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Is Neurofeedback Safe?

Parent: This literally changes pathways in your brain, right? I keep thinking it seems like a great idea, but wonder if I should be changing my kid’s brain? I am having a small ethical dilemma… Is that ridiculous?

Is Neurofeedback (EEG biofeedback) safe?

 

Parent: This literally changes pathways in your brain, right? I keep thinking it seems like a great idea, but wonder if I should be changing my kid’s brain? I am having a small ethical dilemma… Is that ridiculous?

Wow, what a great question! Heck no, that is not ridiculous!

Background: neurofeedback is brainwave training, or biofeedback for the brain. Go back to your college years. Do you remember Pavlov and BF Skinner? We use the same techniques of operant and classical conditioning techniques, with the surface electrical activity of the brain. We teach clients how to regulate what is dysregulated in the electrical activity of the brain with rewards in the form of auditory beeps and visual stimuli.

Neurofeedback can be compared to physical therapy for the brain, a slow gradual process of healing. When my friend Cynthia tore her meniscus after a kickboxing fall, she went to physical therapy to gain mobility to the injured area of her leg. Whether we have post concussive syndrome, a traumatic brain injury from a fall, or we were born with a central nervous system that produces excess anxiety, difficulty focusing, depression, or difficulty organizing our lives, the cause is physiology. Neurofeedback teaches the person how to regulate the underlying physiology that creates symptoms, just like Cynthia’s physical therapist worked with her to heal her meniscus. If my child broke her arm, I would go to the doctor to treat the broken bone. It is no different in the brain. When issues such as ADHD, depression, learning disabilities, PTSD, TBI, epilepsy, depression or anxiety are present, they are hidden disabilities. We now have the ability to see the issue in a brain image and teach someone how to heal it.

Questions I have received over the years include “will it change my child’s brain?” Well, yes, it does create an optimization of the communication amongst networks, opening up communication that was “blocked.” Will it change your child’s personality, absolutely not. Will it change anything good about them? No way. Neurofeedback makes life easier. It metaphorically removes the roadblock, allowing what is really possible to take place. Research shows a nine to eleven point IQ gain after 40 sessions of neurofeedback. American Academy of Pediatrics names biofeedback as level 1 best support for ADHD. Do you still have questions? Great. Do the research. Ask the hard questions. Call or email us requesting a bibliography of research and research conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics. And, if you or your child has one of these issues, this researched based, painless, alternative to medication intervention can provide long lasting change.