The brain tells us everything

In neurofeedback, the patterning of brainwaves is directly associated with symptoms. By interpreting these patterns, the neurotherapist is able to describe the clients’ symptoms without a lot of input from the client.

I showed 10-year old Jackson and his dad the “artist’s signature” in Jackson’s ADHD brain activity. It appears as a large increase in the alpha brainwave when the client closes his eyes, and is correlated with a proclivity for artistic, spatial and musical creativity. “Jackson,” I said, “that is an extremely valuable skill to have. Good artists, architects, choreographers, and fiction writers have that signature and so do fine cabinet makers and good mechanics.” In Jackson’s case, however, the indicator of ADHD, an attention disorder, was an excessive amount of slow-frequency theta waves was over the top of his brain. The excessive amplitude became more pronounced when he read, going in the wrong direction for good retention and recall.

I told Jackson, “As you play you will discover how to control your thoughts to be successful at the game.” We set up the treatment so that when Jackson made his slow brainwaves decline, an animated video character moved on the screen with visual and auditory rewards built in. The signals picked up by the scalp electrodes are displayed on a video monitor. The client feels nothing but can see the electrical activity emitted by his brain on the computer monitors.

Through concentrating, Jackson gradually learned to reduce the amplitude of his slow theta waves to the normal range. The sessions are directed at increasing focus and concentration so the slow brainwave frequencies are lowered and the faster frequencies are strengthened. Through the principle of neuroplasticity, that which fires together wires together, we strengthen a more flexible and stable brain.

Jackson needed twenty six sessions over eight months to learn to normalize the slow brain activity. He soon reported that, with the exception of one C, his grades were “great”, and his relationship with his father much improved.