Neurofeedback
Psychotherapy
Neurofeedback and Learning Disabilities
All brain function—normal and pathological, intellectual and emotional—is bioelectric as well as biochemical. In fact, the brain communicates to itself and organizes its activity through its constant creation of brain waves of differing frequencies. The degree of our mental or emotional arousal largely depends on the frequency of our predominating brain waves. We know that large-amplitude, slow brain waves—known as delta waves—are associated with sleep. Theta waves are associated with a dreamy, sometimes hypnogogic, state. Alpha waves are usually associated with a relaxed meditative state of “open focus.” Narrowly focused states of attention, needed to perform tasks, are characterized by beta-frequency brain waves.
Although the brain’s electrical activity plays a major role in how an individual functions, until recently, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the electrical aspect of the brain. Instead, we’ve tended to view the brain solely as a biochemical organ, devoting billions of dollars to the development and promotion of psychotropic drugs.
At the same time, researchers and therapists have been teaching people to change their brains’ bioelectric activity—and hence their functioning—without chemical intervention. Today, this method, called neurofeedback, is being used by therapists around the world to address an increasing number of disorders, from ADD and AD/HD to bipolar illness, autism, and learning disability.
Neurofeedback is biofeedback to the brain—a form of operant conditioning that rewards the brain for activity at desired frequencies while discouraging activity at other frequencies. As a therapeutic intervention, neurofeedback training can reduce symptoms quickly, allowing the therapist and patient to better focus on broader psychological issues. Their attention need no longer be riveted to disruptions of emotional regulation, like rage, or the attempt to quell them, like excessive drinking. Emotional symptoms are seen and treated as indicators of firing disregulation in the brain.
Since integrating neurofeedback with psychotherapy, I’ve used it in the treatment of more than a hundred people, some with diagnoses as severe as dissociative identity disorder, Asperger’s syndrome, borderline personality disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
