Mind Over Matter: The use of Biofeedback to control stress, pain, and other bothersome problems
Having a bad day? Well, I am. I have too much work to do, like always, but I want and have to graduate. I think I'm happy about that, about putting an end to all the pressure I have felt in these last four years. Then again I am not sure what to think. I will miss my friends, especially all those people with whom I was briefly acquainted and liked enough to sense the possibility of friendship but will never know now. On top of these worries are more general fears of the uncertainty of the next few years, not to mention the rest of my life. Going home to a place I've never really liked simply because I can't think of anything better to do scares me; the possibility of getting stuck there scares me even more. I need to find a job. I need to find a career. I want to go to graduate school at some point, but my grades after this semester will not make admission easy. Needless to say, there is a lot on my mind. This morning I went in for a doctor's appointment, just a quick check-up because I've been sick. As is routine, the nurse took my blood pressure. Then she turned and frowned at me. Seems that the pressure I'm under is not just weighing down on my mind. My body is responding to my higher level worries by sending my blood slamming through me with alarming force. We like to think of stress as a purely higher level function which only effects us on that level, and generally ignore the effects it might have on us on a more biological as opposed to psychological level, i.e. on the level of our voluntary and autonomic response systems. We hear Doctors on TV and DJs on NPR warning us that stress can kill, but we disregard them until we see ...
... middle of paper ...
...y and promise of a more complete understanding of just what our minds can do. Perhaps the nurseÕs frown is a needed wake up call. I may feel like my life is out of control, but the one thing I always do is think positive. It will not only improve my mental state, but my physical well being as well. Besides, things are looking up; I've just finished another paper.
References:
From Medline:
(1) www.healthy.net
(2) www.healthy.net/hwlibraryarticles/biofeedback/biofeedbackwhatis.htm
(3) www.healthy.net/hwlibraryarticles/mindbodyconnectio/mbbiofeed.htm
(4) www.healthy.net/hwlibrarybooks/mind.htm
From Neuroguide:
(5) www.aapb.org/index.htm
(6) www.biof.com/biofeedbackdef.html
(7) www.biof.com/lsfaq.html
(8) freud.tan.ac.il/~biosee/msr.html
(9) freud.tan.ac.il/~biosee/defin.html
(10) freud.tan.ac.il/~biosee/prob.html
“Life of John F. Kennedy.” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 04
Ever hear one say, “Sometimes I’m busy making others happy, that I forget to make sure I’m okay.”? After reading Barbara Ehrenreich’s Bright-Sided I have learned that balancing both positive and negative thinking is the single most important life lesson shown throughout the book. Ehrenreich tells readers that the power of positive thinking Is undermining America and how being too positive and too optimistic, can lead to trouble. One that knows how to balance the amount of positivity and negativity will create a proper outcome for their future.
Firstly Biofeedback is a technique on how to control your muscles that are not normally controlled for example blood pressure or your heart rate. This is meant to reduce ANS activity therefore reducing the symptoms related to stress such as illness. An individual participating in Biofeedback would be attached to a machine that produces feedback about some physiological activity. For example auditory or visual signals would be produced to indicate changes in the patients heart rate. It is possible even to control your own brain waves using biofeedback. The individual is also trained in how to reduce levels of stress that have been discovered. The biofeedback involves three stages 1: Developing an awareness of the particular response, 2: Learning ways to control the physiological response in quiet conditions and 3: transferring the control into everyday life.
At the time Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” she was considered a prominent feminist writer. This piece of background information allows the readers to see Gilman’s views on women’s rights and roles in the 18th century; “The Yellow Wallpaper” suggests that women in the 18th century were suppressed into society’s marital gender roles. Gilman uses the setting and figurative language, such as symbolism, imagery, and metaphors to convey the theme across.
Not too long ago, the 50 year anniversary of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy was remembered. Many historians claim that his policies were mediocre and average. But what makes Kennedy stand out among the rest of the presidents? Historians suggest that he is among the most popular presidents, if not the most popular one. So what makes Americans see Kennedy as such a memorable president? Was it his childhood and his family history? Was it the series of unfortunate events that led to his path to the presidency? Was it his policies? Or was it the way most Americans remember him, because of the way he died? John Fitzgerald Kennedy could be among the most memorable presidents because of all these ideas combined. If one little thing about the way he grew up hadn’t happened the way it did then he may not be the incredible president we remember him as.
Kreiser, Christine M. "JFK: trials, triumph and tragedy: the presidency of John F. Kennedy was momentous and consequential far beyond its horrific denouement in Dallas." American History 48.5 (2013): 40+. Biography in Context. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. Source.
In a female oppressive story about a woman driven from postpartum depression to insanity, Charlotte Gilman uses great elements of literature in her short story, The Yellow Wallpaper. Her use of feminism and realism demonstrates how woman's thoughts and opinions were considered in the early 1900?s.
The ideas expressed by Gilman are femininity, socialization, individuality and freedom in the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Gilman uses these ideas to help readers understand what women lost during the 1900’s. She also let her readers understand how her character Jane escaped the wrath of her husband. She uses her own mind over the matter. She expresses these ideas in the form of the character Jane. Gilman uses an assortment of ways to convey how women and men of the 1900’s have rules pertaining to their marriages. Women are the homemakers while the husbands are the breadwinners. Men treated women as objects, as a result not giving them their own sound mind.
...t my career as an influential, professional nurse. I feel more comfortable knowing what barriers I will face during my journey of rising to the top. Overall, I feel I have grown vastly from reading this book, and I am grateful for the lessons I have learned.
Prior to the early twentieth century men dictated women’s role in society. Charlotte Gilman uses her novella “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892) as a symbolic reflection of oppression of women in a paternalistic society. Her novella challenges the idea of women being depicted as weak and fragile.
Women have been mistreated, enchained and dominated by men for most part of the human history. Until the second half of the twentieth century, there was great inequality between the social and economic conditions of men and women (Pearson Education). The battle for women's emancipation, however, had started in 1848 by the first women's rights convention, which was led by some remarkable and brave women (Pearson Education). One of the most notable feminists of that period was the writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman. She was also one of the most influential feminists who felt strongly about and spoke frequently on the nineteenth-century lives for women. Her short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper" characterizes the condition of women of the nineteenth century through the main character’s life and actions in the text. It is considered to be one of the most influential pieces because of its realism and prime examples of treatment of women in that time. This essay analyzes issues the protagonist goes through while she is trying to break the element of barter from her marriage and love with her husband. This relationship status was very common between nineteenth-century women and their husbands.
Known as the youngest and most popular president in our history, John F. Kennedy accomplished a lot in the short time of his time in office. On November 22, 1963 as he rode throu...
You often think that everything boils down to deadlines. If only the tick of the clock is much slower and if deadlines don’t exist, everything would be much easier. Sometimes you blame your failures to somebody or to a circumstance where in fact, the real problem is just the way you perceive stress.
...nts. We can alleviate fears and anxieties by connecting with our patients and families. In the OR, this means a warm blanket, a hand to hold, a tissue to wipe away tears, encouraging words, understanding eyes, a shoulder to lean on, and a nurse to trust." said Kelly Walsh, BSN, RN, thoracic surgery coordinator at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. (Unknown author, “What I Love About Nursing”). Nursing is a job for life, It just never stops giving. Everyday, there is new thing to learn, and its always the technology changing for the nurses. It gives us hope for those who shake our hands and tell us “thanks” that makes us love what we do. It’s the simplest things that are the best. But there’s nothing better than saving a another person’s live. And at the end of the day, its great to know that you gave someone else the gift of a lifetime.
Stress is a normal part of everyday life. From what happens to you and around you, plus the many things that one does to themselves put stress on the body. The common causes of stress that most people encounter are problems in personal relationships, starting a new job, financial situations, daily hassles, illnesses and legal problems (webmd.com). When the body encounters long periods of stress like those our body begins to give off warning signs that something is not right. When we encounter these warnings they shouldn’t be ignored. Our body is telling us that we need to take it down a notch and give