My private practice is closed and I have moved to Tucson, Arizona. I am still affiliated with the Osher Center for Integrative Health, part of the University of California in San Francisco, but now offer no clinical services. UCSF will be bringing in another biofeedback specialist to carry on the work I engaged in for three years.
I am retaining this site in order to provide some basic information about biofeedback, and also to gradually post my published short stories. The site contains some details about my clinical specialties in case I start up again in Arizona.
Best contact is through cgilbert2@gmail.com, or christopher.gilbert@ucsf.edu.
My specialty has always been problems that involve both mind and body (sometimes called psychophysiological disorders). Most often I have used biofeedback to work with chronic pain, anxiety, phobias, panic attacks, and miscellaneous psychosomatic problems. I have a special interest in chronic headaches and breathing problems such as hyperventilation.
Primary biofeedback modalities available are muscle, skin temperature, skin conductance, heart rate variability, breathing pattern, blood volume pulse, and end-tidal CO2 (for breathing chemistry).
Beyond biofeedback, I also favor hypnosis and guided imagery, sometimes in combination with biofeedback, and psychological techniques derived from behavioral and cognitive therapy. Sometimes feelings are expressed more in the body than consciously felt, so that’s a prime area for biofeedback: with this instrument-based process, you can see and hear your body responding to your emotions, which are sometimes not so obvious at the conscious level!
If you’re familiar with John Sarno’s approach to chronic pain and other problems, I recommend that approach as long as the medical angle has been covered. Here’s a link to more information about this approach: mindbodymedicine.com
If you’re curious, look at the other links on this site, mostly about biofeedback in action. If you want to find a reputable biofeedback practitioner, lists are available at BCIA.ORG and AAPB.ORG.
Chris Gilbert, PhD, psychologist 