Special Issue: New Horizons for Optimal Performance
2011; Volume: 39; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.5298/1081-5937-39.3.14
ISSN2158-348X
Autores Tópico(s)Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
ResumoThe cover of this Fall 2011 issue of Biofeedback shows a biofeedback session for a cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy, where Dr. Troy Todd applies biofeedback and neurofeedback to alleviate athletes' problems and enable higher-level athletic performance.From the beginning, the biofeedback movement has had a close relationship with the concepts and practices of the peak performance field. Biofeedback and neurofeedback have been applied for athletes, stage performers, and artists to address two goals: (a) to treat their psychophysiological maladies, from performance anxiety to repetitive strain, and (b) to enable athletes and others to enhance functioning beyond previous levels.Guest Editor Rae Tattenbaum created the Spring 2011 special issue, Advances in the Use of Biofeedback and Neurofeedback for Optimal Performance, which included a broad range of articles showing how biofeedback and neurofeedback are being utilized in optimal performance. This Special Issue for Fall 2011 is an extension of that Spring issue and will feature additional examples of optimal performance in sports, musical, business, and military settings, and it specifically includes examples showing how this work is progressing internationally.The prolific efforts of Rae Tattenbaum have elicited the participation of so many experts in the optimal performance field that Biofeedback will now be publishing optimal performance reports regularly as part of our ongoing publication program.This issue opens with an article by Fred Shaffer and Judy Crawford on the efforts of BCIA to expand its international outreach to raise the standards of biofeedback and neurofeedback education and practice throughout the world.Next, Doil Montgomery provides an annual report on the Foundation for Education and Research in Biofeedback and Related Sciences. Donations to the Foundation this year have reached $4,835.00 and will support travel scholarships for 9 students to attend the AAPB conference and free registration at the AAPB meeting for 13 students.Margaret Dupee and Penny Werthner of the University of Ottawa, Ontario, report on their work with 15 Olympic athletes in the Vancouver Olympics as part of Canada's Own the Podium initiative. Dupee and Werthner applied both a quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) and a multimodality psychophysiological stress profile in the assessment of athletes. They describe their training program, utilizing both general biofeedback and neurofeedback, and the focus and recovery skills the training supported.Frank D. Perry, Lindsay Shaw, and Leonard Zaichkowsky of Boston University and the Vancouver Canucks review progress in recent years in research on sports performance and summarize their own research with Division I athletes in the 2009–2010 academic year. Their work begins with a multimodality psychophysiological assessment. Next, they train arousal control through biofeedback sessions. They validate their interventions by sport-specific posttests of skill performance. The article provides examples from interventions with gymnastics and ice hockey.Boris Blumenstein and Yitzhak Weinstein of Israel provide a report on their use of biofeedback training with elite athletes. The authors developed the “Wingate 5-Step Approach” to help athletes transfer self-regulation skills from the laboratory to real training conditions. This stepwise approach emphasizes periodization principles, with training goals specific to a preparatory, competitive, and transition phase.Carol Kershaw and Bill Wade of Houston provide an overview of their approach to optimizing executive leadership, which they call “brain change therapy.” They begin with a comprehensive evaluation using personality testing and a QEEG. They then implement a three-pronged therapeutic approach, integrating (a) deep state work, assisted by hypnosis and alpha-theta neurofeedback; (b) a lighter conversational hypnosis; and (c) psychotherapy focusing on covert messages to others and on attentional focusing. Kershaw and Wade use the case of an executive suffering from anxiety and stress to illustrate their approach.Troy Todd of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs describes his work with cadet athletes, aged 18 to 24 years, in a variety of sports, integrating cognitive and behavioral psychology, biofeedback, and neurofeedback to improve athletic performance. A case study describes Amy, a female cadet and athlete, who excelled in high school track yet performed inconsistently at the Academy. Todd's work with this cadet included identification of cognitive scripts that undermined performance and confidence and a cognitive intervention to alter this script. Next, a QEEG assessment identified cortical activation patterns correlated with the cadet's susceptibility to distraction. Neurofeedback training enhanced her capacity to focus during races.Yuval Oded of Israel introduces an innovative Mental Gym™ program developed with the Israeli military, using biofeedback, neurofeedback, stress inoculation, and other strategies, to enhance performance under life-threatening combat conditions. The program allowed combat soldiers to “work out” with biofeedback and other modalities in their free time, alone or with a trainer. Trials comparing stress inoculation with and without biofeedback provided evidence for the value of the biofeedback component.Leslie Sherlin and colleagues describe the assessment and training model they have developed for the Athlete High Performance team assembled by Red Bull North America. Their work has focused on elite athletes in a variety of sports. Their program combines biofeedback, neurofeedback, and optimal nutrition in a multidisciplinary intervention to support sports performance. In each case, the intervention is evidence based, emerging from an assessment including multisite QEEG, psychological assessment, blood work, and relevant genetic testing.Steven Cochran of Houston provides a brief report on an intervention that applied neurofeedback to enhance performance of partners in a financial services firm. The innovative program conducted neurofeedback training sessions, with three partners training simultaneously onsite. The program provided 15 partners and one spouse with 30 sessions of neurofeedback training. Participants completed an outcome assessment, which suggested positive changes in several categories including focus, the ability to stay “plugged in” during meetings, stress management, productivity, and other areas.Ann Trechak of Wichita, Kansas, reports on 35 years of applying biofeedback and neurofeedback training for high school–age musicians. Trechak used her experience as a professional musician to develop a peak performance coaching approach for advanced competitive high school athletes, many of whom earned All State honors. She also extended this approach using biofeedback and neurofeedback to benefit special needs athletes, including those with autistic disorders.Michael Linden and Ben Strack, of San Juan Capistrano, California, use assessment tools such as QEEG, a biofeedback stress profile, continuous performance testing, and reaction time testing. Their training program uses heart rate variability biofeedback and neurofeedback to assist both professional and amateur athletes. Their training objectives are twofold: to enhance performance and to prevent the emotional breakdowns that plague competitive performers. Linden and Strack have also extended their approach to serve athletes with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder or Asperger's disorder.Liana Mattulich, an Argentine physician, describes her “exceptional performance training system,” integrating biofeedback and neurofeedback with “wisdom practices,” acupuncture, journaling, movement, and art. Her program provides trainees with multimodality biofeedback in the office and uses homework with supplementary practices, such as journaling and movement, to “enhance brain plasticity” and sustain progress toward personal goals.
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