In my last post, “Your brain can do more than you think” I discussed the role of the unbalanced brain in eating disorders. But how do we treat the unbalanced brain. In the last 20 years we have been treating other disorders with “unbalanced brains” successfully with Neurotherapy or Neurofeedback.
Neurofeedback is a form of biofeedback which had its beginnings in the late 70’s when there was interest in helping people learn how to self regulate, simply biofeedback is the process of feeding back to us biological processes that are not considered under control so we can learn the process of self regulation. The best way to understand this process is to imagine that I asked you to lower your heart rate, you would look at me as if I was whacked. However if you were wearing a heart rate monitor your brain would figure out how to lower your heart rate by just having the feedback from the heart rate monitor, hence Biofeedback.
Neurofeedback is direct training of brain function, by which the brain learns to function more efficiently. We observe the brain in action from moment to moment. We show that information back to you. And we reward the brain for changing its own activity to more appropriate patterns. This is a gradual learning process. Neurofeedback is also called Neurotherapy or EEG Biofeedback, because it is based on electrical brain activity, the electroencephalogram, or EEG. Neurofeedback is training in self-regulation. It is simply biofeedback applied to the brain directly. Self-regulation is a necessary part of good brain function. Self-regulation training allows the system (the central nervous system) to function better. Neurofeedback addresses problems of brain dysregulation or an unbalanced brain.
With neurofeedback, our training is fun! You watch a movie. That’s it. That’s all you have to do! You will watch a movie for 40 minutes each session while hooked up to EEG equipment that plays when your brain function is within the therapeutic range. When it goes out of range, the movie pauses, which tells you that something is out of balance.
During the session program, your brain may subconsciously learn how to stop spiking out of range, and brain function improves. You learn how to optimize your brainwave activity the same way you learn other skills. The brain becomes better regulated.
Written by Rick A. Harris, Psy.D. With over 30 years as a clinical psychology he has been able to help people overcome the emotional barriers that prevent them from reaching their potential. He has had the opportunity to do this in various settings; private practice, hospitals and treatment centers. His interest in the mind body connection has helped him gain a better understanding of the complex interaction between the two and has contributed to the development of the Neurofeedback Institute. He was the cofounder in the mid 80’s of one of the first wellness centers that treated eating disorders; Changing Lifestyles.
