Neurofeedback is a type of mind-body therapy under the umbrella of biofeedback. It is noninvasive and specifically uses electroencephalograph readings, among other methods, to detect brain waves and affect brain activity.
What Is Neurofeedback Therapy?
Neurofeedback therapy is a noninvasive procedure that measures a patient’s brainwaves and provides the patient with real-time feedback about how the brain is functioning. It’s a type of biofeedback, which is a mind-body technique that aims to help patients gain voluntary control over certain body functions that are typically involuntary (such as heart rate, muscle contraction or brainwaves). Biofeedback uses electronic instruments to convey to the patient certain physiological processes happening in their body that they are typically not aware of.
Neurofeedback therapy, in particular, is used to help teach self-control of brain functions by indicating to patients how their brains react to certain triggers. Over time, patients learn to recognize when their brain is in a certain state. Then, they can learn to recreate the desired state, such as relaxation, or avoid undesired states, such as agitation, in their daily lives.
“By seeing how the brain responds to different visual, video, or auditory stimuli, through observing EEG tracings or a visualization of those, it’s believed that the brain can be trained on what it needs to do to achieve the healthier patterns,” says Caroline Carney M.D., chief medical officer at Magellan Health, a health care company based in Arizona.
How Does Neurofeedback Therapy Work?
Neurofeedback therapy attempts to help the patient control their brainwaves consciously. It does this by measuring specific brainwaves, depending on the issue being treated. For example, alpha waves are associated with peacefulness, readiness, meditation and being deeply-relaxed, while beta waves are characterized by focus, sustained attention, tension, alertness and excitement. Therefore, alpha waves are typically targeted to treat conditions like stress and anxiety, while the beta waves are targeted to improve characteristics like attention and focus, which are associated with ADHD.
Neurofeedback therapy monitors your brain for brainwave activity and almost immediately provides feedback, often through visual or audio cues. For example, the therapy administrator might have you watch something on a screen while measuring your beta waves. When you manifest beta waves, the screen brightens in response; if you inhibit the beta waves, the screen dims. The goal is to provide you with enough reinforcement that you try to repeat your behavior in order to get the reward (i.e a brighter screen) again.
What Neurofeedback Therapy Can Help With
As listed in the neurofeedback therapy section, there are several ways that neurofeedback therapy can be helpful. For example, if you’re looking for help with a specific condition, you definitely need to research to make sure that the doctor that you’re interested in visiting specializes in neurofeedback therapy for that condition.
This therapy is also constantly being researched; however, these are the main conditions for which people tend to seek out neurofeedback therapy:
- ADHD
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Insomnia
- Migraines
- Addiction
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Low energy
- Anger control
Benefits of Neurofeedback Therapy
The biggest benefit of neurofeedback therapy is that it can display the inner workings of the brain. This can display reactions to things that you weren’t consciously aware of, which can help you identify unhelpful behaviors and work to change them.
Another benefit of neurofeedback therapy is that it shows your brain’s reactions in real-time. This allows you to understand your reactions better and to see them from an unbiased source. This is particularly good for those that struggle with anger management as they can often be sensitive to outside input.
