[Biofeedback treatments: a blunder? (author's transl)].

The persistent intricacy of published positive results of fundamental researches on biofeedback and data obtained with its therapeutical applications leaves the clinician quite puzzled before such a controversial topic. The author states how biofeedback methodology definitely enriched our understanding of internal regulatory mechanisms and that of interrelations between internal and external environments. On the other hand, it is shown that present-day therapeutical applications (except those relevant to organic pathology) still do not undeniably demonstrate the efficacy of biofeedback. The author views this as the result of some obvious conceptual errors, namely the over simplification of the physiopathological conceptions shared by the practitioners of biofeedback and the nature of the symptomatic approach to psychosomatic functional disorders, as elaborated apart from a more global perspective embodying the relationships between the organism and his environment. The author finally questions the validity of a reasoning process that parallels disorders from an organic origin and those with a functional aetiology for the purpose of therapy.