Editorials
What’s the generally-accepted medical practice for treating someone with clinical depression, with anxiety, ADHD, migraines, seizures – or many other “brain” problems?
The typical answer is to prescribe a pill, such as a stimulant, an anti-depressant, an anti-anxiety medication. Or, in some cases, a mood stabilizer/anti-convulsant, or an anti-psychotic. Disadvantages to medicating the brain abound…
Based on a survey with over 200 health professionals, most reported:
- more than half their neurofeedback clients start neurofeedback while taking one or more medications.
- after a series of neurofeedback training (a minimum of 20 sessions, but it could be much more) about 75% of their clients report reduced use of medications.
“I’ve been a practicing psychiatrist for 15 years. Two years ago, I added neurofeedback to my practice. It is important to me to do what I can to inform other psychiatrists and mental health clinicians of my experience. It is becoming increasingly clear to me that neurofeedback — if available in your area — should be on your list of interventions to consider…”
John, age 9, was painfully shy. He was very quick to get upset and cry. He had difficulty with attention and struggled with reading and writing. He was not doing well in school. John’s mother was very concerned.
His neurofeedback specialist recorded an EEG brain map, which identified 2 key patterns – excessive theta waves which correlate to an inattention problem and a lack of connectivity between his left central and parietal areas of the brain. When those areas of the brain aren’t well-connected, it strongly correlates with learning problems, including difficulty with reading and writing. He did 20 training sessions, targeting those areas…
