Biofeedback for stress and burnout

Biofeedback is used in the training of stress and burnout, as well as for the prevention of such complaints¹ and has proven to be effective in these areas (see „Effectiveness“).

The method is also often used as a means of making test persons and clients aware of stress in the first place, as their „feeling“ for their own bodily processes has already been weakened by chronic stress.

Treating stress and burnout with biofeedback

Various biofeedback modalities are suitable as training modalities for stress and burnout, such as HRV biofeedback (to synchronise your breathing and heartbeat), breathing training (to learn relaxed abdominal breathing) or EMG biofeedback (to relax the muscles)¹. However, applications such as skin conductance training, heart rate variability or alpha training using neurofeedback are also possible.

Training programmes are used that support and reward test subjects and clients in achieving relaxation. In addition to general relaxation sessions in which the client is supported in achieving relaxation through videos or music, templates can also be used which only show a reward when a certain level of relaxation has been achieved. As this level can be customised, the client can be supported and accompanied step by step on the path to relaxation.

The therapist and client can objectively observe the level of relaxation at any time and also compare it across different sessions. Multimodal biofeedback can therefore help to identify „errors“ or difficulties and counteract them in good time.

Effectiveness, conclusion and sources

Biofeedback is used to prevent burnout, and also (if it is already too late) to actively counteract it1. Several studies have shown that biofeedback can reduce stress. These included, for example, results on

• Reduction in symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression after 4-5 weeks²³
• Biofeedback as an effective remedy against daily stress⁴
• Increased tolerance to stress⁵

The biofeedback principle can be understood and the ability to influence one's own body learnt within just a few sessions. In addition to the relaxation itself, the feeling of self-efficacy and a sense of control are particularly helpful for those undergoing treatment.

Chronic fatigue syndrome is not the same, but is perhaps still relevant in this context. A doctoral thesis on chronic fatigue syndrome showed that biofeedback therapy had a lasting training effect, as recorded values (e.g. „psychological quality of life“, „depressiveness“, etc.) showed a further improvement between the recording after the intervention and the catamnesis after 5 months. This effect was only seen in the biofeedback group, not in the standard treatment group. In the qualitative analysis, too, more biofeedback training subjects reported continuing changes and the high acceptance of the procedure was also mentioned⁶.