Biofeedback Therapy

Addiction is a disease that requires both physical and mental healing in order to see long-term success. Detox can only go so far by itself, so therapies are used to examine the other aspects of addiction that need attention. Biofeedback is just one example of a technique designed to do just that.

What Is Biofeedback & How Does It Work?

Biofeedback is a therapy technique used to treat various physical and mental ailments such as anxiety, stress, chronic pain, high blood pressure, ADHD, and more. The purpose of biofeedback therapy is to help people gain greater awareness of their psychological functions and learn how to control them. While breathing, heart rate, sweat activity, brain waves, and body temperature are largely thought to be involuntary, with biofeedback, people can learn how to regulate these body functions to their advantage.

Biofeedback works by connecting patients to a specific machine designed to measure one of these psychological functions. The machine will convey the information and patterns from these functions to the patient in a way that is easier to understand and interpret, such as with auditory or visual cues. With practice, the patient will be able to recognize these functions without the assistance of the machine and learn how to control them on their own.

How Is Biofeedback Used for Addiction Treatment?

At our Northeast addictions treatment center, we use biofeedback for substance abuse disorder treatment. Although drug addiction and alcoholism are the results of physical dependence, they are often accompanied by secondary physical and mental health problems that need to be addressed.

Many recovering addicts are also trying to work through underlying mental health problems during their time at treatment, and their substance abuse problems may stem from their inability to manage stress and anxiety. Biofeedback therapy for addiction can help patients learn to control the psychological functions associated with these triggers instead of turning to drugs or alcohol.

Even if anxiety and stress are not major contributing factors in the development of a person’s substance abuse disorder, to begin with, addiction recovery itself can be a stressful and anxious time. The initial drug detox especially can be troublesome as patients are going through withdrawal and attempting to change their whole lifestyle. Biofeedback for addiction can help people not only address these feelings but also deal with unwanted physical withdrawal symptoms such as increased heart rate, excessive sweating, and pain. With time, biofeedback therapy for addiction treatment can help prevent relapse as people are able to control their psychological functions in times when they are feeling triggered.

Biofeedback Therapy at Clearbrook

At Clearbrook Pennsylvania and Clearbrook Massachusetts, we believe in a compressive approach to substance abuse and addiction recovery that includes a variety of therapy techniques like biofeedback. All patients at our residential drug rehab will be exposed to these different therapies and programs in order to ensure that all of their issues are being addressed and that they can heal from addiction entirely. Only then can patients find lasting success in their sobriety journeys.

If you or a loved one are ready to take that first step to recovery, contact us today.