The Stress of being black

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People like to think they know what the stress of being black is like.

If you’re not, you don’t.

Think about the stress of having a final exam in high school or college coming up.

You worry about it for two weeks or so leading up to it and it is very hard and stressful.  You get to the time of actually taking the exam and it is very stressful.  Then, the exam is over.

Being black is not like that because it’s never over.  Every morning you wake up you have to deal with the stress associated with being black all over again.

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How Will We Do Biofeedback Post COVID19?

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Biofeedback is usually a face to face, one on one activity.  If you were providing biofeedback prior to the start of social distancing and stay at home orders, things have surely changed drastically for you very quickly.  Now what will we do?  Many of the people who provide biofeedback also provide psychotherapy.  It is much simpler to provide psychotherapy virtually than it is for biofeedback.  All you need is for the provider and the client to have a computer, smartphone, or tablet and access to a software program or application like GotoMeeting, Zoom, or Skype.  Even though this is considered simple, there can still be impediments.  Some clients don’t have smartphones, tablets, or even computers.  Some also do not have internet access.  If both parties do have access to the necessary technology then the sessions can take place fairly easily and inexpensively.
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BCIA Certification Biofeedback Seminars

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How can you determine if the biofeedback provider you are considering visiting is qualified?

One good way is to get a personal referral.  If you know someone who has had success with a biofeedback provider for a similar problem as your own then there is a good chance that you may also get good results and be happy with them too.  There are other things that you can do to get an idea as to their qualifications.  One of the best ways to determine qualification is to find out if the provider is BCIA certified.  What is the BCIA?  BCIA stands for Biofeedback Certification International Alliance.

The BCIA is the organization that establishes the rules for and provides certification in biofeedback and neurofeedback.  Here is their mission: “BCIA certifies individuals who meet education and training standards in biofeedback and progressively recertifies those who advance their knowledge through continuing education.”
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Effects of Stress on Performance

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Our nervous system is constantly at work partly as an interface between our mind and body.  It reacts to our environment, physical activity, and our thoughts.  It causes changes heart rate, blood pressure, blood circulation, contraction level of our muscles, our breathing, and many other things.  When the changes are appropriate and useful for the situation this is a very good thing.  When the changes are due to an overreaction related to stress then it can be harmful.   There are many ways that stress can cause problems with health and I have discussed these in other places.  Here I want to focus on effects on performance.  This type of negative stress reaction can happen with various types of performance including athletes, singers, speakers, students, business people, and actors to name a few.

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Mind Body Seminars

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Although more people are now interested in mind body techniques like meditation, mindfulness, and yoga, there is still a great lack of clarity as to what the real effects of these techniques are.  It is also often difficult to know if a person practicing a technique is doing it correctly or getting the maximum benefit they can from it.

Several months ago, I was at a university in New York city visiting a meditation group.  The two people who were leading the group were interested in using EEG biofeedback equipment to measure the brainwave activity of people who were meditating.  They were interested in comparing the EEG activity of a novice meditator with that of a very experienced one.  This is one example of how technology can be used in combination with mind body techniques.  The idea was to see if there is a difference in what is going on in the brain while a person is meditating and does that vary depending on their experience level.

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Alternative Therapies Required to be Made Available to Veterans

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Many veterans who have served our country well suffer from a variety of symptoms and illnesses after deployment.  Some of the common conditions they deal with are anxiety, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome), depression, headaches, pain, and insomnia.  A very standard treatment for these conditions is a prescription for medication.  In some cases, medications can provide relief.  There can also be a downside.  Even when drugs are effective there may be accompanying negative side effects and sometimes dependence or addiction.

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Biofeedback and Neurofeedback Training for APA Continuing Education Credit

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Many psychologists in the United States of America are required to take training to keep up with new developments in the field and to remind them of things that they may have learned a long time ago.

There are many options for training including face to face programs, online programs, and material that psychologists can read. There are also many different topics that can be studied. As long as you have to take training you might as well make it something interesting, enjoyable, and useful. Biofeedback and neurofeedback are subjects that check all of those boxes. Psychologists tend to do a lot of talking and paperwork as a part of their routine. Some of this can become monotonous.

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The Power of Psychophysiological Stress Profiling

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A PSP provides a great deal of useful information and helps our clients understand why they are doing biofeedback, what the starting point is, what the goals are, and why. So why don’t more biofeedback providers use them?
What is a psychophysiological stress profile?
A PSP is a baseline test in which we record multiple biofeedback modalities usually including surface EMG, skin temperature, skin conductance, respiration, and heart rate/heart rate variability. Sometimes other modalities like blood pressure, end tidal CO2, and EEG are also included.

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Neurofeedback Equipment for Mental Health

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Mental health symptoms and solutions are being openly discussed more than ever.  Most days that I turn on the news I hear at least one story related to mental health.  Just today I heard a report about three separate people who were survivors or a relative of a survivor of a school shooting who committed suicide.  We often hear reports of the devastation across the country related to abuse of opioid drugs.  Concussions caused by car accidents, slip and falls, sports injuries cause memory loss, behavior and mood changes as well as other problems.

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