Biofeedback Therapy For Cancer

There have been claims (by unscrupulous creeps) that by learning biofeedback therapy, cancer patients can slow or stop the progression of cancer. These claims are fraudulent and, in my not-so-humble-opinion, cruel. The idea of placing the cause for the progression of cancer on the shoulders of the patient amounts to mental and emotional torture.

The truth is, however, that biofeedback therapy can be a very good complimentary therapy for cancer patients who are undergoing chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or surgery. Biofeedback cannot stop cancer. It can't cure cancer, either, but it can provide a cancer patient
with the ability to reduce his stress, muscle tension, and pain.

The principle of biofeedback therapy is technicians using monitoring devices to provide information about physical processes (blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, etc.), that are hard to detect without help and then giving (feeding back) this information in the form of a continuous signal like a sound or an image to the patient. The idea is that the patient can adjust his or her thinking, emotional state, or other mental processes for the purpose of controlling bodily functions and can see what works by changes in the signal being provided.

A biofeedback therapist provides guidance as the patient concentrates on changing a specific physical process, such as heart rate, temperature, perspiration, blood flow, brain activity, or muscle tension. When a patient learns how to control these normally automatically controlled functions, he or she can learn how to control pain, stress, and tension.

Biofeedback will NOT cure cancer, and it will not stop or slow the growth of tumors. But it can help to provide a better quality of life for cancer patients while they are going through the treatments that do have the potential to cure the cancer.