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Effects of Multiple Sessions of True and Placebo Heart Rate Biofeedback Training on the Heart Rates and Anxiety Levels of Anxious Patients During and Following Treatment
Author(s) -
Rupert Patricia A.,
Holmes David S.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1978.tb03115.x
Subject(s) - biofeedback , heart rate , placebo , anxiety , psychology , physical therapy , session (web analytics) , sitting , blood pressure , medicine , psychiatry , alternative medicine , pathology , world wide web , computer science
Fifty‐six adult males who were hospitalized with anxiety related problems were randomly assigned to the conditions formed by a 2 (instructions to increase heart rate, instructions to decrease heart rate) × 3 (true biofeedback, placebo biofeedback, no biofeedback) factorial plus 1 (no‐treatment control) design. Subjects were seen for 4 heart rate training/recording sessions and 1 subsequent transfer‐test session. Results indicated that: a) neither instructions alone nor the combinations of instructions and true or placebo biofeedback were more effective than simply sitting quietly (adaptation) for decreasing heart rate, b) instructions plus true biofeedback was more effective than instructions alone or instructions plus placebo biofeedback for increasing heart rate, c) multiple sessions of training did not enhance the level of control achieved early in the first session, d) the control achieved with biofeedback did not transfer to a subsequent no‐biofeedback situation, and e) biofeedback training did not influence subjects' subjective anxiety levels.