Through advancements made in modern technology, the approach to treating psychological disorders has improved significantly. Today, treatments are more often based on the understanding of the brain’s condition. Neurofeedback (also called “neurotherapy” or EEG biofeedback) is a tool used to examine and assess the brain’s condition in order to determine its functionality. Brain wave patterns can be examined and assessed with a Brain Map and can provide direction for treatment. By being able to see what is actually happening in the brain, our neurotherapists are able to help clients address structural weaknesses that negatively impact clients’ lives.
Our brains are the control center for our thoughts, emotions and behaviors. When our brain is imbalanced, our everyday actions, feelings, ability to cope with stressors, and overall mood can be affected. For example, when the brain has too many fast or slow waves, research has shown that there is a tendency to feel anxious, depressed, distracted or disorganized. This can result in sleeplessness, a lack of motivation, confusion, or irritability. By addressing these issues through brain training, you are empowered to make lasting, life-altering improvements.
At Cypress Clinic, neurofeedback is utilized to train the brain to enhance its functionality. It is painless, can treat a variety of conditions without medication, and the treatments have been reported to be enjoyable and highly effective. When used in conjunction with psychotherapy for cognitive and behavioral change, its benefits can increase dramatically.
How Does Neurofeedback Work?
During neurofeedback training, a computer program displays the condition of the brain on a secondary screen via electrodes placed on the scalp. As clients either watch a movie or play a computer game on the main screen, they are able to control the outcome of the movie or the game with their brain waves. Desirable brain waves allow the movie to continue smoothly or score points in the game. When undesirable waves exist, the movie will pause or points will not be earned while playing the game. Positive feedback creates an opportunity to learn how to control and balance brain waves while it teaches the brain to produce desirable brain waves and inhibit undesirable ones.
What Conditions are Treated with Neurofeedback?
At Cypress Clinic, neurofeedback is utilized to help people manage issues related to:
- ADD/ADHD
- anxiety
- depression
- anger management
- insomnia
- stress
- anti-aging of the brain
Is It Right for You?
A Brain Map and neurofeedback sessions can work wonders. However, there are many things that impact your brain’s performance including nutrition, psychological patterns, developmental history, and relationships, to name a few. The best results come when neurofeedback training is combined with psychotherapy sessions. The professionals at Cypress Clinic are well-suited to provide comprehensive treatment to optimize your brain’s performance and meet your emotional needs. During the initial assessment, a thorough evaluation is conducted which is used to outline short-term and long-term goals, along with an individualized treatment plan.
Resources:
- Silent Epidemic: The Effects Of Neurofeedback On Quality Of Life
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3959017/
Traumatic Brain Injuries can have a significant impact on all aspects of one’s life. This study looks into neurofeedback’s effect on improving quality-of-life (QOL) in TBI patients. Sixty participants, who had a TBI three months prior, were split into a waitlist group (receive treatment after study) or interventional group (receive treatment immediately). They were given 20 sessions of alpha-theta neurofeedback training over a period of 4 weeks. Their QOL was assessed before and after the treatment using World Health Organization (WHO) QOL and WHO-BREF scales. They found that the interventional group’s QOL had statistically significant improvements in all areas when compared to the waitlist group. This suggests that neurofeedback is an effective intervention for improving quality of life in TBI patients.
- Evaluation Of Neurofeedback Therapy For A Patient With Chronic Impaired Self-Awareness And Secondary ADHD After Severe TBI And Long-Term Coma Using Event-Related Potentials
This study follows a patient who was in a car accident which led to severe head injury and her being in a coma for almost a month. This left her with significant neurological and psychological deficits, such as amnesia, only talking in the third person, not recognizing her own face, confusion of sexual identity, and problems with executive function. Ten years after the accident, her symptoms had only worsened. She tried behavioral therapy but it did not help.She then tried 40 sessions of neurofeedback. Neuropsychological testing was done before and after using the Patient Competency Rating Scale, IQ, Frontal Behavioral Inventory, and many more. Neurofeedback led to significant increases across all of these tests, such as IQ increasing by over 30 points. They also looked at physiological changes using ERPs. They did not find any statistically significant changes there, but this does not mean that neurofeedback does not work as a therapy. The behavioral improvements alone are promising for the efficacy of using neurofeedback to treat TBI.
The drawbacks of this study though are that it’s only a case study. Further research using more participants and a control group is needed.
- SILENT EPIDEMIC: THE EFFECTS OF NEUROFEEDBACK ON QUALITY OF LIFE
Https://Www.Tandfonline.Com/Doi/Abs/10.1310/4G2F-5PLV-RNM9-BGGN?NeedAccess=True&JournalCode=Ytsr20Effect Of Neurofeedback On Motor Recovery Of Patient With Brain Injury: A Case Study And Its Implications For Stroke Rehabilitation
Kay Wing
This study followed the neurofeedback experiences of a 19 year old girl who had a traumatic brain injury and a brain tumor about seven years before. She still exhibited a significant tremor in the right side, weakness, lack of coordination, and trouble with gait due to the injury. She underwent 40 sessions of neurofeedback over the course of three weeks to fix the prominent asymmetry in her brain activity found by the qEEG. Her progress was measured by testing her coordination and strength via a variety of different activities.
At the end of the neurofeedback sessions, she exhibited an increase in every measure except one. Anecdotal evidence by her family and friends also confirmed that she had significantly improved her coordination and strength. These results support the findings of many other studies that have shown the benefits of neurofeedback in rehabilitation TBI. However, this case is even more promising because it’s showing that neurofeedback still works many years after the injury.
- A Pilot Study of Neurofeedback for Chronic PTSDhttp://www.traumacenter.org/products/pdf_files/Pilot_Study_Neurofeedback_Chronic_PTSD_G0002.pdf
Abstract EEG Biofeedback (also known as neurofeedback) has been in use as a clinical intervention for well over 30 years; however, it has made very little impact on clinical care. One reason for this has been the difficulty in designing research to measure clinical change in the real world. While substantial evidence exists for its efficacy in treating attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, relatively little evidence exists for its utility in other disorders including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study represents a ”proof-of-concept” pilot for the use of neurofeedback with multiply-traumatized individuals with treatment-resistant PTSD. Participants completed 40 sessions of neurofeedback training two times per week with sensors randomly assigned (by the study coordinator, who was not blind to condition) to sensor placements of either T4-P4 or T3-T4. We found that neurofeedback signifi- cantly reduced PTSD symptoms (Davidson Trauma Scale scores averaged 69.14 at baseline to 49.26 at termination)
- The effect of neurofeedback training on PTSD symptoms of depression and attention problems among military veteranshttps://search.proquest.com/docview/193497792
This exploratory study examines what effect one may experience in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) induced symptoms of depression and diminished levels of attention after neurofeedback training (i.e., alpha-theta with bipolar uptraining). This study involves 10 military veterans suffering from PTSD induced depression and decreased levels of attention. The experiment begins with two pretests: the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (William, 1988) and the Test of Variables of Attention (T.O.V.A., Greenberg, 1996). The neurofeedback training consists of two phases. The first phase has 10 thirty-minute daily sessions of bipolar uptraining using C3-Fpz (15- 18Hz), C4-Pz (12-15Hz) and theta (4-7Hz) suppression (cf. Scott, 2000). The second phase has 20 thirty-minute daily sessions of alpha-theta training followed immediately by 10 minutes of bipolar uptraining. Following the two-phased thirty-day training, each participant is given two posttests, which are the same as the pretests. The results are analyzed for significance using the Mann-Whitney U test (Mann & Whitney, 1947). This research found significant changes in PTSD symptoms (i.e., a decrease in depression and an increase in attention) after 30 sessions of the neurofeedback training.