Neurofeedback: what you need to know

Are you looking for an effective, evidence-based and side-effect free alternative to medication and conventional talk-therapy? Neurofeedback is a brain training program that helps the brain self-regulate for optimal functioning. The process is painless and non-invasive and does not use or require any medication. Neurofeedback is widely recognized as a safe, complementary, and alternative method for addressing many common physical, emotional, and behavioral concerns.

What is Neurofeedback?

Essentially, Neurofeedback is brain exercise. It works by observing your brain in action from moment to moment through monitoring your brain waves.

During a session, you are shown your brain activity which helps you to change it by rewarding shifts toward a more appropriate and stable brain state. Over the course of many sessions, you will go through a gradual learning process in which you learn to regulate your emotions and become able to control destructive feelings, such as excessive anxiety before they take over.

Neurofeedback is also referred to as EEG (Electroencephalography) Biofeedback or Neurotherapy. The term biofeedback refers to the process by which you learn to change your brain waves and thereby gain better control over your brain states.

What does a Neurofeedback session look like?

At the beginning of a Neurofeedback session, the therapist will place electrodes onto your scalp with some EEG (electroencephalogram) paste in between. That may sound scary, but the electrodes are just there as sensors to pick up electrical activity in your brain. There’s no electric shock and the entire process is completely pain-free.

After that, your brainwaves are transmitted to a computer which processes them and displays a visual representation on a screen. As the session progresses, the software works by providing positive feedback for your correctly regulated brainwaves. Over the course of many sessions, your brain progresses to higher and higher levels of brain functioning. Typically, a session will last for about 45 minutes and for best results you should have two sessions per week.

How can Neurofeedback help?

Neurofeedback training improves attention, cognitive abilities, and emotional regulation. It can help you to reduce or eliminate a number of common symptoms such as anxiety, stress reactions, depression, sleep problems, and emotional distress. Neurofeedback can also help relieve a variety of conditions such as mood swings, ADHD, OCD, migraines and Autistic Spectrum Disorders. It is helpful in working on peak performance issues and is used by performing artists, athletes, business executives, as well as students who want to improve their studying and test-taking skills.

Who can benefit from Neurofeedback?

Individuals of any age can benefit from EEG training. We all experience stress in our lives, but chronic stress can cause our brain to change structurally. Poor diet or nutrition, physical ailments or disease, emotional and behavioral stress, brain injury, drug use, and trauma are just a few examples of the kinds of life stresses what can cause dysregulated brain waves. When your brainwaves are out of balance this can lead to physical, emotional, and behavioral symptoms that affect how you function daily.

Neurofeedback can help children, adolescents, and adults with a variety of disorders and symptoms, and can also help anyone to maintain good brain function or lift their peak performance. It has been approved by the FDA for stress reduction. The American Academy of Pediatrics has also cited it as a level one evidence-based intervention for addressing ADHD.

Neurofeedback is proven to help with symptoms related to:

ADHD/ADD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder)
Learning Disorders
Anxiety/PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)
Autism
Depression
Insomnia
Memory
OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)
Peak Performance
Anger

Neurofeedback for depression

Neurofeedback is an effective treatment for depression that in many cases allows people to avoid using antidepressant medication. Depression is caused by brainwaves that get stuck in an irregular and unhealthy pattern. While medication works by suppressing the symptoms of these brainwaves it doesn’t address the core problem. Neurofeedback does exactly that. Neurofeedback is especially effective when used in conjunction with talk therapy, helping you to make deep and long-lasting change and implement this is daily life, not just on the therapist’s couch. To learn more about how Neurofeedback can help with depression, click here.

Neurofeedback for anxiety

Anxiety is the most common mental health problem in America and is becoming more common all the time. Traditional talk-therapy works by helping you to identify the source of anxious thoughts and challenge them before they take over. Biofeedback can assist this process by training your brainwaves to become less irregular, actually eliminating many of your anxious feelings and instilling a new sense of calm and confidence in your daily life. By combining the two forms of therapy, you can achieve long-lasting, transformational change in your life through combatting anxious thoughts at their origin in the brain.

Neurofeedback for peak performance

Biofeedback is an effective alternative or supplement to therapy and medication for anxiety, depression, stress and other mental health problems, however, it can do much more than that. Almost all of us are not using their brain to its full potential. Through structured brain training, you can perform better at work and at play, giving you the extra boost you need to achieve what you want in life. Neurofeedback gives you exactly that brain training, allowing you to achieve more in life. To find out more, click here.

Get in touch

For more information about Neurofeedback therapy in Los Angeles, contact me today. You can reach me by phone or by filling out the contact form.