Four Reasons Psychologists Get Trained in Neurofeedback

There are still relatively few psychologists who are trained to provide neurofeedback services.

Here are four reasons some psychologists have decided to attend neurofeedback training.

  1. Many clients or parents of clients are looking for alternative methods of dealing with ADHD besides medications.  Young people and adults that suffer with ADHD symptoms are usually proscribed medications that often but not always help.  Unwanted side effects often cause people to seek other ways of dealing with the symptoms.  Neurofeedback has been shown to be effective in helping reduce symptoms of ADHD.  When compared to a normative database, the abundance of slow waves – Theta or Alpha to the faster waves is often too high.  Neurofeedback training can help normalize this activity and help with reducing symptoms.
  2. Psychologists see large numbers of clients with anxiety. Like with ADHD, clients with anxiety are often prescribed medications that might or might not be effective in managing symptoms and might also have negative side effects.  The brainwave activity of a person with anxiety is often different than those without anxiety.  In many cases the faster Beta waves show higher power than the average brain without the anxiety symptom.  Neurofeedback training has been shown to be effective in reducing anxiety symptoms by encouraging the brain to decrease the power in the faster Beta wave frequencies and increasing the slower Alpha wave frequencies that are associated with relaxation.
  3. Psychologists have a lot of clients who don’t sleep well.  Sleep problems can make many other problems worse.  Improving sleep can help to improve other seemingly unrelated problems.  When our eyes are open, our brain must process all the information that comes in through the eyes.  The brain is busier with our eyes open.  When we close our eyes, the brain has the opportunity to and should rest.  When the brain is in this resting state, it produces more Alpha waves.  If instead of allowing our brain to rest, we start to think about all of our problems, our brain doesn’t produce more Alpha waves.  It continues to produce mostly faster Beta waves.  If our brain continues to produce mostly faster Beta waves when we close our eyes it is harder to fall asleep.  We need slower Alpha and Theta waves to move into sleep.
  4. Other forms of psychological therapy are more effective when the client’s brain is better regulated.  Dysregulation in the brain can contribute to all kinds of symptoms.  Using neurofeedback training with clients can help other therapies that a psychologist uses like psychotherapy, cognitive restructuring, or psychoanalysis work more effectively.  All of these therapies involve the client’s brain so it makes sense that if the brain is more regulated, the therapies would have a better chance of working.

A bonus reason psychologists have told me that they like using neurofeedback is that it gives them and their clients something to do other than talking.  It can be exhausting and not always effective to just continue to discuss problems.  Neurofeedback training actually helps to regulate brain activity to provide improvement with symptoms.

How neurofeedback equipment works

Neurofeedback, a form of biofeedback, in its current form, it is a cutting-edge technology that allows people to train their brains for improved mental performance and well-being. At the heart of neurofeedback lies sophisticated equipment designed to monitor and regulate brain activity. Here’s a closer look at how this innovative technology works.

Neurofeedback equipment usually consists of sensors, amplifiers, and a computer interface. The process begins with the placement of sensors on the scalp, which detect electrical signals produced by the brain. These signals, known as electroencephalography (EEG), represent the brain’s activity in real-time. Read more

Neurofeedback equipment types

Home devices like the Muse are small and lightweight. Most are less than $400. I am still not convinced of the signal quality of these devices. They don’t tend to display a raw signal so it is difficult to tell if there is noise in the signal that would negatively impact the quality of the training. The feedback is based on changes in EEG. If the changes are due to noise and not real EEG, then the reinforcement would not be effective. When I have tried these devices in the past, my experience has been that the feedback is not clearly connected to the changes in my mental states. Other people have given me mixed reviews, some more positive, some negative. There are a few ways that these devices are used. One is for clients who are seeing a professional neurofeedback provider for in office sessions. They use the home device between office sessions. A second use if for virtual training with a professional. The client has the device at home and the professional coaches them virtually. The third use is for non-professionals to use at home on their own without supervision.

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Research Applications Using Professional Neurofeedback Equipment for Psychologists

Neurofeedback, a form of biofeedback that allows people to learn to regulate their brain activity, has gained significant attention recently. This non-invasive technique uses professional neurofeedback equipment to provide real-time information about brain activity, helping people to train and optimize their brain activity. While neurofeedback has been widely used in clinical settings, its applications in research have also increased among psychologists. We will explore the many ways in which professional neurofeedback equipment is used in research by psychologists.

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Adding The Intelligence of the Heart in Performance Enhancement Training

R. Adam Crane BCIA Senior Fellow, BCIAEEG, NRNP Diplomate

Science of The Heart: The Role of the Heart in Human Performance

Introduction

For centuries the heart has been considered the source of emotion, courage and wisdom. Neurocardiology is the relatively new science of exploring the physiological mechanisms by which the heart communicates with the brain; thereby influencing information processing, perceptions, emotions and health. Neurocardiology asks questions such as: Why do people experience the feeling or sensation of love and other positive emotional states in the area of the heart, and what are the physiological ramifications of these emotions? How do stress and different emotional states affect the autonomic nervous system, the hormonal and immune systems, the heart and brain? Over the years scientists have experimented with different psychological and physiological measures, but consistently heart rate variability, or heart rhythms, stands out as one of the most dynamic and reflective measures of Read more