Therapeutic Applications of Neurofeedback

Neurofeedback is a powerful technique that can train the brain toward better function. Improved functioning means relief for many - i.e. migraine sufferers have no more headaches, insomniacs fall asleep easily, autistic children relate to others. What we've discovered is that disregulation of brain function is a core issue in many disorders.

The following are thumbnail summaries of our own clinical experience, and that of other Neurofeedback therapists, with various conditions. In session, we invite the brain into conversation with itself through our external feedback loops. Then, the brain self-corrects. By doing this, the brain learns and changes. Then, so does our experience of being in the world. Read more...


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Coma Recovery

Remarkably, it is possible to use Neurofeedback techniques to help people come out of the coma state and to help those labeled as being in "persistent vegetative state." We have made a dreadful error in concluding that if a person had no motor output function then he was ipso facto also unable to process sensory inputs. Again, the new imaging techniques have shown us the error of our ways. It is actually quite remarkable that this has taken so long, but in September 2006 we now have the first evidence from imaging of a coma patient responding in brain activity to the command to "imagine yourself playing tennis."

Of course not all people in vegetative states exhibit such an ability, but the point is that some do, and that has implications for recovery. Neurofeedback takes the empirical approach, since functional imagery is not usually available. The person is reinforced in certain kinds of brain activity, and if there is a response, then indeed the brain must have been attentive to the information.

For what has gradually come to be hundreds of people in coma, a one or two-day trial of Neurofeedback has been sufficient to bring people to consciousness. Percentage of success is not an issue here. The fact that this happens at all is remarkable all by itself. This work has literally been going on for decades. Medical observers of these recoveries would always treat them as isolated events or as spontaneous recoveries, but when viewed collectively they must be seen as indicating a substantial recovery capacity that can be systematically appealed to.

The coma recovery process also tells us something about Neurofeedback, which is that consciousness is not necessary to achieve the result. Our conversation is really with the brain, and the person at issue just has to bring his eyeballs and ears and make the brain available to train. So, we now know to a certainty that even the brain in coma may be able to appraise and react to the environment, and may be in a position to process information provided through Neurofeedback. Remarkable.

 
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