Advanced biofeedback techniques are being used to treat a variety of health problems, including headaches, chronic pain, anxiety and stress, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome and insomnia.

They are particularly effective where prescribed medications have been ineffective or undesired, says Dale Patterson, director of the Turnersville Biofeedback and Behavioral Medicine Center, located on the Black Horse Pike.

Biofeedback uses safe, battery-operated instruments to measure and feed back to a person subtle changes in his or her body, according to Patterson.

These can include brain waves, skin conductance, pulse volume and breathing patterns.

In tension headaches, Patterson notes, biofeedback focuses on reducing muscle tension in the head, neck and upper shoulders. In migraine headaches, it emphasizes increasing blood flow to the hands and feet as measured by surface skin temperature.

Patterson, who uses a variety of instruments in his Turnersville practice, explains how biofeedback works:

"People with health problems listen to tones or watch light displays that tell them what's goind on in their bodies.

Actual QEEG Brain Maps

"With this biofeedback information and the help of personalized relaxation- hypnotic tapes, they learn to recognize and relax the bodily systems whose over activity has sustained the headaches, pains or other stress-related disorder.

"Computer displays and print-outs are used to assist in learning these self- regulatory skills and for logging treatment progress."

Patterson also uses a technique called "twilight learning," in which hypnotic suggestions are automatically presented to a person only when he or she is producing very specific brain wave rhythms.

The technique, which combines biofeedback and hypnosis, is based on the differences between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, according to Patterson.

The left hemisphere, Patterson says, houses our language and logical thinging abilities and tends to project the emotional, nonverbal right hemisphere from perceiving something if it "doesn't want to hear."

Migraine sufferers, for example, "often have a vested interest in perfectionism, orderliness and emotional inexpressiveness," Patterson said.

"Because of this, suggestions to the contrary given during counseling might easily be rejected, just as smokers might reject the suggestion that they can survive without cigarettes.

"In twilight learning, we neutralize the left hemisphere's protective role. Through a brain wave called 'theta,' which is associated with drowsiness and imagery, we are able to suspend the critical faculities of the left hemisphere and allow the right hemisphere to be reprogrammed," Patterson said.

"Twilight learning can be used for many disorders including overeating, alcohol/drug dependency, smoking, learning blocks, test-taking anxiety, and self-image enhancement," Patterson adds.

The Biofeedback & Alternative Medicine Centers offer medically supervised treatment programs.

"Biofeedback and twilight learning," Patterson notes, "should not be viewed as a substitute for proper medical care."