In most cases, psychological problems have an influence on physical processes and can manifest themselves as physical complaints. Psychophysiology deals with these interrelationships.
What is psychophysiology?
Psychophysiology is a field of work that studies the effects of mental, psychological processes on bodily functions. Psychophysiology is a field of work that explores the effects of mental, psychological processes on bodily functions. Psychophysiology emphasizes that both processes are considered on an equal footing. The beginnings came about 150 years ago, when it became possible to measure the influence of mental processes on bodily processes, e.g. breathing, blood pressure, the activity of the heart in the ECG (electrocardiogram), brain waves in the EEG (electroencephalogram), etc..
Through these recordings it was possible to observe physical reactions to thought processes. Two central concepts of psychophysiology are activity and (individual) reactivity. It is considered a subfield of neuroscience and forms one of the basic disciplines for behavioral medicine and behavioral therapy and, among other fields of work, industrial and organizational psychology.
Treatments and therapies
A particular application of psychophysiology is the study of mental and emotional overload in the workplace so that work processes can be optimized, work design can be improved, meaningful break arrangements can be created. It has long been known that chronic overwork can increase blood pressure and promote numerous other medical conditions. Studies of psychophysiology can provide important insights into the development of disease patterns. In high-risk patients, ambulatory field studies using portable monitoring can help improve patients’ medication regimens and measure treatment progress through recordings. In the field of clinical psychology and psychiatry, psychophysiological research helps to find explanatory models for anxiety disorders, psychosomatic disorders, personality disorders such as borderline, and other psychiatric disorders. In behavior therapy, methods of psychophysiology are used to identify treatment progressions. Another important area of psychophysiological research is the study of sleep disorders, e.g. in the sleep laboratory, where the various body processes are recorded during sleep, thus providing important insights into the causes of sleep disorders. In therapy, relaxation methods based on psychophysiological findings, where a reduction in breathing or muscle tension is indicated by recordings during exercises, have proven their worth. One of the main areas of application is ambulatory monitoring for diagnostic purposes and for monitoring bodily functions and physical symptoms in everyday life, so that changes can be detected more quickly in patients at risk and, if necessary, the medication dose can be optimally adjusted. Common methods include the 24-hour ECG and 24-hour blood pressure measurement. They provide important information about where values are changing adversely in the patient’s daily life, thus enabling more holistic treatment. Monitoring also allows progress in treatment to be measured and deteriorations to be identified, so that doctors can take appropriate countermeasures. In the case of biofeedback, which provides acoustic or visual feedback of a disturbance in bodily function in order to learn how to reduce symptoms, experience has shown that the benefits have been overestimated in most cases. The use of a lie detector to measure skin resistance to debunk lies is still considered problematic and controversial.
Diagnosis and examination methods
The discipline of psychophysiology can be divided into research into the basic principles, areas of application, and central areas of physiological function. The main areas of research are the psychophysiology of emotions, stress responses, and other forms of arousal, which are grouped under the term activation processes. Psychophysiology also studies sleep, recovery, and relaxation. In this context, cognitive psychophysiology investigates the processing of information during stimulation of the senses and during thought processes, as far as it is possible to study these by psychophysiological methods.In the past, such measurements were usually only possible in heavily shielded laboratories, but technical progress has made the devices smaller and better insulated, making investigations more feasible even under normal conditions via outpatient monitoring. Connections between psychophysiological processes and personality traits have also been investigated since the beginning of psychophysiology and take up older theories about constitution and temperament. Already in ancient times, the biological origin for personal traits was investigated and found expression in the doctrine of the four humors. Later, connections between physique, blood groups and hormones were considered but could not be clearly demonstrated. Nevertheless, research continues in this area to perhaps eventually find a connection that is not currently measurable. For example, a type A behavior has been hypothesized, which is characterized by achievement motivation, assertiveness and aggressive tendencies, coupled with a tendency to get angry often, but not to show this anger openly. In the above-average efficiency and assertiveness a risk for a coronary heart illness (KHK) and a heart attack was assumed, in the latent aggression a risk for a high blood pressure. However, results of numerous researches could only identify correlations that are not significant. The research methods of psychophysiology are all gentle and bloodless. They include:
- Examination and measurement of brain waves in the EEG to obtain information about brain activity.
- The recording of cardiac activity via an ECG.
- Measurement of blood pressure and respiration
- Measurement of temperature, perspiration and electrical conductivity of the skin.
- Measurement of cortisol levels via saliva samples.
However, hormonal and immunological tests can still only be done via blood sampling.
