INTRODUCTION TO NEUROFEEDBACK

Neurofeedback, also known as EEG biofeedback has been shown to be highly effective in treating many physical and psychological disorders. It has also been used for individuals who just want to perform at peak efficiency. Such institutions as the famed Menninger Clinic used EEG biofeedback for the successful treatment of alcohol and drug addictions. Many businesses in the US and Japan trained their management personnel in peak performance protocols to enhance creativity, coping skills and critical thinking.

Our treatment model has its roots in person-centered psychotherapy and self-regulation.

The healthy brain has the versatility to modulate states of arousal and attention styles as demanded by specific situations. The disordered brain has diminished ability to respond to these specific demands. The immature, injured or disordered brain seems to lack the normal elasticity of the healthy brain. There appear to be discontinuities in cortical processes or breakdowns in intro-cortical communications where the brain seems to get "stuck" and exhibits inappropriate brain waves for the immediate situation.

EEG biofeedback training teaches a person what specific brainwave states feel like and how to turn those states on at will. The trainee can "move" to different physiological states depending on what the immediate situation requires. A person can learn through training to change to a different physiological state. If we make the brain more flexible it may have a generalizing effect on other functions such as the full nervous system, the immune system, the endocrine systems, the body's ability to heal itself and general cognitive functioning.

Biofeedback is like eavesdropping on our body's internal conversations and using this information to change negative patterns that are contributing to poor physical and mental health. Our bodies are a sea of information and communication. As a general rule, we don't pay attention to these inside-the-skin conversations. With sophisticated listening devices we can collect this information and feed it back to our brains through our ears, eyes, and touch. With practice, we can then begin to change inside-the-skin events to make us healthier. Now medical science is able to help us listen in to the quieter messages that otherwise go unnoticed until we have medical or emotional problems. With neurofeedback we can change feelings, thoughts and behaviors.

By recording electrical activity produced by the brain and correlating this activity into frequency bands we are able to determine different subjective states of consciousness, such as relaxation, by using the EEG feedback. They are able to either enhance this state or change the state. Therefore, a person can learn to do a much more efficient job at such tasks as concentrating or relaxing. Brainwave feedback, is again, taking a very subtle inside-the-skin event and using it to change our level of functioning. This is the fine art of self-mastery -- making one less dependent on others, drugs, machines or medical technology.

All biofeedback is a learning process that involves both physical and mental skills. It's learning how to change your body by listening to your body's messages. Some biofeedback processes may take only a few sessions whereas EEG feedback may take ten to twenty sessions before you begin to grasp what a particular brainwave state "feels" like. Then, more training sessions to perfect the skills follow. Learning to modify a brainwave state in the correct direction to sustain a desired mental state is a "discovery" process. A process of gaining more and more control over your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Neurofeedback is an effective, non-medication dependent approach to the treatment of attention/focus deficits, learning problems and stress-affected behavior and physical illness.