Neurofeedback: Disorders

Neurofeedback focuses on the underlying cognitive brain functions to improve brain-processing. The Neurofeedback procedure focuses on issues that include:

• ADHD/ADD
• Addiction (Substance Abuse)
• Autism
• Anxiety/Panic Disorder
• Depression
• Learning Disabilities
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

ADHD
Neurofeedback is being utilized more commonly today in treating individuals who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Neurofeedback, which is based on theories that recognize the organic basis of ADHD, utilizes biofeedback to guide individuals to regulate their brain activity. Neurofeedback relies on research that has demonstrated that most individuals who have ADHD, as compared to matched peers, have excess slow wave activity and reduced fast wave activity. It provides immediate feedback to the individual about his or her brain wave activity in the form of a video game, whose action is influenced by the individual's meeting predetermined thresholds of brain activity. Over several sessions of using the video and auditory feedback, individuals reduce their slow wave activity and/or increase their fast wave activity. Individuals who complete a course of training sessions often show reduced primary ADHD symptoms. Research has shown that Neurofeedback outcomes compare favorably to those of stimulant medication.

As reported recently by Reuters News, "Neurofeedback can help children with ADHD according to a group of Swiss and German researchers. Impaired control of attention is a core problem in ADHD. Neurofeedback is aimed at learning how to regulate cortical activation in order to induce better attentional control, and thereby improve a main symptom directly."
Link to Article

Addiction
A study conducted by the department of Family Practice and Community Health, Medical School, found that Neurofeedback was successful in treatment for addiction in adults and promising as a treatment modality especially those with stimulant abuse and attention and conduct problems.

Alcohol Addiction
An EEG Spectrum International case study demonstrated that after a completion of 10 SMR sessions, a 42 year-old male with 28 years of alcohol abuse and depression, reported that he no longer craved alcohol. Depression also lessened after two weeks of treatment.