Neurofeedback
One ADHD parent tells her story~
"My son has ADHD and OCD. He is 10½ years
old. Last year he was on 4 medications:Adderall,Clomipramine, Luvox,
and Risperdol. The Risperdol caused him to gain 15 lbs which is a
great deal of weight for a 10 year old. He went through the usual
social repercussions including being thrown out of schools. I had him thoroughly
evaluated before I would even let them start him on Ritalin. He was
tested by someone who actually wrote a book about proper testing of ADD/ADHD.
My son was a preemie born at 26½weeks and weighing 2lbs 2oz.
Recently a social worker at the hospital I work at told
me about Neurofeedback and I found a clinic in Scottsdale called "the ADD
clinic" where they exclusively deal with this problem. He had a brain map
EEG which is a computer brain map that picks up typical brainwave patterns
in ADD/ADHD. He had afairly serious case with obvious OCD and also
a pattern commonly seen in depression. There is a fairly large incidence
of OCD with ADHD (I think maybe 30%) and it is more difficult to treat.
He has had at least 20 -23 treatments so far and is doing well. We
also have him on a behavior modification program started by the clinic
that is fairly detailed, but he is gaining many points since he has a goal
of buying the Nintendo playstation which is now going for $99 until the
third version comes out ($250). Each point is worth a penny and he
is over $30 at present, in fact he is waiting for me to come home to add
up some more accumulated points. Also, I had to put him back on Adderal,
Clomipramine and Risperdol (I had taken him off when we hit a plateau and
that was when I was told about neurofeedback), but they are in lower doses
than last year and as soon as possible I will get him off them.
I have seen very good results with the neurofeedback.
He now gets up, fixes his bed, gets dressed and is eating breakfast and
doing chores with one command. If you know about behavior mod, with
two commands you miss the potential points. Everyone responds differently
with neurofeedback, some just need 15 treatments, some need40. I
want to get him as many as possible to get him off the meds as much as
I can and then we will go to the monthly maintenance plan. I am very
happy with it; my only regret is that no one told me sooner!!!
Neurofeedback has been around for 20 years and his doctor
who is well known didn't mention it. I am also a doctor and regularly
read up on this and also didn't find info until the social worker told
me about it. This disturbed me a great deal and I worry about parents
who have no info on it and are going through what we went through.
It also disturbs me that insurance doesn't pay for it."
Carol
More information
on Neurofeedback~
If you want to know more therefore about Neurofeedback
there are two books available with excellent reviews. The first is best
for parents, teachers and adults who want to know more.
A
Symphony in the Brain : The Evolution of the New Brain
Wave Biofeedback |
Reviewer: Donald W. Mitchell
coauthor of The Irresistible Growth Enterprise
and The 2,000 Percent Solution from Boston A
Symphony in the Brain : The Evolution of the New Brain
Wave Biofeedback
"I became interested in this book from the perspective
of a long-term meditator. I have read many many studies of how meditation
improves brain wave patterns, and provides many psychological and physiological
benefits. So I was curious about what neurofeedback could do. This book
provided an excellent, complete review of the subject. I highly recommend
that you study it. |
Neurofeedback is based on a variety of methods, but
they all include giving a person positive and negative reinforcement about
their brain wave patterns at different frequencies. Based on clinical experiences,
some brain wave patterns provide more calmness, while others provide more
clarity, while others encourage creativity. The field has built up based
on trial and error beginning with insights from animal research, often
done with cats. Often, this treatment is combined with psychological counseling
and behavioral reinforcements of other types. Sometimes dietary imbalances
that affect brain chemistry are addressed, as well.
How neurofeedback treatment is administered depends on
the practitioner. There is no government licensing or certification in
the field. Many types of equipment are used. Some even allow you to do
the treatment on your own at home, with an investment as low as $950. The
experience and skill of the practitioner seem to add value though.
This field should be distinguished from biofeedback. That
process (which is also unlicensed and unregulated for practitioners) focuses
on giving patients feedback on things like how warm their hands are, primarily
as a mechanism to help people reduce stress. Cold hands can be one sign
of stress. By learning to induce more relaxed states, many patients improve
from various psychological ailments that involve excess stress. Neurofeedback
measures the brain waves themselves (that which directs the body) rather
than the outcome of the brain waves (what the body is doing).
The book details many interesting cases of great improvement
in Attention Deficit Disorder and its near cousin, AHDH (which includes
hyperactivity), alcoholism, epilepsy, depression, autism, and high performance
(such as opera singing). Each one seems to require a different application
of neurofeedback, and is specialized in by different practitioners. One
of the encouraging things about the book is a complete list of research
reports, descriptions of which practitioners treat which areas, and ways
to get more information from web sites and manufacturers. The author also
tried neurofeedback and reports his positive and negative experiences.
He also looked for failures, and describes those.
The main drawback of neurofeedback is that it developed
outside of the medical community, so a full set of definitive studies of
it remain to be done. So far, NIH has not sponsored any research
in this area although it has received grant applications. My own impression
is that this would be a good area for NIH to sponsor research in. If efficacy
is established, many more researchers would become involved and the field
would improve more rapidly. If the process cannot be proven to be effective
in double-blind tests (properly designed), then people should stop wasting
their time and money and move on to something that works better. To me,
the combination of promising results of flawed research and the anecdotal
evidence suggests that the $10 million to find out more
would be well worth the price. For this therapy
is relatively inexpensive, and shows promise even in reducing recurrence
of criminal behavior among inmates. If this therapy works, we will save
a whole lot on drugs, incarceration, education, and wasted lives.
Read this book and see what you think. I certainly identified
two people who I think might be good candidates for neurofeedback who aren't
doing well with medication and psychiatric help. Perhaps this is what they
need. It's certainly worth the money to me to find out.
While you are reading this book, also think about
our disbelief stall about the way things work. For decades, we treated
stomach ulcers with surgery, stomach lining drinks, andacid-production
inhibitors. All helped. For the same decades, some scientists believed
that these ulcers were caused by stomach infections of the lining. These
scientists were right, and now that's the way most ulcers are treated,
and quickly and inexpensively cured. Can it be that we have been discouraging
another way of thinking that could help us again? It's certainly possible."
Introduction
to Quantitative EEG and Neurofeedback click here |
Introduction
to Quantitative EEG and Neurofeedback
This is the first clinical textbook on Neurofeedback
(NFB) to be published, and if you are a professional seriously interested
in neurofeedback, it will give you more detail than the one above.
It provides an introduction to neurofeedback/neurotherapy
techniques,for clinicians and clinical psychologists.
Discusses techniques used in treating attention deficit
disorder, dissociative identity disorder, depression, drug and alcohol
abuse, and brain injury. |
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