Physically Manage Stress with Biofeedback
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.
The Dangers of Chronic Stress and What to Do about it
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
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.
Learn Powerful Techniques to Combat Stress and Anxiety
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.
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.
Top-Rated Biofeedback Therapy in New York
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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