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At New York City's Columbia-Presbyterian Center for Stress and Pain-Related Disorders, Dr. Kenneth Greenspan claims to be able to reduce the severity and frequency of migraines in 80% of sufferers. The principal weapon: biofeedback. The patient is connected by sensor wires to a machine with a small screen that feeds back information on such physiological indexes of stress as blood pressure, tension in the facial muscles or, most frequently, the temperature of one's fingers — the colder, the tenser. By loosening their muscles, breathing deeply or letting their thoughts drift, patients learn that they can control their stress response; they can make their blood pressure drop or the temperature in their hands rise by as much as twelve to 14 degrees. After six to ten sessions, at $150 each, patients are weaned from the machines and are able to elicit the relaxation response at home without mechanical prompting. "All biofeedback does is make you more aware of what's going on in your own body," says Psychologist Lyle Miller, who uses the technique at Boston University's biobehavioral sciences clinic. "There is a significant amount of voluntary control over so-called involuntary responses, as the yogis have demonstrated for centuries."
As biofeedback and other relaxation techniques gain acceptance, doctors are testing them against all sorts of ills. Duke Psychologist Richard Surwit has shown that biofeedback and progressive musclerelaxation exercises can help diabetics maintain steadier glucose levels. At Children's Orthopedic Hospital in Seattle, Dr. William Womack helps youngsters contend with the strains of growing up. Kurt Russell, 16, was immobilized by migraines for days at a time until Womack taught him a self-hypnosis technique. Now symptom-free, the teen-ager travels twice a day to a peaceful place in his mind. "You imagine yourself in the woods or skiing," says Russell. "It's pretty neat."
Some of the most remarkable work in relaxation has been done with cancer patients, who often suffer excruciating anguish over the uncertainty of their future and the horrors of treatment. Chemotherapy can be especially devastating. Patients become so apprehensive that they may feel nauseated just at the thought of treatment, says Psychologist Thomas Burish of Vanderbilt University. "One woman even vomited in a drugstore when she saw the nurse who administered her therapy." Burish has helped cancer patients control their anxiety and nausea through biofeedback and progressive muscle-relaxation training. While the technique is not a cure, he says, "pa-tients do gain a positive feeling of being in control again. It is one of the few things they can do to help themselves."
Regaining that sense of being in control is the principle behind another psychological technique designed to aid cancer patients. Devised by Fort Worth Radiologist Carl Simonton, the method requires the patient to imagine his tumor cells being hunted down and devoured by white-knight-like defender cells. Bizarre as it seems, the technique