Stress Mastery: The Art of Coping Gracefully

Biofeedback

It was traditionally assumed by physicians as well as psychologists that functions of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) could not be consciously controlled. After all, the ANS is also called the involuntary nervous system; it controls so-called involuntary bodily functions such as blood pressure and heart rate. Then, in the late 1960s, a series of creative experiments by psychologist Neal Miller, Ph.D., demonstrated that people can consciously affect and control autonomic functions after all. Miller was experimenting with what later became known as biofeedback, a system of recording, amplifying, and feeding back information about subtle physiological responses. The mechanisms whereby we control autonomic functions are still poorly ...