medical doctors, when the truth is that a good medical doctor is the most holistic healer there is. If only they had the time…

This is as true for family medicine or surgery as it is for psychiatry. A good doctor is one who pays attention not only to the physical problem but to you.

I believe that the single best, and the single most holistic healing art, is that of listening. Another non-drug therapeutic method is biofeedback. Biofeedback is a relaxation technique that can be helpful for chronic stress, and might also help with stress related conditions, such as high blood pressure.

Much of our mind is outside our conscious awareness. There’s a lot of potential there we can tap into, potential we tend to be unaware of in our day to day lives.

What then is biofeedback? Just as the name implies, it gives you feedback on some biological parameter – one that is related to your emotional state. The simplest biofeedback method uses the temperature of your finger. You attach a thermometer to your finger – and then you relax.

When you achieve a state of relaxation, even just a mild one, your blood vessels “relax” too and dilate. The blood flow to your fingers increases and as a result the temperature of your fingers will rise. The nifty part of this is that you can see external evidence of your subconscious at work. That’s pretty cool! Pun intended…

You get positive feedback for your success in relaxing. Like a pat on the shoulder – you did it! And this this positive feedback in turn will make it easier for you to achieve this state of relaxation.

Very simple – and fun.

I would start with a simple thermometer. Later on, if you get into this, you might want to try the more complex – and more expensive – methods.