What Is Neurofeedback

Neurofeedback is a type of biofeedback that trains subjects to control their brain functions independently, measuring their brain waves and providing feedback signals. Neurofeedback, a form of biofeedback, begins by measuring the brain’s electrical activity through non-invasive EEG. By placing electrodes on your scalp, you can record the electrical activity of your brain, known as an EEG. The EEG is typically recorded in neurofeedback, with different brain activity components extracted and fed back to the subjects. Neurofeedback helps you re-align your brain waves naturally (without drugs).

The purpose of neurofeedback is to train the brain to self-regulate and help the trained individual learn when their brain is in the desired state. Using neurofeedback, the brain learns how to regulate its activities through playing games or watching videos, which are part of a training program. Neurofeedback helps guide the brain to alter how it reacts to stimuli that disrupt our physical or psychological balance.

Neurofeedback protocols are explicitly tailored to your unique symptoms and brain working patterns. Knowing what parts of your brain need training is essential, so neurofeedback is best done with a trained provider in a controlled setting.

Neurofeedback practice is beneficial to patients with depression and self-regulation. Neurofeedback training has helped 68.2% of patients with a head injury to improve 5 out of 15 areas of their brain function.

With training and neurofeedback techniques, patients may learn to enhance and strengthen their brainwave patterns to utilize more dominant, faster brainwaves, which are necessary for concentration, organization, and following through. Because the techniques patients learn in neurofeedback training reinforce and build their capacity for self-generated symptom reduction, it is a skill and capability that they can maintain long after their therapy is complete. As patients finish their neurofeedback treatments, they learn the techniques and exercises needed to strengthen their brains and achieve their cognitive potential.

Athletes also use neurofeedback to improve concentration, reduce stress, and improve their performance. With learning disabilities, or problems with attention and focus, like those of attention deficit disorder, neurofeedback treatments can help specific areas of the brain to make focus easier, leading to improved learning and performance at school and work. Research in the last 40 years has shown that neurofeedback can be very effective at changing the dysregulation of the brain through principles of neuroplasticity without using drugs. Neurofeedback has been used for traumatic brain injury (TBI) treatment, both for military personnel and for civilian populations.

Neurofeedback uses QEEG and brain mapping to determine areas of the patient’s brainwaves that need training in order to decrease symptoms of PTSD. Neurofeedback is a brain-based (cognitive) training technique that teaches you to identify counterproductive patterns of brain activity, so you can intentionally interrupt them and replace them with healthier, more balanced patterns of brain activity. Neurofeedback is a non-invasive treatment that uses the power of neuroplasticity to help you build a more harmonious brain activity orchestra, which includes an optimum balance between lower-frequency brainwave and medium- and higher-frequency patterns. Neurofeedback treatments may help decrease symptoms by changing how your brain communicates and optimizing the activity in specific brain regions.

One of the most significant benefits of neurofeedback treatment is that it does not involve using prescription drugs or any kind of external stimulation to your brain. The primary benefit of neurofeedback therapy is that it helps your brain learn how to self-soothe, making it easier for you to tap into the coping strategies you already have or develop new ones.

During neurofeedback sessions, your brain trains you how to shift abnormally quick or slow waves back to normal ranges. A neurofeedback practitioner measures the detectable electrical signals, typically using an electroencephalograph (EEG) device. The brain’s electrical activity is usually collected by sensors placed on the scalp using electroencephalography (EEG). The feedback is presented using a video display or audio.

Biofeedback is a treatment process based on measuring and training different processes and functions of the body, such as the temperature of your hands and pulse. At the same time, neurofeedback is focused on what is happening inside your brain. This treatment can improve your attention, mood, sleeping habits, and even athletic abilities by measuring the brain’s activity and showing us–either on a screen or via headphones–in real time.

Get in touch with Raynor Counseling if you have any questions or queries.