Boosting Your Brain with Neurofeedback Therapy

Neurofeedback: An Overview

Neurofeedback therapy is an advanced new treatment used for a plethora of neurological disorders. Also referred to as EEG biofeedback, it is a noninvasive brain training technique that enables patients to drastically improve quality of life. Through directly training the brain to self-regulate a variety of functions, many neurological problems can be disabled at the root of the problem, potentially ridding patients of nasty and hampering symptoms.

How does it Work?

Neurofeedback therapy follows the following basic steps:

1)     Pre-therapy Assessment: Typically, the patient will have electrodes attached to their head as doctors will observe and record brain activity. Patients may be exposed to certain stimuli in order to arouse specific brain functions which doctors wish to observe.

2)     Development of Treatment Plan: Upon receiving the results of each patient’s assessment, doctors will perform analysis to isolate abnormal brainwave patterns. Based on the problems observed, a unique neurofeedback therapy regiment will be designed for each patient.

3)     Training Sessions: Neurofeedback therapy professionals will guide patients through a series of brain exercises, which can take the place of a film, a puzzle, music, or other mediums. Using feedback from these exercises, the therapy is able to normalize brainwave activity by rewarding or emphasizing certain activity and punishing or diminishing other activity. For instance, when a subject is paying attention to an exercise it will continue and when attention wanes, the exercise stalls or stops. This is what we mean by “training the brain”. It is truly amazing how the body wants to innately correct its problem, and neurofeedback therapy leverages this phenomenon.

What Conditions does Neurofeedback Treat?

Neurofeedback therapy has proven effective against numerous disorders, ranging from the most common to the very rare. Here are some specific disorders that the therapy has already proven an effective intervention against:

·         Anxiety or Panic Disorder

·         Attention Deficit Disorder

·         Autism

·         Bipolar Disorder

·         Cerebral Palsy

·         Chronic Pain Syndrome

·         Headaches

·         Insomnia

·         Memory Loss Disorders

·         Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

·         Sleep Issues

There are many more neurological disorders that neurofeedback therapy has proven effective against, and not just in the short term. The goal of the therapy is to provide patients with the natural mechanisms to control brain functions, and thus disorders, for the rest of their lives. While many sessions may be needed to permanently “install” these tools, neurofeedback therapy is not a never-ending commitment, and this is a small price to pay for a potential lifetime of lasting mental health.

HOW NEUROFEEDBACK THERAPY WORKS