Neurotherapy: Alternative to Prescription Drugs

Neurotherapy has a broad reach. It is evolving into a primary-care alternative to prescription drugs for many disorders. Rather than sedating overactive children or forgetful seniors, neurotherapy changes the neurophysiological bases of the problem. When administered by licensed and well-trained professionals, neurotherapy has no adverse side effects. Successfully treated clients do not have to depend on a drug to get by in life. Neurotherapy is a primary treatment option rather than the last resort of patients who are casualties of drug-oriented treatments.

Attention deficiencies in children and anxiety disorders in adults are easily improved with neurotherapy. More challenging cognitions, such as the severe depressions, psychoses, personality disorders, the aftermath of severe mental trauma, brain dysfunctions, and seizure disorders are now also being treated with neurotherapy as a first choice. Neurotherapy is emerging as an initial choice because it works without adverse side effects, the changes are permanent, and clients are not harmed by, nor do they become dependent on, drugs.

Optimal performance training focuses both on increasing brain efficiency when processing information and on rapid change to the restorative mentally quiet state when sharp focus is not required. It is a technological approach to improving a disturbed condition caused by our modern age. It also satisfies our desire to apply technology to optimizing our life experience. It can be of major benefit to all but is of most benefit to those who are open to the profound wisdom available to the quiet mind.

Peak performance is the training of the mind to become insulate from distractions while releasing the mind to be in synch with the energy of the universe. The brain is trained to efficiently engage and disengage at the highest level. Russell Adams, writing in the July 29, 2006, issue of the Wall Street Journal, describes how months before the World Cup soccer playoffs, some of Italy’s best players began spending much of their practice time doing neurofeedback. Italy worn the World Cup, and the team referred to the neurofeedback as their secret weapon.

Why should neurotherapy be your first choice for treatment of a wide range of psychological and neurological disorders? The simple answer is because neurotherapy is an efficient, proven method for correcting the neurological, psychological, and physiological bases for your disorder. Drugs may help you cope, booze may help you hide, and psychotherapy may help you in the long haul, but nothing can compare with neurotherapy for rapidly and safely correcting a problem at the source, your brain. When neurotherapy is the first treatment, a person can become capable of only marginal functioning. An alternative to this tragically diminished life is to permanently correct the neurological basis of the problem from the start. When neurotherapy is the first treatment, a person can become capable of squarely facing life’s challenges, as we all must. In addition, neurotherapy is cost effective, its results are lasting, and it has no dangerous side effects. Rather than taking ever increasing amounts of drugs, you will see life through clear lenses.

The evidence speaks for itself. Neurotherapy is a primary-care alternative for the treatment of many disorders which have traditionally been sedated, if they could be corrected at all. It truly satisfies the medical credo: “First, do no harm.” Families abandoned with their autistic children can find help, depressed and anxious people can find relief and freedom from drugs; those who have problems with concentration or sleep or anger or alcohol or mental quietude can find these problems resolved. Those with head injuries, stroke, pain, seizure disorders, and age-related declines can also find help.

Many controlled scientific studies have shown that neurofeedback can permanently improve deficiencies in attention. The safe and lasting neurofeedback intervention, though more time consuming, is a much healthier choice than medication. Relying on stimulants to treat the disorder does nothing to lessen the chronic nature of ADHD and other neurobehavioral conditions. Long-term use of stimulant medications also exposes the child, and later the adult, to serious health risks. A wide array of psychological and neurological disorders can affect a person’s ability to concentrate. Stress, pain, depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance, addictions, diet and food sensitivities, hormone disturbances, fatigue, and so on all affect our ability to be aware of our environment. Our ability to focus and comprehend is central to every facet of our existence. In order to enjoy the richness of life, we should not have to spend years taking drugs such as Ritalin or Prozac.

Within medicine and psychology, neurotherapy is rapidly gaining wide acceptance. The American Psychological Association recognizes brainwave biofeedback as an efficacious treatment. Many important peer-reviewed journals publish research in the area of neurotherapy, ensuring that its practice conforms to the highest standards. Based on solid, clinically confirmed scientific research, neurotherapy is emerging as a primary-care alternative to drugs for a wide range of disorders. The focus is on a cure, not just on coping mechanisms. Neurotherapy tackles the problems where they reside – in the brain.

Neurofeedback is noninvasive; it does not zap the brain. It teaches the brain how to function efficiently. The therapy procedures are based on successful treatments that have been used for years. Electrical activity recorded from the scalp is recorded without discomfort to the client. The activity is then analyzed by looking at the different brainwaves, which provide an intimate view of the clients’ mental and cognitive state. The next step is devising a treatment program that creates improvement. Whether you suffer from depression or hyperactivity, the reason can be found in your brain’s activity because the brain gives off an electrical signal that a neurotherapist can measure and evaluate.

One of the great joys of my practice is seeing fearful and discouraged elderly clients gain a redefined view of themselves and their lives when I “brighten” their brains and discard the drugs. They are truly new people, with a restored sense of self-worth and robust self-confidence. Brain brightening is a simple neurotherapy procedure in which the client learns how to reduce the amount of inappropriate slow-brain activity, increase the frequency of the dominant alpha, and increase the rapidity of changes in alpha amplitude from eyes open to eyes closed.

Sometimes neurotherapy that is focused on optimizing a brain function brings to the surface a memory or emotional state that the client must resolve before moving on. This is not a problem but rather one of the side benefits of brainwave therapy. Potent memories and emotional states can interfere with your quality of life even though are not fully aware of them. Unexplained difficulties in intimate relationships are a common result of poorly perceived personal problems. Resolving these problems can have a marked benefit for a client’s well-being.