Do you have a hard time falling asleep or staying sleep at night? Maybe you have difficulty finding the right words in conversations. Or you might be struggling with your performance at school, home or work.
Even worse, you might be suffering from anxiety. If you have any of these issues and would like to overcome them without medications, there is a new treatment protocol that may be just perfect for you: Neurofeedback. This drug-free program of improving your brain waves has been shown — through hundreds of published studies — to help patients with insomnia, anxiety, concussion, memory loss with aging, addiction, and ADHD symptoms.
Neurofeedback first began in the late s and s. Joe Kamiya conducted studies using electroencephalogram EEG to look at consciousness. He found that by using a simple reward system, his subjects could change their brain activity. Barry Sterman later worked with cats to alter their brain activity by giving them treats when they responded in the right way.
His work aimed at teaching the cats to increase their sensory motor rhythm SMR. The cats learned to change their brain patterns to get the treat. Years later, Dr. Sterman worked with NASA to test the effects of lunar landing fuel exposure.
Once again, he used cats in this experiment. When the cats were exposed to the fuel, their brains experienced instability. First, they became drowsy and then developed headaches, hallucinations, and seizures. The cats finally died from the exposure. Amazingly, the cats from Dr. Their previous training seemed to have made their brains ultra-resistant to the toxic fuel.
Using these findings, Dr. Sterman began training patients with epilepsy in SMR to decrease their seizures. Outcomes include increased focus and brain resiliency as well as decreased stress.
Electrical impulses, or brain waves, move through the brain and account for your ability for all the things you do such as walking, typing, cooking, or driving as well as eating, going to the bathroom, sweating, or getting scared. Brain waves determine how we feel, how we interact with others, how well we sleep, and how organized we are. When our brain waves are too slow or too fast, we may feel too sluggish or too nervous.
Harmonized brain waves are essential for feeling good and functioning in the optimal range. Thus, the location of the EEG electrodes during the neurofeedback procedure is important Evans, There are 7 types of Neurofeedback for the treatment of various disorders:. It is used to change the amplitude or speed of specific brain waves in particular brain locations to treat ADHD, anxiety, and insomnia.
This type of neurofeedback has been used to treat traumatic brain injury, ADHD, insomnia, fibromyalgia, restless legs syndrome, anxiety, depression, and anger. Live Z-score neurofeedback is used to treat insomnia. This neurofeedback technique is used to treat addictions, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The alpha mood is described as a calm and pleasant situation. All alpha frequencies describe creative activity of the brain, so that it is used in the process of relaxation relaxing the muscles , which eventually leads to sleep; Such waves emerge and expand rapidly on the skin.
The evidence shows that alpha waves increases during meditation. Alpha training is usually used for the treatment of various diseases such as pain relief by 9 Hz simulation , reducing stress and anxiety by 10 and 30 Hz simulation , memory improvement, improving mental performance, and treatment of brain injuries by Various studies have been performed on the alpha protocol Table 3. The most common frequency bandwidth for the alpha treatment is 7—10 Hz frequency range, which is used for meditation, sleep, reducing stress and anxiety.
Also frequency of 10 Hz causes deep muscle relaxation, pain reduction, regulating breathing rate, and decreasing heart rate Dempster, ; Vernon, Beta brain waves are associated with conscious precision, strong focus, and ability to solve problems.
Medications that are used to stimulate alertness and concentration such as Ritalin and Adderall also cause the brain to produce beta brainwaves. Beta training is used to improve focus and attention simulation of increased beta Hz , improve the reading ability simulation of 7—9 Hz , and introduce positive changes in school performance. It also improves the computational performance, cognitive processing, reduction of worries, over-thinking, obsessive compulsive disorder OCD , alcoholism, and insomnia simulation of 14—22 Hz and 12—15 Hz.
Meanwhile, this type of neurofeedback improves sleep cognitive performance as well as reducing fatigue and stress simulation of light and sound of beta Table 4. Also, this treatment is used for deep levels of depression, addiction, anxiety while it increases creativity, relaxation, musical performance, and promotes healing from trauma reactions.
They represent increased comfort, reduced pain, and sleep. Thus, they are used to alleviate headaches, traumatic brain injury, learning disorders, and to treatment hard and sharp contraction of muscles by simulation of 1—3 Hz delta wave. They also reduce concerns and improve sleep Vernon, Thus, when these waves are faster, the speed of recalling memory is faster.
They are mainly observed in the hippocampus an area of the brain which is responsible for converting short-term to long-term memory. Also, these rapid rhythms are observed in sudden attacks like seizure and spasm. Hence, gamma training is used for promoting cognition, mental sharpness, brain activity, and problem-solving tasks.
It not only improves poor calculation, but also organizes the brain, improves the speed of information processing, short-term memory, and reduces the number of migraine attacks Hughes, Vernon, Theta brain waves are related to a number of brain activities such as memory, emotion, creativity, sleep, meditation, and hypnosis.
These waves are also associated with the first phase of sleep when the sleep is light and the person easily wakes up. Basically, there are two classical directions in neurofeedback training. It is either focusing on low frequencies alpha or theta to strengthen relaxation and focus Gruzelier, or emphasizing on high frequencies low beta, beta, and theta for reinforcing activation, organizing, and inhibiting distractibility Ros et al. A suitable comparison between these two directions could be found at Thomas F.
Collura , and Kropotov studies. For example, in the former strategy eyes are closed while in the later one, eyes are open. Also, children are not involved in the first strategy while children and adult could undergo the second training procedure. Antisocial behavior of individuals, have an undesirable impact on the society. The neuro-feedback training has been widely used in the treatment of many diseases and disorders; some of which are mentioned below.
The resulting symptoms are inattention, distractibility, hyperactivity, and extreme dispassionateness. Neurofeedback therapy is a rehabilitation approach for its treatment. Its goal is to normalize the behavior without dependence on medications or behavioral therapy. But, recent research showed that these drugs do not have any effect on the clinical treatment of ADHD on some of children. Also, these drugs have the side effects such as anxiety, irritability, abdominal pain, decreased appetite, insomnia, and headache.
However, using neurofeedback is associated with their long-term improvement Yan et al. Studies showed that people with ADHD disorder have slower brain wave activity theta and less beta activity compared to normal people. People with schizophrenia have the illusion of auditory disorders, restlessness, non-flexible muscles, confusion, delirium, and depression.
Insomnia is known as an epidemic disorder. The first change observed in patients, who are treated with neuro-feedback training is the change and improvement in their sleep pattern. For example, the following process is used to improve sleep. One electrode is placed on and the treatment is done for 30 minutes at a frequency of 15—18 Hz.
This method makes the waking state, alert and active and assist people in waking up faster. The calmness treatment is done at frequencies of 12—15 Hz and in location. Using neurofeedback helps the people who normally take about an hour in order to prepare their body and mind for sleep, go to sleep faster.
Neurofeedback has created a big change in the treatment of these disorders. People having dyscalculia, are unable to understand and solve math problems. Temptation and craving of drugs could be reduced by neurofeedback in patients addicted to cocaine Horrell et al.
This treatment can also be used to treat alcoholism and addiction to computer games Moradi et al. Studies have shown that professional athletes have different patterns of brain activity compared to those of the beginners. Autistic spectrum disorder ASD is a neurodevelopmental disorder with challenges that maintain in adulthood. Children with autism have difficulty in functions such as social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, behavior and interests.
ASD may be associated with emotional problems, mental retardation, or seizure disorders. These children may also have extreme sensitivity to sounds and smells. Also, children with autism may show idiosyncratic behaviors, obsessive rumination, poor social interrelatedness, and flat affect.
Researchers found out that individuals with autism differ from normative samples with regard to impediments in empathy or theory of mind TOM tasks, weak central coherence, and executive functioning. Empathizing deficits are consistent with problems in reciprocating communication, difficulty in predicting thoughts and feelings of others, interpreting abstract emotions of others, and an appearance of social insensitivity.
Individuals with autism are also often seen to have interest in system details and pursue careers in engineering, construction, clocks, machines, puzzles, or computers, which are often obsessive interests in ASD Lucido, The goal of neurofeedback in children with autism is to inhibit theta-alpha ratio while enhancing beta wave.
Efficacy of neurofeedback in children diagnosed with autism has been well researched in qualitative case studies summarized in Table 7. In about one-third of patients with epilepsy, medical treatment is ineffective. Neurofeedback training was shown to be a good alternative treatment for these patients. Research has been focused on increasing SMR 12—15 Hz and synchronous or asynchronous reduction of slow rhythms 4—7 Hz for diagnosing this disorder.
Also, observing low-amplitude gamma wave after surgery is a good sign for the improvement of epilepsy. The results of studies on the treatment of epilepsy by neurofeedback indicated that continuous SMR treatment reduces the rate of seizures in severe and uncontrolled epilepsy Table 8 Hughes et al.
Summary of neurofeedback treatment studies on epilepsy that the results was the remission. Depression is associated with hypometabolism in the cingulate and occasionally in the frontal cortex, insula, anterior temporal cortices, amygdala, basal ganglia, and thalamus.
Along with the frontal electrophysiology findings in depression, there seems to be an inverse relationship between frontal alpha asymmetry and parietal asymmetries. More specifically, depressed patients who do not have significant anxiety, appear to have decreased right parietal activation alpha wave at P 4. In clinical medicine, anxiety is often defined, at least in part, as high level of muscle tension.
Researchers found out that decreasing frontal electromyogram EMG levels by EMG biofeedback could alleviate both generalized and specific anxiety patterns. It was believed that anxiety inhibits alpha waves, so alpha training would relieve the anxiety Budzynski, a ; Demos, ; Moore, Pain is considered a symptom associated with physical damage, purportedly having an objective element connected with the sensation.
Neurofeedback methodology proposes that by teaching self-regulation, a patient can reduce or even eliminate pain sensations. Studies suggested that brain changes its functional organization at the level of the somatosensory cortex in chronic pain patients. Meanwhile, artists and surgeons use neurofeedback to improve their music performance Markovska-Simoska et al.
Brain-computer interface systems BCI are widely used in clinical and research applications. Interaction with VE includes tasks such as navigating to modify the selection and manipulation of virtual objects. There are several examples of VE feedback games used in sports, puzzles, or trainings.
Nowadays, many universities and laboratories are trying to provide more interactions with the virtual world through the BCI. The game was designed to move an animated character in a 3D virtual environment. The purpose is to control the balance of an animated character on a thin rope, based on the EEG signals of a player.
Researchers provided two virtual buttons on the left and right sides of the VE. The participants were asked to gaze at either side to move the camera to the other side.
The detection enabled the system to identify the button at which the user gazed. Researchers at the University of Tokyo also worked on a system to keep the alertness level of car drivers. Accordingly, the BCI hearing system actively monitors the state of alertness of drivers and warns them when loss of consciousness occurs. They studied the response of the subjects in challenging situations Lecuyer et al. In this system, there are two graphical interfaces.
Having maintained the focus, dolphin intercepts a fish. When the number of trapped fish increases, it reflects advances in process of treatment. In this paper, we reviewed the clinical applications of neurofeedback, various protocols of treatment and some of the systems designs by BCI and VR technology. In neurofeedback, EEG is usually recorded, and various brain-activity components are extracted and feedbacked to subjects.
During this procedure, subjects become aware of the changes that occur during training and are able to assess their progress in order to achieve optimal performance.
Electrode placement is performed according to specific brain functions and specific symptoms. Considering information about these skull regions, the entire treatment process is simplified. VE is a human-computer interface system with which users can virtually move their viewpoint freely in real time. The purpose of using VE is to construct a virtual environment with natural interactivity and to create a real sensation from multimodality. Three-dimensional VR is much more attractive and interesting than most of two-dimensional environments.
To date, many studies have been conducted on the neuro-feedback therapy and its effectiveness on the treatment of many diseases. However, there are some methodological limitations and clinical ambiguities. For example, considering the alpha treatment protocols, there are some issues to deal with such as how many sessions are needed before participants can learn to exert an alert control over their own alpha waves, or how many sessions are needed before such training procedures produce the expected effect on the optimal performance, and how long the desired effects last without feedback long-term effects.
Thus, it is necessary to provide standard protocols to perform neurofeedback. Similar to other treatments, neurofeedback has its own pros and cons. Although it is a safe and non-invasive procedure that showed improvement in the treatment of many problems and disorders such as ADHD, anxiety, depression, epilepsy, ASD, insomnia, drug addiction, schizophrenia, learning disabilities, dyslexia and dyscalculia, its validity has been questioned in terms of conclusive scientific evidence of its effectiveness.
Moreover, it is an expensive procedure which is not covered by many insurance companies. It is also time-consuming and its benefits are not long-lasting. Conflicts of Interest:. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List Basic Clin Neurosci v. Basic Clin Neurosci. Hengameh Marzbani 1. Find articles by Hengameh Marzbani.
Hamid Reza Marateb 1. Find articles by Hamid Reza Marateb. Marjan Mansourian 2. Find articles by Marjan Mansourian. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract Neurofeedback is a kind of biofeedback, which teaches self-control of brain functions to subjects by measuring brain waves and providing a feedback signal.
Keywords: Brain diseases, Brain waves, Complementary therapies, Electroencephalography, Neurofeedback. Introduction Neurofeedback is not a new concept. Various Frequency Components Activities of cerebral neurons have rich information about neuronal activities. Table 1. Specific brainwaves with their characteristics.
Common brainwave frequency Frequency range Hz General characteristics Delta 1—4 Sleep, repair, complex problem solving, unawareness, deep-unconsciousness Theta 4—8 Creativity, insight, deep states, unconsciousness, optimal meditative state, depression, anxiety, distractibility Alpha 8—13 Alertness and peacefulness, readiness, meditation, deeply-relaxed Lower alpha 8—10 Recalling Upper alpha 10—13 Optimize cognitive performance SMR sensorimotor rhythm 13—15 Mental alertness, physical relaxation Beta 15—20 Thinking, focusing, sustained attention, tension, alertness, excitement High beta 20—32 Intensity, hyperalertness, anxiety Gamma 32— or 40 Learning, cognitive processing, problem solving tasks, mental sharpness, brain activity, organize the brain.
Open in a separate window. EEG Electrode Placement Electrodes placed on the scalp can record those cortical activities of the brain regions that are close to them. Figure 1. The 10—20 electrode placement system and the name of the skull regions. Table 2. Various Treatment Protocols 5. Table 3. Summary of studies using alpha protocol training. Abbreviation: EMG, Electromyogram. Table 4. Summary of studies using beta protocol training.
Abbreviation: SMR, Sensorimotor rhythm. Table 5. N eurofeedback is completely different because it serves to calm the central nervous system and at the same time enhance positive qualities. It gets the CNS to self-regulate so that negative symptoms dissipate. Once the brain has learned healthy patterns, it will continue operating in a healthy manner once you have stopped. She articulated so beautifully what happens to adults and kids after Neurofeedback all the time.
They become a better version of themselves because their brain can self-regulate. Our office has had children who are able to color for the first time and adults who stop being anxious after Neurofeedback. One mother shared that after only twelve sessions, her 9-year-old son could sit a play a board game for the first time in his life.
Recently, an adult was able to focus for the first time after unsuccessfully trying 12 medications. When you get the nervous system to self-regulate, the positive change can be quite dramatic or more subtle and take time. The other major benefit of Neurofeedback is that there are so few side effects whereas with medication there are many.
Neurofeedback also works synergistically with other holistic therapies and treatments. Shockingly one-third of all hospital admissions are due to medication side effects. Horribly, this wastes money wasted and causes unneeded suffering. With all the side effects associated with medications and a lack of long-term effectiveness Jensen et al. Because of how neurofeedback works, there are few, if any, side effects. Certain types of brainwave patterning are associated with a higher rate of temporary reactions, and your experienced practitioner should know how to address that.
Over-stimulated responses can make a person hyper, give them a headache or cause them to become irritated. On the other hand, it can cause them to be under-stimulated which shows in the form of being tired.
A simple protocol adjustment will stop any temporary side effects. Most practitioners use EEG Neurofeedback. How neurofeedback works is not related to any type of equipment or program compared to another. What makes one treatment better than another is the quality and experience of the practitioner. Look for a practitioner that is licensed mental health or is a medical provider and ideally who is also Board Certified in Neurofeedback BCN www.
If you are taking a child, going with someone who is a pediatric expert is the best way to support your child. Roseann is a Psychologist who works with children, adults, and families from all over the US, supporting them with research-based and holistic therapies that are bridged with neuroscience.
How Neurofeedback Works Differently From Medication N eurofeedback is completely different because it serves to calm the central nervous system and at the same time enhance positive qualities. Side Effects of Neurofeedback Because of how neurofeedback works, there are few, if any, side effects. To schedule an appointment call Previous Dr. Roseann is a speaker at the NRBS Search for:. Recent Posts.
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