Imagine a world where you could put electrodes on your head, send your brain waves to a computer, and control a video game without using your hands, simply by changing your brain waves. Imagine a world where you could teach your brain to function better. Maybe you could improve your IQ, concentrate better, or sleep better. Maybe you could be better organized at work, close more sales, get better grades, or be more productive. Maybe it could improve your memory which you have noticed is slipping lately. Visualize getting rid of that chronic depression or those nasty panic attacks and eliminate those medications you hate taking.

Too hard to believe? Believe it!

We have learned more about the brain in the last 10 to 15 years than we did before. This is mainly due to advanced imaging techniques, computer technology, and ongoing research into how the brain works. Research that began in the late 1960s and early 1970s at UCLA and NASA and continues today at universities and medical centers around the world is confirming that a form of brainwave biofeedback called Neurofeedback teaches the brain to regulate better.

Neurofeedback gives the person information about what their brainwaves are doing (usually through a video game) and rewards them (the rocket flies, they hear beeps, etc.) when they change their brainwaves the way they are told to . This process is called Operant Conditioning, which is a well-known learning strategy. The original research was done with cats that were rewarded with milk and chicken broth when they increased a certain brain wave. (The human brain will apparently do anything for a ‘beep’…)

Research is also teaching us what normal brain wave patterns should look like. Brain mapping technology called Quantitative Electroencephalography (QEEG) takes a classic EEG (a look at electrical function) and compares the brainwave data to a database of normal brains. This process can identify places in the brain that are not working normally. With this technology, we can now identify certain learning disabilities, mood disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and more, and pinpoint areas of the brain that don’t communicate properly with other areas of the brain. This information can be used to ‘train’ these abnormal areas of the brain using Neurofeedback to make them more normal and therefore improve function.

Recent research by VJ Monastra et al has shown that the ratio of two brain waves (theta/beta) at the top of the head (CZ) can be used to predict ADHD with 90% accuracy. Studies show that training the brain at these sites and frequencies works as well as or better than the standard stimulant medication so often prescribed for ADHD, and without the side effects.

Leslie Prichep of NYU has used QEEG to characterize brains affected by Alzheimer’s disease. A Neurofeedback study in healthy adults showed improved cognitive function and memory. We are beginning to use Neurofeedback to help slow the cognitive decline, personality changes, and behavioral changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Because the brain regulates so many things, training it can have an impact on a wide variety of seemingly unrelated disorders. Neurofeedback has been shown to be effective for depression, anxiety, ADHD, sleep disorders, traumatic brain injury (TBI), panic attacks, seizures, learning disabilities, obsessive/compulsive disorder ( OCD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), post-traumatic stress. (PTSD), cognitive function, memory, fibromyalgia, chronic pain, migraines, anger, bipolar disorder, autism, stress, organization and planning. Neurofeedback is FDA approved for stress management. And studies show that adding Neurofeedback to psychotherapy and AA meetings decreases rates of relapse to alcoholism from 80% to 25%. wow!

Neurofeedback appears to correct underlying problems in brain regulation rather than just treating symptoms. Frank Duffy, MD at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School stated, “If any drug had shown such a broad spectrum of efficacy [as biofeedback]would be universally accepted and widely used.” The January 2005 issue of the professional journal ‘Child and Adolescent Clinics of North America’ stated that Neurofeedback meets its efficacy criteria for ADHD, depression, anxiety (including OCD, PTSD, phobias, generalized anxiety), learning disabilities, and seizures.

Neurofeedback is being used all over the world to help people improve their brain function. It is often used to enhance peak performance rather than treat any disorder. It is helping astronauts, professional baseball teams, athletes, artists, executives, children, students, and people of all walks of life and all ages.

Neurofeedback treatment consists of an initial evaluation plus twenty to forty 45-minute sessions. These sessions are usually scheduled at least twice a week at first and can then be reduced to once a week when symptoms have improved. Treatment should continue until the positive changes ‘stick’ and then it can be stopped. Follow-up studies have shown that if treatment continues until symptom improvement lasts for at least a month, results will persist. Some studies have shown that symptoms continue to improve even after treatment ends. Certain medications can often be reduced or eliminated after Neurofeedback as the brain learns to self-regulate.

Neurofeedback is not currently covered by most health insurance companies, but psychotherapists sometimes incorporate it into their regular therapy sessions, which are usually covered. Sessions can range from $90 to $145 each with discounts for prepaid packages. Often people have tried everything else before learning about Neurofeedback.

Neurofeedback can change a person’s life in invaluable and global ways. It’s the wave of the future available now. We regularly tune up our cars. Certainly all brains could also benefit from a tune-up.