Regulation of arousal and heart rate variability via biofeedback in severe traumatic brain injury.

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Regulation of arousal and heart rate variability via biofeedback in severe traumatic brain injury. Jacqueline A. Rushby1*, Heather Francis1, Alana Fisher1 and Skye McDonald1 1 University of New South Wales, Psychology, Australia Background: Severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) is known to result in impaired emotion regulation and arousal. Heart rate variability (HRV) is an index of autonomic (dys)regulation, reflecting the balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic influences on the central nervous system. Biofeedback techniques have been found to regulate disrupted HRV and alleviate symptoms in disorders associated with impaired arousal. The present study aimed to examine, whether adults with severe TBI show: i) HRV dysregulation at rest; ii) improved HRV regulation via a biofeedback intervention; as well as how these relate to aspects of emotion regulation. Methods: Thirty adults with severe TBI (Mean posttraumatic amnesia = 49.10 days; Range: 2.00 - 180) and 30 age-, education-, and gender-matched controls participated. Participants completed self-report measures of mood, emotional and cognitive empathy, and trait alexithymia. Relative reports of emotion regulation were also provided for TBI participants. Participants’ HRV and skin conductance levels (SCL) were measured under two 5-minute conditions: i) ’free-breathing’ (resting baseline); ii) ‘biofeedback’ (paced at 6 breaths per minute). Results: Among TBI participants, emotional empathy levels (p = .026), cognitive empathy levels (p < 0.01), and ability to identify and describe one’s own feelings, were all significantly lower compared to controls (p < 0.01). On the autonomic measures, HRV and SCL, there were no differences between the TBI and Control groups, either at rest or during biofeedback (all p > 0.05). Biofeedback training lead to significant increases (improvement) on all HRV measures (p < 0.05) and SCL (p = 0.014) for both groups. Higher HRV during biofeedback, and higher SCLs at rest and during biofeedback, correlated negatively with trait alexithymia subscales in both the overall sample and separate groups (p < 0.05), but not empathy, nor relative reports of emotion regulation (p > 0.05). Conclusion: These results suggest that HRV shows promise as an index of impaired autonomic regulation in severe TBI. Biofeedback training may help normalise HRV in severe TBI; improved autonomic regulation may ameliorate impairments on emotional self-awareness. Keywords: Traumatic Brain Injury, Heart rate variability, social cognition, emotion, Arousal Conference: Australasian Society for Psychophysiology, Inc, Coffs Harbour, Australia, 26 Nov - 28 Nov, 2014. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Psychophysiology Citation: Rushby JA, Francis H, Fisher A and McDonald S (2014). Regulation of arousal and heart rate variability via biofeedback in severe traumatic brain injury.. Conference Abstract: Australasian Society for Psychophysiology, Inc. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2014.216.00024 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 23 Oct 2014; Published Online: 02 Dec 2014. * Correspondence: Dr. Jacqueline A Rushby, University of New South Wales, Psychology, Sydney, Australia, j.rushby@unsw.edu.au Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Jacqueline A Rushby Heather Francis Alana Fisher Skye McDonald Google Jacqueline A Rushby Heather Francis Alana Fisher Skye McDonald Google Scholar Jacqueline A Rushby Heather Francis Alana Fisher Skye McDonald PubMed Jacqueline A Rushby Heather Francis Alana Fisher Skye McDonald Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.