Biofeedback / Psychophysiological Assessment and Intervention

(This the BCIA required General Biofeedback Course)

50 Hours of CE Credit / Course Fee $550
Presented by Richard A. Sherman, PhD

Course Concept and Description: This course is the equivalent of a three credit course and provides 50 hours of CE credit. Students learn by watching audiovisual lectures provided on CDs, reading assignments both from materials provided on the CD and standard texts, and interacting with their instructor via e-mail. They answer short essay questions after each lecture rather than taking exams. Previous students have found that this course takes between 45 and 95 hours of work to perform. Students start the course whenever they wish to and proceed at their convenience. There is no limit to how long students can take to complete the course.

The course provides sufficient material so clinicians will (a) know the psychophysiological bases for performing the recordings (b) what the common assessments and interventions are as well as how they work, (c) what the common associated interventions are, (d) how the recording devices work in a clinical setting, (d) how to perform an effective recording, and (e) how to perform effective psychophysiological assessments and interventions.  The course meets all of the requirements for the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America’s biofeedback certification course and is approved by them for this purpose. Please note that clinicians interested in being certified in biofeedback by the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America would have to get 100 hours of supervision in treating patients with biofeedback before they could take the certification exam.

Format: Home study supported by e-mail chats after each unit is completed. The lecture portion of the course is presented through a series of audiovisual lectures profusely illustrated by power-point slides. You will receive two CDs containing the audiovisual lectures – which are on power point slides. You will hear the instructor’s voice while viewing the power point sides. The 28 lectures are between ½ and 1 ½ hours in length. Reading assignments parallel the lectures. After watching the lecture and reading the assigned supporting files, you will answer a brief series of short essay review questions (which are in the review questions file on your CD). The answered questions are then e-mailed to the instructor. You and the instructor will discuss each unit via e-mail chat after your answers are assessed. There is no need to complete the discussion with the instructor before proceeding to the succeeding lecture & chapters.

Computer and Computer Knowledge Requirements:  Anybody with a modern computer and a bit of basic understanding of computer operation (at the level of being able to send e-mails) can play this course with minimal problems. You must have a computer (a) containing a CD read or RW drive (b) capable of connecting to the internet and running a typical internet program, (c)  containing/running a modern word processor such as Microsoft word or Word Perfect, (d) the capability to play sounds such as music (has speakers and appropriate software which normally come with any modern computer), and (e) a slide viewing program such as Power Point (you can probably get a slide viewing program free off the internet if you don’t have one). Any modern (e.g. built within the last ten years), IBM style computer running Windows 98 and more recent platforms (e.g. XP) should be able to do this. Speed, hard disk size, and RAM are not factors for computers in the above category. Dozens of students have used recent Apple products (MACs etc.) for the course but some have had difficulty hearing the lectures and seeing the slides simultaneously. Apple product users frequently have more difficulty playing the course.

You need to have a working internet connection (normally through an internet service provider – ISP), know how to communicate via e-mail including either how to send an MS Word / Word Perfect attachment or how to cut and paste text from a word processor into an e-mail message. You need to be sure your computer’s speakers are on so you can hear the lectures. You may want to test your computer by checking to be sure it can play music from a CD.

Prerequisites & professional training requirements: You should have had undergraduate courses in general biology and general psychology prior to taking this course. If you haven’t had them, contact us before registering. You will do much better in the course if you have already taken our “introduction to psychophysiology” and “Anatomy and Physiology for Behavioral Clinicians” courses. This course is intended for licensed / certified clinicians.

None of the instructional material offered will provide you with the clinical skills needed to apply the psychophysiological assessment and interventional techniques you will learn in the clinical environment unless you are already a trained clinician or educator. 

Getting Started: Course schedule and payment: The course costs $550 (exclusive of the texts).  The course CDs will be mailed to you upon receipt of payment. You can begin at your convenience and progress through the course at your own pace. There is no limit to how long you can take to complete the course. Questions? Just contact us at brotmanp@verizon.net; Dr. Philip Brotman, 212-222-5665.

CE Credit: These are continuing education, not accredited, courses. CE credits are given through (1) the state of California’s Board of Behavioral Sciences (Approval # PCE1895); (2) The National Board of Certified Counselors (Provider # 6270), and (3) The Texas Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors (Provider #356).

BCIA credit: This course is approved by the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America and can be used toward certification in both general biofeedback and neurofeedback.

Refund, cancellation, & CD replacement policies:  Full refund until the CDs are mailed to you. After the CDs are mailed, there is no refund at all as the Foundation has committed its resources to you. A course would only be cancelled due to an extreme emergency on the part of the course instructor or the Foundation. In the highly unlikely event a course is cancelled, you would receive a full refund. There is a $20 charge to replace lost course CDs.

Faculty:The course is given by Dr. Richard Sherman, Ph.D.  He is certified by BCIA, approved by BCIA to teach the general biofeedback certification course, and currently teaches A&P, Pelvic floor disorders, pain, and other courses for the Behavioral Medicine R& T Foundation. He is a professional psychophysiologist with extensive training (his Ph.D. is in biology / physiology), has nearly 30 years of experience in the field, and has published over 130 books, chapters, and articles (mostly in peer reviewed journals). Dr. Sherman is Dean of the psychophysiology doctoral program at the University of Natural Medicine and has held many positions within the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback including president. Full CV available upon request and on the course CD.

Strongly Recommended Texts: The cost of the texts is not included in the course fee.

a. Pain Assessment and Intervention From a Psychophysiological Perspective by Richard A. Sherman. Combined print/CD version published by AAPB 2004 (order from the Behavioral Medicine Foundation’s web site (behavmedfoundation.org) or AAPB’s bookstore (800 477-8892).

b. Biofeedback: A Practitioner’s guide. Edited by Mark Schwartz and Frank Andrasik. Guilford Press of New York, 2003.  Discounted purchase available through AAPB’s bookstore (800 477-8892).

Recommended Texts (Especially for people intending to take the BCIA exam):

a. Introduction to Surface Electromyography by Jeffrey R. Cram and Glenn S. Kasman with Jonathan Holtz. Aspen, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 1998.

b. Clinical Applications in Surface Electromyography - Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain by Glenn S. Kasman, Jeffrey R. Cram, and Steven L. Wolf. Aspen, Gaithersburg, Maryland 1998.

Topics we will cover:

• Introduction to / history of biofeedback (concepts, learning theory, research methods, etc.)
• Preparation for clinical intervention (intake, psychophysiological profiling, what is normal, individuality of responses, psychophysiology of emotion, etc.)
• Neuromuscular interventions: General (muscle anatomy and physiology, CNS impacts through the muscular system, treatment techniques for neuromuscular disorders)
• Neuromuscular interventions: Specific (neck, low back, immobilization, tension headaches, TMD, torticollis, urinary and fecal incontinence)
• CNS (emotion, memory, behavioral correlates of various EEG patterns, clinical uses of EEG feedback, effects of drugs on the EEG)
• Autonomic Nervous System: General (structure & function, homeostasis, stress hormones, anatomy and physiology of the circulatory system, effects of changes in circulation on health and disease, skin temperature training techniques, physiology and measurement of electrodermal activity, electrodermal activity as an index of emotional arousal)
• Autonomic NS: Specific (migraines, Raynaud’s disease, hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, respiratory disorders)
• Biofeedback and distress (Cannon’s fight or flight response, Selye’s adaptation syndrome, physiological responses to stress, types of stressors related to psychophysiological disorders, symptoms and signs of distress, relationships between recorded physiological parameters and stress responses)
• Instrumentation (concepts of recording, sources of artifact, hazards, methods of performing accurate recordings)
• Adjunctive therapeutic interventions (relaxation techniques, desensitization, cognitive, biofeedback guided psychotherapy, nutrition/stress, exercise/mood)
• Professional conduct (ethics, professional responsibility for competence, record keeping, laws, etc.)

Order of Lectures and Readings:  (Note that there are 27 required lectures)

After listening to each lecture, do the assigned reading and follow along in the pain text.

The numbered items include review questions students must answer to receive credit for the course.

Administrative introduction (View slide set 1.) -  no questions

1. Basic concepts and Credibility (View slide sets 2 and 3 then read the text files BFB psychophysiological recording, BFB Rehabilitation Chapter; BFB Rules for establishing credibility and either listen to or read the slides from the “BFBV intro to BFB” lecture.)

2. Stress and disease (View slide set 4 then read the text files BFB psychophysiology of stress responses, BFB Heart & Stress.)

3. Electricity, Muscles, and SEMG (View slide set 5.)

4. Development and nerves (View slide set 6.)

5. Pain 1: Referred pain, EEG, and blood flow (View slide set 7 & read BFB SEMG & Pain review.)

6. Pain 2: Headache (View slide set 8.)

7. Pain 3: Low back pain, trigger points (View slide set 9.)

8. Recording 1: Equipment overview (View slide set 10 and read BFB effects of medications on signals)

9.  Recording 2: SEMG (View slide set 11.)

10. Recording 3: GSR, respiration, Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability (View slide set 12.)

11. Recording 4: Temperature, and EEG (View slide set 13 then read BFB Drugs & EEG signal.)

12. Recording 5: Pelvic floor (View slide set 14.)

13. Assessment 1: Interviews and tracking changes (View slide set 15.)

14.  Assessment 2: Psychophysiological profiles (View slide set 16 & read BFB psychophysiological profile table.)

15. Assessment 3: Low back pain and headaches (View slide set 17 & read BFB headache log, BFB headache protocol.)

16. Assessment 4: Norms and habituation (View slide set 18).

17. Associated techniques: Relaxation training, meditation, cognitive restructuring, etc.

(View slide set 19 & read BFB aches & pain exercise program, BFB relaxation exercise, BFB Exercise effects on mood, BFB focused breathing exercise.)

18. Treatment 1: Techniques overview, model protocol (View slide set 20 & read BFB efficacy overview.)

19. Treatment 2: Muscle and blood flow related problems (View slide set 21 & read BFB TMD Rx review.)

20 Treatment 3 Pelvic floor interventions 1 and 2 (View slide set 22 & read treatment of UI review, BFB UI protocol, BFB UI handout for males, BFB UI handout for males, BFB Anorectal disorders.)

21. Treatment 4: Anxiety, ADHD, hypertension, irritable bowel syndrome, Raynauds, addiction, etc. (View slide set 23 & read BFB EEG vs. placebo for ADHD, BFB EEG for ADHD review, BFB hypertension treatment review.)

22. Cases and tricks (view slide set 25.)

23. Ethics (View slide set 26 then read “BFB BCIA ethics document”.)

Conclusion (view slide set 27) – no questions

Read the “additions and corrections” file on your CD – no questions

Fill out the BCIA evaluation form (MS Word file named “BFB BCIA eval form”) and send it to BCIA.

When all requirements have been successfully completed, a copy of your course completion certificate will be e-mailed to BCIA and a nicely printed copy will be snail-mailed to you.

End of outline