"Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease."
                                                    
                                                                                         Hippocrates





                                 WHAT IS NEUROFEEDBACK?

Neurofeedback, also known as neurotherapy, EEG biofeedback, and neurobiofeedback, is a computer-based training procedure that allows the individual to learn to self-regulate his or her own brain waves, shaping the neuronal activity for improvement in cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functioning.
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                                 PROBLEMS HELPED BY NEUROFEEDBACK

                            Traumatic brain injury               Depression
                            Stroke                                           Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
                            Chronic Fatigue Syndrome      PTSD
                            Chronic Pain                               Toxic Encephalopathy
                            ADHD                                            Whiplash
                            Asperger's/Autism                      Anxiety and Panic Disorders
                            Learning Disability                     Seizure Disorder
                            Anoxia (oxygen deprivation)      Migraines


HOW IS THE BRAIN INJURED?

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs when there is an impact to the head as in a vehicle accident or a fall.  Being shaken or tossed about without a direct impact to the head may also cause a whiplash and brain injury. The Brain Injury Association of America reports that 1.4 million people in the US sustain a TBI each year with 5.3 million Americans currently living with disabilities from a TBI. Psychological problems develop as a result of the disruption in the brain wave pattern.  A person may initially experience confusion, memory loss, disorientation, inattention, and sometimes loss of consciousness when normal brain functioning is disrupted.  Some brain wave patterns may show over activation, under activation or a disorganized pattern as evidenced by brain imaging research.  Aside from a direct or indirect assualt to the head, scientific studies show that normal brain functioning can be disrupted by exposure to environmental toxins and injestion of toxic substances such as chemicals from food sources.  Various medical conditions are related to impaired brain functions such as stroke, anoxia (loss of oxygen to the brain as in surgery), viral infections, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Autism/Asperger's Disorder.



NEUROFEEDBACK TRAINING PROCEDURE 

During neurofeedback training, electrodes are attached to your head with electrode cream.  These electrodes pick up your brain's electrical signals which you can see on the computer screen only milliseconds later.  While closely watching your brain activity, you are guided to altering your brain waves.  As you make the targeted brain wave changes, you hear computer tones signaling your success.  You are learning to master self-regulation toward rebalancing your brain wave paterns and improving functioning.

Training plans are based on individual assessment and evaluation of your current brain activity. In addition considerable scientific data over more than 35 years provide the scientific groundwork for neurofeedback training.  At the completion of training the changes in brain functioning are normally maintained unless there is a subsequent injury to the brain.
                                         
                                       


Frank Duffy, M.D., Neurologist, Head of the Neuroimaging Department and of Neuroimaging Research at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School Professor stated in an independent review of the literature on neurofeedback, published in Clinical Electroencephalography (January 2000) that "The literature which lacks any negative study of substance, suggests that EEG biofeedback therapy should play a major theraputic role in many difficult areas.  In my opinion, if any medication had demonstrated such a wide spectrum of efficacy, it would be universally accepted and widely used." (page v).  "It is a field to be taken seriously by all" (page vii).






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