Biofeedback treatment of long-standing eye closure reactions

Abstract

A 34-yr-old woman, who had a 13-yr history of being unable to keep her eyes open, was treated successfully by EMG biofeedback and relaxation training. Relaxation training reduced self-recorded eye closures at home, but failed to reduce the frequency of eye closures recorded during office treatment. Biofeedback training was used first for relaxing the frontalis muscle when her eyes were closed and later with her eyes progressively more open. Following biofeedback training she was given assertion training to increase her social contacts. At 6-month follow-up, she was able to maintain normal eye-openings, and reported having fewer interpersonal problems.