ASSESSING THE HARMONY OF FOUR BASIC INTERNAL FEELINGS THROUGH COMPUTERIZED BIOFEEDBACK

Where Today is Tomorrow in Health Care

Russell N. Cassel, Ed.D. ABPP, FAPSP.
The Cassel Psvch Center.
1362 Santa Cruz Court.
Chtila Vista, California 91910-7114

"There are two worlds: the world that we can measure with line and rule, and the world we feel with our hearts and imagination.

--Lehigh Hunt

Voluntary control, personal maturity, and all human development includes one's inner feelings and states of being. It involves the building of a cognitively oriented web from the dominant brain with full veto power, and includes one's feelings and emotions that are associated with the non-dominant brain areas. The process has been called, "constructivism" where cognitive orientation seeks to build and derive meaningful relation with one's emerging feelings and emotions (Cassel, Costello and Pulsar, 1993. Cappiocco and Tassinary, 1990; Cassel, 1985a and b, 1987, and 1989).

Neurofeedback Assessment

Technological advances in bioelectronics, imaging procedures, and laboratory computing have made it possible to record signals for building a bridge from the physiological systems to psychological meaning with increasing accuracy (Epstein. 1994; and Morris, 1986). Traditionally, four basic inner feelings that are continuous with life have been used in biofeedback and neurofeedback applications, and have been incorporated into Cassel and Costello Bio-Sensors which are designed to assess the degree and nature of harmony of one's inner states:

1. Electromyograph EMG - provides a continuous record of the intrinsic electrical activity, associated with muscle contraction and kinesthesia (swish of skirt and blink of eye)
2. Galvanic Skin Conductance GSR/EDA - associated with pleasant and unpleasant olfactory stimuli. and the intensity of affect (full range of emotions and discerning of truth).
3. Peripheral Body Temperature TEM - a valid measure of presence and functioning of the sympathetic syndrome, the "fight or flight" pattern or the emergency state.
4. Pulse Rate - PUL - perception of perceived stress load for moment of time and a general measure of the stress load being experienced (general overall harmony of inner states).

The Cassel and Costello computerised Bio-Sensor units are designed to assess four of the basic inner feelings (EMG, GSR, TEM & PUL as "modalities") in concert, and using these to depict the degree and nature of harmony in one's inner space. The computer converts each one of those four scores to a common index ranging from 0 to 100: so that a score of 50, for example, on the EMG is comparable and equal to a score of 50 on either the GSR, TEM, or PUL. Similarly, a score of 50 or 60 for any other modality (EMG, GSR. TEM or PUL) value is equal to the same value of a similar score on either of the other modalities; so that significant disparity between the four common based indices serves as a firm and scientific basis for assessment of the disharmony present. In order to establish a common base where all indices depict increased neural functioning, the TEM index (temperature of finger is reversed by the computer; since the lower the TEM the higher the sympathetic syndrome (when the finger is cool -low- it means the blood is going to the vital organs, a symptom characteristic of the sympathetic syndrome, and because the blood flow is so decreased the finger becomes colder). By reversal of the TEM score, all four scores (EMG, GSR, TEM & PUL) increase in neural activity as they get higher, so higher scores mean greater neural functioning. These raw scores are shown on the Biofeedback Profiles immediately under the norm profile and serve as a means to depict one's strong and weak feeling areas.

Norm Based Comparison

The Biofeedback menu provides personal choice for two basic norm data files, each providing for separate gender choices: (a. male. b. female, and c. general):

1. Youth - individuals under 21 Years of age.
2. Adults - individuals 21 years of age and older.

Disharmony and Intensity of Feelings

Disharmony, then, in relation to one's inner states is depicted solely on the basis of the intensity of one's feelings; while the nature of the disharmony is associated with the index that is higher (EMG, GSR, TEM or PLTL), and may include one or more of the four different modalities. The "harmony assessment" is based on the norm profile for corresponding individuals and as contained in the Biofeedback Profile. Average scores range from 40 to 60 and include 68 percent of norm group. Harmony is depicted only by scores that jet above 60 and these tend to have a more imperative meaning when they jet above 70.

Intensity disharmony

This, of course, includes all of the scores that jet above 60 on the Biofeedback Profile, and the degree to which they jet above 60 indicates degree of intensity. Scores above 60 may be compared to the top 16 percent of norm group; while those above 70 are compared to the top five percent of norm group. Thus, the higher the score, the more significant the disharmony.

Nature of disharmony

Each one of the four modalities (EMG. GSR, TEM and Pt-,.'1-) serve to depict the nature of disharmony present. So that those scores that jet above 60 on the Biofeedback Profile signal clearly the nature of disharmony present:

1. EMG - suggests tension in relation to striated muscles.
2. GSR - suggests emotional and feeling involvement in the disharmony.
3. TEM - suggests emergency state and presence of fight or flight pattern.
4. PUL - suggests real evidence of excessive stress load being present, either physiological or psychological, a combination of the two, or personal expectations not presently being realised.

Psychological and social stressors are a recent element which we have learned often provoke our bodies into an accompanying uproar linked to mere thought. Thoughts create feelings and these feelings can be measured. A stressor is anything that disturbs the homeostasis (harmony) of our inner space, and may be activated not only by physical but also psychological insults, but also in the failed expectation of them; so they may be real or imagined (Sapolosky, 1994. and Weiner. 1992).

Nervous System

An important part of the body associated with harmony and disharmony of the internal regions is the nervous system. It is comprised of two major parts that operate in opposition to each other. First, the parasympathetic nervous system is typically associated with the conscious and dominant brain and mediates calm passive activities. Second, the sympathetic nervous system is typically associated with emergency states, i.e., fight, flight, fright and sex. Internal harmony prevails only when the sympathetic nervous system is under voluntary control, and where personal goal setting and striving are the primary focus in life.

Brain as Endocrine Structure

The more recent research describes how the brain is really the master gland which can exercise control over the pituitary gland; which previously was considered to be the governor of all glands. The base of the brain (hypothalamus) contains a huge array of inhibiting hormones which instruct the pituitary gland that in turn regulates the secretion of the peripheral glands; some as releasers and others as inhibitors. Our feelings serve as the basis for our emotions and they are always oriented in a cognitive structure the process called "constructivism."

Holistic Health Care

When Frantz Alexander, President of the Psychoanalytic Society, introduced the concept that a healthy body is necessary for a healthy mind, holistic medicine was born. More recently it has become clear that the mind resides in the body, through clusters of motor peptides and neurotransmitters (b-endorphins, enkephalines, acetycholines and dopamine), as well as in the brain, and that peptides and their receptors constitute the biochemistry of our emotions which serve to regulate all human behaviour (Goldstein. 1990). It was Candence Perth who first discovered the antennae on these peptides with their communication qualities. She demonstrated that our anatomical senses routinely communicate with one another independent of the brain, and that those powerful biochemicals carry the messages back and forth serving as go-between molecules (Hall, 1989). Clearly, peptides contribute to harmony or the lack of it in one's inner space.

Constructivism

Things don't simply happen in life; rather we make them happen. Typically, things happen because one has set or established a goal in life for such happenings. After we set our long term goals, we must then clearly identify the major steps or stages for achieving the goal. The setting of goals always involves personal decision making and the process of constructivism serves to give reality to the goals we set and accept for our life daily preoccupation. The presence of significant disharmony created by stressors, including failure to achieve expected goals, prevents constructivism from happening. Disharmony in one’s inner states often precludes constructivism from fostering meaningful goals and without the presence of accepted goals, life activities become meaningless. This is largely because achieving of personal goals is a prime satisfying part of life.

Experimental Biofeedback Programs

Three different largely clinically experimental programs are in the process of continued development, each one based on a different guidance imagery structure. The Biofeedback Profile for each of them seeks to depict the value of the four basic feelings modalities (EMG, GSR/EDA, TEM and PUL) as indices of harmony or disharmony in one’s inner states (each program requires about 15 minutes of time).

1. Voluntary Control Test (RELAX - is considered to be the major program, and seeks to assess the degree of voluntary control under cognitively based instructions and a "free association" type approach to relaxation.
2. Cognitive Feeling Test (CFT) which is based on cognitively oriented questions and the reading of changes in the four modalities during the process.
3. Emotional Feelings Test (EFT) which is based on observance of pictures and the reading of changes in the four modalities during the process.

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