Behavioral Medicine Research and Training Foundation

The program: The Foundation's program has been evaluated for quality by national and state level organizations such as the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC), the American Psychological Association, and California's Boards of Behavioral Sciences and Psychology.

The courses: Most of the Foundation's courses have been evaluated for content and quality of presentation by national and state level organizations such as the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America (BCIA), California's Board of Psychology, NBCC, and the California Physical Therapy Association.

The instructors: The Foundation's instructors are recognized as highly competent by their academic and clinical peers who promoted them academically, selected them for competitive grants (from NIH, the VA, the military, and private organizations), and accepted their publications in high quality, peer reviewed journals.

BCIA Certification: The Foundation's courses are approved for credit toward certification and recertification in biofeedback and neurofeedback by the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America (BCIA).

The courses can be started at your convenience and you progress at your own rate. You will interact with your instructors by e-mail at each stage in the course and learning process.

All of the Foundation's courses are approved for continuing education credit by numerous organizations including the APA and California's boards of psychology and behavioral sciences.

The Foundation was established in January, 2000 as a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of research and education in clinical behavioral medicine.

The following courses are offered:

1. General Biofeedback: Psychophysiological Assessment and Intervention
2. EEG Biofeedback / Neurofeedback
3. Anatomy & Physiology / Human Biology for Behavioral Clinicians

The course provides sufficient material so clinicians will (a) know the psychophysiological bases for performing the recordings (b) what the common assessments and interventions are as well as how they work, (c) what the common associated interventions are, (d) how the recording devices work in a clinical setting, (d) how to perform an effective recording, and (e) how to perform effective psychophysiological assessments and interventions. The course meets all of the requirements for the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America's biofeedback certification course and is approved by them for this purpose. Please note that clinicians interested in being certified in biofeedback by the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America would have to get 100 hours of supervision in treating patients with biofeedback before they could take the certification exam.

This course is designed to help you (the student):

• Summarize the psychophysiological processes underlying each condition covered in the course.
• Use psychophysiological recording and biofeedback devices to record and display psychophysiological information.
• Control the biofeedback display to optimize learning
• Use psychophysiological recording equipment to assess patients with specific conditions
• Use biofeedback equipment to apply specific interventions tailored to each condition covered in the course.

Faculty: The course is given by Dr. Richard Sherman, Ph.D. He is certified by BCIA, approved by BCIA to teach the general biofeedback certification course, and currently teaches A&P, Pelvic floor disorders, pain, and other courses for the Behavioral Medicine R&T Foundation. He is a professional psychophysiologist with extensive training (his Ph.D. is in biology / physiology), has nearly 30 years of experience in the field, and has published over 130 books, chapters, and articles (mostly in peer reviewed journals). Dr. Sherman is Dean of the psychophysiology doctoral program at the University of Natural Medicine and has held many positions within the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback including president.

Strongly Recommended Texts: (The cost of the recommended texts is not included in the course fee.) While no text is absolutely required for this course because most of the text of the following Pain Assessment and Intervention book is included on your CD. Students should strongly consider purchasing one of these texts with the choice depending on your interest areas within biofeedback. Your instructor can assist you in making the choice.

• "Pain Assessment and Intervention From a Psychophysiological Perspective" by Richard A. Sherman. Combined print/CD version published by AAPB 2004 (order from the Behavioral Medicine Foundation's web site (behavmedfoundation.org) or AAPB's bookstore (800 477-8892).
• "Biofeedback: A Practitioner's guide". Edited by Mark Schwartz and Frank Andrasik.

• "Introduction to Surface Electromyography" by Jeffrey R. Cram and Glenn S. Kasman with Jonathan Holtz. Aspen, Gaithersburg, Maryland, 1998.
• "Clinical Applications in Surface Electromyography - Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain" by Glenn S. Kasman, Jeffrey R. Cram, and Steven L. Wolf.

You need to have a working internet connection (normally through an internet service provider - ISP), know how to communicate via e-mail including either how to send an MS Word / Word Perfect attachment or how to cut and paste text from a word processor into an e-mail message. You need to be sure your computer's speakers are on so you can hear the lectures. You may want to test your computer by checking to be sure it can play music from a CD.

Prerequisites & professional training requirements: You should have had undergraduate courses in general biology and general psychology prior to taking this course.

The course provides sufficient material so clinicians will (a) know the psychophysiological bases for performing EEG recordings (b) what the common assessments and interventions are as well as how they work, (c) what the common associated interventions are, (d) how the recording devices work in a clinical setting, (d) how to perform an effective recording, and (e) how to perform effective psychoneurophysiological assessments and interventions. The course meets all of the requirements for the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America's biofeedback certification course and is approved by them for this purpose. Please note that clinicians interested in being certified in biofeedback by the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America would have to meet the additional supervised experience and education requirements. Please see www.BCIA.org for specific requirements.

This course is designed to help you (the student):

• Summarize the psychophysiological processes underlying each condition covered in the course.
• Use neuropsychophysiological recording and neurofeedback devices to record and display psychophysiological information.
• Control the biofeedback display to optimize learning.
• Use neuropsychophysiological recording equipment to assess patients with specific conditions.
• Use neurofeedback equipment to apply specific interventions tailored to each condition covered in the course.

Faculty: The course is given by Alicia L. Townsend, Ph.D. She is certified in EEG by BCIA, and approved by BCIA to teach the EEG biofeedback certification course. She is a professional psychoneurophysiologist with extensive training (her Ph.D. is in clinical health psychology and behavioral medicine), and has about 6 years of experience in the field. Dr. Townsend has taught EEG biofeedback and QEEG courses at the University of North Texas, has lectured at the University of North Texas Health Science Center on EEG biofeedback and clinical topics, and has been active in research presented at numerous state, national, and international conferences.

Required Text: (The cost of the texts is not included in the course fee.)
"Getting Started with Neurofeedback" by John N. Demos. WW Norton & Company, NY, 2005. Discounted purchase available through AAPB's bookstore (800 477-8892).

Recommended Texts:

• "The Neurofeedback Book" by Michael and Lynda Thompson. 2003. This book is recommended for anyone planning to take the BCIA EEG exam.
• "The Art of Artifacting" by Corydon Hammond and Jay Gunkelman. 2001. Available through the International Society for Neurotherapy and Research. This book is recommended for anyone wanting to record and/or edit QEEGs.

  Computer and Computer Knowledge Requirements: You must have a computer (a) containing a CD read or RW drive (b) capable of connecting to the internet and running a typical internet program, (c) containing/running a modern word processor such as Microsoft word or Word Perfect, (d) the capability to play sounds such as music (has speakers and appropriate software which normally come with any modern computer), and (e) a slide viewing program such as Power Point (you can probably get a slide viewing program free off the internet if you don't have one).

  You need to have a working internet connection (normally through an internet service provider - ISP), know how to communicate via e-mail including either how to send an MS Word / Word Perfect attachment or how to cut and paste text from a word processor into an e-mail message. You need to be sure your computer's speakers are on so you can hear the lectures. You may want to test your computer by checking to be sure it can play music from a CD.

  Prerequisites & professional training requirements: You should have had undergraduate courses in general biology and general psychology prior to taking this course.

  EEG Biofeedback/Neurofeedback Course

  $ 550.00

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Each basic physical structure and organ system (including the nervous system) is discussed with regard to both anatomical structures and physiological functions as they change over time and in relation to both the external and internal environment. The course is designed to provide the depth of knowledge required to understand the physical bases for psychophysiological problems and interventions. The course is also intended to enhance communication with physicians and other medical professionals by providing common concepts, information, and vocabulary essential to understanding the discussion of medical disorders.

Clinicians having differing interests and patient populations take this course so it has been designed so you have slightly different material available to you depending on what your interests are and the types of patients you see. The depth of knowledge you need on different topics depends on how the physiological bases of your patient's problems relate to the types of assessments and interventions you provide. If you work in a setting where most of the patients have social interaction and anxiety problems rather than complex medical problems, the required text book will suffice to meet your needs. This level meets all requirements for BCIA certification. The lectures will provide sufficient medical material so you will recognize most of the physiological problems influencing your patient's behaviors (hormones, respiration, senses, muscles, brain & nerve wiring, etc.). If you work in a setting where many of the patients have medical problems complicating their behavioral problems, or you are using biofeedback to treat medical / physiological problems, or you need to communicate with members of the medical community, understand results of medical tests, etc., an optional clinically oriented book has been provided for you to use in addition to the required book. If you are a health psychologist, a behavioral medicine specialist, or in a graduate program leading to one of these degrees you should take this option. If you are doing muscular rehabilitation, working with people having muscular dysfunctions, or in a clinical psychophysiology graduate program or track, an optional book emphasizing kinesiology has also been provided.

Faculty: The course is given by Dr. Richard Sherman, Ph.D. He is certified by BCIA, approved by BCIA to teach the general biofeedback certification course, and currently teaches A&P for the Behavioral Medicine R&T Foundation. He is a professional psychophysiologist with extensive training (his Ph.D. is in biology / physiology), has over 30 years of experience in the field, and has published over 130 books, chapters, and articles (mostly in peer reviewed journals). Dr. Sherman is Dean of the psychophysiology doctoral program at the University of Natural Medicine and has held many positions within the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback including president.

Required Text: (The cost of the text is not included in the course fee.)
Elaine Marieb: Essentials of Human Anatomy and Physiology, 9th edition (ISBN: 0-321-51353-3 - soft cover), 2009, is best but either the 7th edition (ISBN 0805353852 - soft cover), 2002 or the 8th edition (ISBN 0-8053-7328-4), 2006 can be used. Published by Benjamin/Cummings Science Publishers / Addison Wesley Longman of New York. Most students purchase this book on line from sources such as Amazon.com, Scholastic Publishers, Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc. You can reach Addison Wesley at 800-922-0579. The book comes with a CD but this is not to be confused with the audiovisual lecture CD discussed above. Do not get Marieb's "Human Anatomy and Physiology" book (without "essentials" in the title) as this is a different book.

Computer and Computer Knowledge Requirements: You must have a computer (a) containing a CD read or RW drive (b) capable of connecting to the internet and running a typical internet program, (c) containing/running a modern word processor such as Microsoft word or Word Perfect, (d) the capability to play sounds such as music (has speakers and appropriate software which normally come with any modern computer), and (e) a slide viewing program such as Power Point (you can probably get a slide viewing program free off the internet if you don't have one).

You need to have a working internet connection (normally through an internet service provider - ISP), know how to communicate via e-mail including either how to send an MS Word / Word Perfect attachment or how to cut and paste text from a word processor into an e-mail message. You need to be sure your computer's speakers are on so you can hear the lectures. You may want to test your computer by checking to be sure it can play music from a CD.