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Biofeedback Therapy in New York

What Is Biofeedback Therapy?

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By Natalie Buchwald, LMHC-D | Reviewed by: Steven Buchwald

Biofeedback therapy is a non-invasive treatment that uses real-time sensors to measure your body's physical responses to stress: heart rate, breathing, muscle tension, skin temperature, and perspiration. By watching these responses on a screen as they happen, you learn to control them consciously. Biofeedback is evidence-based, drug-free, and used to treat anxiety, chronic pain, headaches, PTSD, and stress-related conditions.

By learning how our bodies respond to stress, we can begin to learn techniques to moderate those reactions.

Biofeedback therapy affords a powerful tool for patients to gain control of their anxiety in ways they never realized were possible. Manhattan Mental Health Counseling is now pleased to offer this innovative treatment as part of our psychotherapy offerings.

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How Chronic Stress Affects Your Body

While our bodies are programmed with the fight-or-flight instinct in response to acute stress, studies show that when we experience constant stress it can wreak havoc on our minds and bodies in many ways. Learning new responses to stress can lead to reduced anxiety, better overall health and a calmer outlook.

How Your Body Reacts to Stress

The human body responds to stressors by releasing hormones that affect us in a variety of ways. For example, you may experience increased heart rate, rapid and/or shallow breathing, perspiration, physical tensing in various parts of the body, or a combination of these. The responses may differ widely from person to person. Biofeedback gives you the opportunity to observe the effects of stress on your own body firsthand.

Benefits of Biofeedback

Biofeedback can help with a wide-range of conditions including

Condition	How Biofeedback Helps	Evidence Level
Anxiety	Trains awareness of physical stress responses and teaches voluntary control of heart rate and breathing	Strong
Chronic Pain	Identifies muscle tension patterns and teaches relaxation techniques to reduce pain intensity	Moderate
Headaches/Migraines	Reduces frequency and severity by teaching temperature and muscle tension control	Strong
PTSD	Calms hyperarousal symptoms by training nervous system regulation	Moderate
Peak Performance	Improves concentration, focus, and access to meditative states for athletes and executives	Emerging
Urinary Incontinence	Trains pelvic floor muscle identification and control using visual feedback	Strong

Anxiety

Biofeedback is widely used to treat stress-related disorders including anxiety. It brings awareness to your body’s responses when you feel stressed, and trains your body and mind how to respond to stress differently. Learn more about Exploring the Benefits of Biofeedback Therapy.

Peak Performance

Peak performance is about functioning at your best. Biofeedback therapy can help improve concentration and creativity and access meditative states of consciousness. Biofeedback is used by elite athletes and executives to enhance and sustain levels of peak performance.

Chronic Pain

Biofeedback can help relieve physical discomfort that is caused by some (but not all) types of chronic pain. By helping to identify tight muscles and then learning to relax them, biofeedback improves coping skills. Learn more about how Biofeedback can help reduce chronic pain.

Headaches

Biofeedback can help reduce the severity and frequency of headaches.

PTSD

Biofeedback can help with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and reduce the severity of PTSD symptoms.

Urinary Incontinence

Biofeedback therapy can help people who have trouble controlling the urge to use the bathroom. Pelvic floor muscle can be hard to identify. Often times, abdominal muscles are used instead of pelvic floor muscles. Biofeedback provides a visual representation of muscle activity, which helps learn how to stop using the wrong muscles and start using the correct ones.

What Happens During a Biofeedback Session

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During biofeedback sessions, your provider will connect you to a computer using sensors that measure various responses such as body temperature, respiration, heart rate, perspiration and muscle tension. As you observe these responses graphically on the screen in real time, your therapist will help you experiment with various techniques to change those stress responses—for example, diaphragmatic breathing techniques, progressive muscle relaxation, mindfulness exercises, and even visual games like racing a car using breathing skills. As you watch how your stress responses change while using these techniques, you’ll develop a strong mind-body connection that can help you reduce your heart rate at will. Your provider will also use these responses to help create a long-term treatment plan to reduce the effects of stress.

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By training your body and mind how to respond to stress differently you’ll enjoy better mental and physical health, experience a greater sense of calm and improve your overall quality of life. Biofeedback can be utilized as a stand-alone treatment or as a beneficial enhancement to an existing psychotherapy treatment plan.

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Top-Rated Biofeedback Therapy in New York

Frequently Asked Questions: Biofeedback Therapy in New York

What is biofeedback therapy?

Biofeedback therapy is a non-invasive, drug-free treatment that uses real-time sensors to measure your body's physical responses to stress.

How does biofeedback work?

During a biofeedback session, your therapist attaches sensors to your body that measure physical responses like heart rate, respiration, and muscle tension. You see these measurements on a screen in real time.

Is biofeedback covered by insurance?

Biofeedback may be covered by insurance when there is a medical necessity, such as anxiety, chronic pain, or PTSD. Coverage depends on your specific plan. Manhattan Mental Health Counseling is in-network with Aetna, Cigna, United Healthcare, and Healthfirst.

How many biofeedback sessions will I need?

The number of sessions varies based on your condition and response to treatment. Some people see improvement in 6 to 8 sessions. Others benefit from 10 to 15 sessions for more chronic conditions.

Is biofeedback safe?

Yes. Biofeedback is non-invasive and drug-free. The sensors only measure your body's responses; they do not deliver electrical current or stimulation.

Can biofeedback be combined with talk therapy?

Yes. Biofeedback is often most effective when combined with psychotherapy. Combining both approaches addresses the physical and psychological aspects of stress and anxiety.

Do you need biofeedback therapy in New York? Whatever challenges you’re going through, Manhattan Mental Health Counseling has a biofeedback therapist available to help (featured below). Simply fill out the contact form below, and we’ll connect you with someone who can help.

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