At some point, people realise that their allegedly “mental” illness or “psychological” issue is in fact rooted in deviant Brain activity; we call that a Functional Brain Disorder. And still, they struggle to find their way to Neurotherapy, to get a QEEG assessment and to start Neurofeedback Brain Training. Many find it difficult to understand Why Neurofeedback Works.
These are the QEEG Brain-maps of one of our clients. He had been referred to us for a “psychiatric” condition which had rendered him unable to work or do anything else useful. As you can see for yourself, his initial Brain-maps show significant abnormal activity at almost every frequency in red.
Although not perfect, eleven months later his Brain presented almost normal, he was off all medication, free of symptoms and started a new job. His psychiatrist was gobsmacked and ended up attending workshops and buying a Neurofeedback system to train clients himself. True story.
This is the original symptom-severity-tracking chart of another client, a 36 year-old mother of two. When she came to see us, she was not only highly anxious and depressed, but also had issues with concentration, sleep, emotional vulnerability and cognitive function. Bit of a mess really.
In line with her suicidal thoughts, the initial evaluation showed high levels of helplessness/hopelessness. After only 19 sessions of Neurotherapy, her total symptom-severity score had dropped by 86%. A miracle? — Not really.
Brains and computers have in common that:
• they run on electricity
• they have huge numbers of connections
• their purpose is handling information
• and they don’t always work perfectly — Bummer.
However, there are also substantial differences. Unlike computers, Brains are in a constant process of forming new connections and severing old ones.
“Neurons that fire together wire together — Neurons that fire apart wire apart” is a brief summary of this concept known as Neuroplasticity. So, it was YOU who wired up your Brain.
Neuroplasticity has been a topic for popular TV science programs and best-selling books in the last several years. It proves that the Brain has the ability to acquire, process and store information by forming and strengthening pathways and connections.
It’s puzzling that most children end up walking and talking without any detailed knowledge of Neuroplasticity. Perhaps they are born with the intuitive wisdom that Brains have the capability of learning.
In order to memorise 25,000 streets as well as countless pubs, stations, hospitals, and other landmarks, the memory areas of London cab drivers increase substantially in volume, as shown in studies with MRI Brain scans.
In contrast, Functional Brain Disorders like PTSD or Chronic Migraine lead to a decrease in Grey matter volume. In simple words: Brain tissue adapts like a muscle: Function shapes structure.
While the discovery of Neuroplasticity has scientists all excited, it’s no real surprise for parents, schoolteachers, language tutors, university professors, sports instructors, behavioural therapists, music coaches and other educators who deal with teaching, learning and practice in order to gradually improve Brain function.
Allegedly, even beasts can learn new tricks, as animal trainers have now finally revealed to investigators under duress.
In fact, animals were instrumental in the discovery of the benefits of Neurofeedback Training: For sleep research and with the help of milk and broth, a group of 10 cats were trained to produce a specific type of EEG Brain rhythm, the Sensorimotor Rhythm (SMR).
Later, the 10 EEG-trained and 40 other cats were exposed to toxic rocket fuel fumes in tests for NASA.
It turned out that the previous Neurofeedback Training had doubled the 10 cats’ resistance against fume-induced epileptic seizures.
Following that, the lead researcher successfully tried Neurofeedback Training with humans suffering from intractable Epilepsy. And so, a new field was born: Neurotherapy.
Today, EEG-Neurofeedback based Brain training is an effective therapy for human patients with intractable Epilepsy.
When medication has failed, Neurotherapy can still at least halve the seizure rate in 80% of patients. Not too shabby, ey?
Parents of children with intractable epileptic seizures now face a difficult decision:
• either having surgeons cut parts of the child’s Brain out,
• or Neurofeedback-based Brain training with EEG-sensors on the head in front of a telly.
I reckon this is a no-Brainer!
Neurotherapy is probably best known as a therapy for kids with Attention Disorders, Autism or Learning Difficulties.
Sadly, many parents don’t know about it and allow doctors to “treat” these disorders — like diseases — with prescription drugs, of course. That’s all they have.
However, even the pharma-biased AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) has finally recognised Neurofeedback Training as the scientifically best supported therapy for ADD/ADHD.
Well-funded universities are publishing an increasing number of studies about fMRI Neurofeedback Training, which is an awe-inspiring, yet very costly and uncomfortable way to get a 3-dimensional image of metabolic activity for Brain training.
These days, clinicians don’t have to clutter the garage of their home-based practice with a multi-million dollar fMRI scanner anymore, thanks to LoRETA for analysis and therapy.
LoRETA stands for Low-Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography. It calculates the location of the current sources of the EEG deep inside the Brain. Think of it as 3-dimensional EEG.
When you and I move our hand and fingers, our Brain talks to our muscles via our peripheral Nervous System. In contrast, the amputee’s Brain send its commands to the bionic hand via a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI).
Apparently, it takes a lot of practice until the Brain can reliably operate this Hi-Tech prosthesis. That’s different in Neurofeedback Therapy where the Brain — also connected via a BCI — is often quick to respond to the challenge set-up by the Neurotherapist. And you get to keep your hand!
The US Army utilises Neurofeedback for the rehabilitation of veterans with PTSD or head injuries, but also for soldiers in conflict zones.
Athletes, surgeons, musicians, stockbrokers and others, whose time is money, use it to optimise their performance. And ageing Brains keep sharper with Neurofeedback.
Obviously, people with Functional Brain Disorders benefit the most from Neurofeedback. They train their Brains to fix their Brains.
So, why does Neurofeedback work? — Because it uses the powers that a Brain already has: The ability to learn to change its own activity.
