Using Neurofeedback for Treatment

Most people now use neurofeedback because they are tired of medications that end up doing more harm than good and constantly visiting a doctor without any improvement. As a result of this, neurofeedback therapy has become a commonly used therapeutic means of treating ailments ranging from depression and anxiety to concussions and serious headaches.

You’ve likely heard of biofeedback in the past; it is a scientific method of gathering information about how the body functions by taking readings of blood pressure, heart rate, skin temperature, and brain activities.

Examples of Biofeedback Include:

• Heat 
• Variations in heart rate 
• Muscle
• Neurotherapy

In short, neurofeedback refers to a biofeedback branch that reports on neurology or brainwave activity. To obtain this information, clinicians need electronic sensors which are hooked to the patient and monitoring devices. Brainwaves in other areas in the brain are understood by their height (amplitude) and by their operation with other waves. An insufficient balance is proof of brain dysregulation.

Neurofeedback could be an outstanding brain health diagnostic tool. Specific areas of dysregulation can be identified through a process known as quantitative EEG (QEEG).

The whole data can then be matched with other datasets of the same sex and age population. The information obtained from neurofeedback is useful in those who have a brain injury or have an anxiety disorder, for example. Instead of being a good first step in improving your brain’s health and function, it is never an end in itself.

How Neurofeedback Treatment Works

Neurofeedback uses wires on the head to hear the activity of the brainwave. We use a computer to analyze the data and gather further details regarding some vital signals in the brain. We show the flux and ebb to the patient who is trying to alter the level of the activity. Our experts prefer to promote some signals received and decrease others. This information is presented to the individual in the form of a computer game. The person plays the video game effectively with his brain. Finally, the activity of the brainwave is “shaped” to better and more desirable performance in neurofeedback. The wavelengths we aim for and the key places of your forehead for us to try to hear the brain waves are unique for various circumstances.

The Connection Between Addiction and the Brain

Regardless of your weight and height, the whole body is regulated by about three pounds of mass in your head. The brain consists of a complex system of circuits loaded with information. Drugs in the brain confuse and change the circuit. Imagine a central post office to provide a visual. You would see that people send, receive, and process important information that is vital for the company’s healthy functioning. Now imagine a bandit breaking out and forcing the old system into an ineffective and dysfunctional system. This bandit is an unlawful drug.

Addictive brain drugs often participate in the pain communication and reward system of the brain. Many drugs cause dopamine to be released, which then overflows with pleasing messages in the reward system circuit. The user is turned into a rush of pleasure. This neurological event The brain recalls this event and sends messages to the user to continue using the drug as part of its survival orientation.

In reaction to dopamine surges, the brain compensates for less dopamine or a reduction in dopamine receptor numbers. This procedure is known as drug tolerance in the user. This process can lead to users not having the healthy pleasure that existed before the use of drugs on a long-term basis.

Extra-long haul impacts incorporate impedance of psychological working and making the mind delicate to tranquilize backslide (the cerebrum gets adapted to react to certain medication use triggers like passing a bar, with the end goal that in any event, when medication use closes, the mind is as yet touchy to these ecological signs to utilize).

What Should You Expect? 

The practitioner asked questions about individual symptoms, history of treatment, and lifestyle before the first neurofeedback session. Before each treatment, the person will continue to provide the person with information on their symptoms, which enables the practitioner to monitor improvements over time.

The practitioner connects electrodes from an EEG machine to the head at the beginning of each session. This measures the activity of the brain. Depending on the patient and the session, the number of electrodes is different. The electrodes do not harm, and they do not supply a power supply. They only measure the activity of the brain. At the start of the session, a real-time scan of the brain waves of the person will appear on a screen. The practitioner is instructed to carry out a particular task to anticipate the task of changing brain waves.

An interesting computer program or other stimuli may be used to encourage the brain in different ways to process information during neurofeedback. Music, a single tone, or sounds that stop and start suddenly may be involved. The feedback on the EEG shows how the stimuli interrupt, change, or augment brain activity, as the brain responds to stimuli.

Mind Over Matter

Neurofeedback is a safe and effective treatment that uses neurological control to help you build more harmonious brain activities that involve a balanced midsize-to-high frequency brainwave pattern. You sit comfortably in a chair with an electrode scalp during a neurofeedback session. These sensors only read your brain’s electric signals and transmit them to a computer, and don’t send any signal to your brain.

You may be prompted to display pictures on a tablet, listen to music, or play a computer game, depending on the recovery plan. Your doctor tracks brain waves and sets specific training criteria using advanced brain imaging tools when you partake in this basic exercise. When you partake in neurofeedback, you can potentially see the ebb and flow of your brainwave rhythms visually in real-time as your intelligence reacts to the videos, sounds, or games in which it is introduced.

For example, whenever you watch a film, the screen becomes clearer, and as the brain develops favorable brain wave signals, you can hear unique musical sounds. If the brainwave signals are less harmonious, the screen dims. This immediate guidance encourages the brain to learn what it has to do to make the show brighter at an unconscious stage. With time, the brain finds how to build and retain the beneficial habits of brain waves that keep the screen working – and to facilitate positive thinking and behavior.

When your brain practices performance, synchronization, and equilibrium in an unconscious manner, your waves of the brain slowly strengthen and you manage your thoughts and behaviors more effectively. Neurofeedback therapy works overtime, strengthening, and repetition, like any new skill.

Who Administers Neurofeedback?

Neurofeedback (EEG Biofeedback) is usually supplied by counselors, family therapists, and consultants for the benefit of mental health practitioners. Typically these occupations deal for individual customers. Clinicians, social workers, and recovery professionals may also have training. Service is often offered by the MDs but normally is provided by a professional staff, except psychiatrists.

Is Neurofeedback Safe?

In the case of organic brain diseases, the functionality of the brain can only be changed rather than healed. We would assume that there is no illness to treat when it comes to issues of dysregulation. If the dilemma is dysregulation, it could very well be the cure for self-regulation. But again that wouldn’t be the term “cure.” Neurofeedback is non-intrusive and is said to be secure by supporters.

Negative Consequences Can, However, Include:

• Mental tiredness
• Old sentiments coming back, for instance, in the form of vivid dreams, before they permanently disappear
• Nausea, dizziness, and high sensitivity to light in those with a history of head trauma

Problems of Neurofeedback

While some experiments have shown positive results, some of these studies have found that there are architecture deficiencies. Study defects can find it difficult to demonstrate the effectiveness of a procedure.

For more study, several scholars have named. In some scientists, neurofeedback was attacked as a financial racket while others expressed their concern that no protocols existed.

Writers of a 2016 trusted source report acknowledged that neurofeedback, although noninvasive, has not been proved efficient. They also wrote: “They cost money, require time and their advantages are not durable. It’s costly. The desired changes could also take months.”

The connection between Neurofeedback and Addiction

Neurofeedback should be seen in opioid abuse care, the International Society for Neurofeedback & Research says. One of the key results from neurofeedback trials is that a substance addict may become predisposed to certain brain waves dysregulation and drug abuse is momentarily beneficial.

Researchers have found that alcoholics have low alpha and theta brain wave activity. Neurofeedback has shown that alpha and theta brainwave deficiencies already exist before drinking begins, but the disease worsens them.. Alpha waves and theta waves have a relaxed, yet alarming condition. Given the reviews, alcoholics will learn their alpha and beta waves using natural techniques. Relaxation and auditory therapy are the techniques used to increase this brain function.

Addiction is a dynamic disorder that calls for a multidisciplinary approach. The existing models of therapy can be augmented by neurofeedback, but not supplanted. Since research tends to accept addiction as a brain illness, the door is opened more widely for advancement in therapies, including neurofeedback.

At FRN, our neurofeedback rehabilitation programs provide clinically validated approaches on neurofeedback that provide the best chance for a stable and efficient recovery. Upon acceptance, clinicians working with you can develop a tailor-made therapy regimen to meet your rehabilitation needs. Call us today at 615-490-9376 about neurofeedback to find out more.