A bunch of students with severe test anxiety were studied, learned about, then given biofeedback treatments to teach the mind. This is not the ONLY way to deal with the anxiety and sensitivity behind paranoid ideation, but this is a fast way that teaches you to control your response, yet bypass the psychological approach. It has not been used specifically in purely interpersonal circumstances, but I hope it is.....

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Originally Posted by The Institute of Heart Health .... the trained students demonstrated significant improvements in emotional well-being following the program. These included reductions in Hostility, Depression, Interpersonal Sensitivity (feelings of personal inadequacy, inferiority and self-doubt), Paranoid Ideation (fear, suspicion and distrust), Somatization (physical symptoms due to stress) and global indices of distress.

The Freeze-Framer
The Freeze-Framer is a unique interactive learning system with a patented heart rhythm monitor. It uses a fingertip sensor to objectively monitor the heart rhythm and confirm when students are in the coherent mode – in sync. This is like the fingertip device you generally find attached to one of your fingers when you wake up from surgery. The awareness of the pulse rate and the smoothness of the heart rate was demonstrated on a computer screen. I presume you could use the finger tips on your wrist? Seems so.

Anyway, the interactive learning system helps them learn to selfgenerate physiological stability and coherence and to track their progress. The Freeze-Framer is very different from devices that simply measure heart rate. It measures the subtle beat-to-beat changes in heart rate and shows the rhythmic patterns as they develop over time. This is called heart rate variability (HRV) analysis.

Using the device, called the Freeze-Framer, the students learned how to stabilize their emotions and nervous systems at will, even when taking important tests which would have otherwise caused high anxiety, robbing them of their mental clarity.

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Emotions like frustration, anxiety or worry can cause the signals going down the two parts of the autonomic nervous system to get out of sync with each other. This is like driving your car with one foot on the gas pedal (the sympathetic nervous system) and the other on the brake (parasympathetic nervous system) at the same time. This would create a jerky ride, increased gas consumption and greater wear and tear on your car. Having your nervous system out of sync causes extra stress on your body, depleting your energy and interfering with your ability to think.

The Freeze-Framer
The Freeze-Framer is a unique interactive learning system with a patented heart rhythm monitor. It uses a fingertip sensor to objectively monitor the heart rhythm and confirm when students are in the coherent mode – in sync. It helps them learn to selfgenerate physiological stability and coherence and to track their progress. The Freeze-Framer is very different from devices that simply measure heart rate. It measures the subtle beat-to-beat changes in heart rate and shows the rhythmic patterns as they develop over time. This is called heart rate variability (HRV) analysis.

Using the Freeze-Framer, students learned how to stabilize their emotions and nervous systems at will, even when taking important tests which would have otherwise caused high anxiety, robbing them of their mental clarity.

Emotions like frustration, anxiety or worry can cause the signals going down the two parts of the autonomic nervous system to get out of sync with each other. This is like driving your car with one foot on the gas pedal (the sympathetic nervous system) and the other on the brake (parasympathetic nervous system) at the same time. This would create a jerky ride, increased gas consumption and greater wear and tear on your car. Having your nervous system out of sync causes extra stress on your body, depleting your energy and interfering with your ability to think.


The heart rate variablity pattern, characterized by its random, jerky form, is typical of feelings of Anxiety, Anger or Frustration. Sincere positive feeling states like appreciation can result in highly ordered and coherent HRV (heart rate variability) patterns, generally associated with enhanced cognitive function and emotional stability.

On the other hand, when we feel uplifting emotions, such as appreciation, the signals sent through the nervous system are very different than when we are feeling upset. These emotions allow the two branches of the nervous system to get in sync with each other. Then the body's glands and organs work together in harmony and the heart's rhythms become smooth and even–and this directly affects our brain's ability to perform well.

The results of this study suggest that practice of the techniques taught in the TestEdge program lead to improvements in the brain's information-processing capabilities. Implications are that Freeze-Framer can be used to systematically improve performance on tasks requiring focus, attention, discrimination and accurate reaction.

The Freeze-Framer has been successfully used in diverse settings by mental health professionals, teachers, school counselors, and students interested in advancing their personal and academic development. In addition, it's very effective in helping students with ADHD. As one specialist noted, "I have seen remarkable improvements in students' attention, performance and behavior in the classroom in just a few sessions."
http://www.heartmath.org/education/testedge/why.php