Portland Neurofeedback

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Neurofeedback training is used for issues of attention (ADD/ADHD), focus, memory, motivation, depression, anxiety, PTSD, sleep disorders, brain injury, migraines, seizures, PMS, chronic pain, autism, and many other conditions.
Neurofeedback, or EEG biofeedback, is a non-invasive and scientifically-proven therapy that trains the brain and central nervous system to function more efficiently. Like conditioning muscles at the gym, Neurofeedback enhances brain flexibility and stability. The therapy allows the brain to strengthen its own neurological connections. This has a desirable effect on the brain's bioelectrical and biochemical communication. Once the brain has learned how to better self-regulate, the changes are generally maintained throughout life.
During a session, sensors are placed on the patient's scalp with a type of "paste" that enables the sensors to pick up the electrical signal that the brain is generating. A computer reads the brain waves which are displayed to the patient in the form of a computer "game." The patient receives visual and auditory feedback guiding the brain towards more efficient brain-wave patterns. The brain is very adaptable, and likes to get the visual and auditory feedback of its own performance. The game provides rewards for the brain so that it knows when it has achieved a good balance of brain-wave activity. This self-regulation process occurs mostly on an unconscious level; therefore, it's not necessary to "try" to make the changes happen. The patient can sit back and enjoy "playing" the computer game without any joystick while the brain gets invaluable information for improved performance.

The benefits of Neurofeedback extend beyond what may be primarily affecting the patient. This is one of the few therapies in which the side effects are also desirable - they include improvements in: mood, sleep, productivity, alertness and calmness. Like learning any new skill, repetition is necessary to learn to be good at what you'd like to do. This therapy is helping the brain to create more efficient neural communication. Therefore, the brain needs repetition in order to learn and maintain its new skills. The most beneficial use of Neurofeedback training suggests a course of 20 sessions (in more difficult cases 40 or more may be needed). Training twice per week allows for sustained learning and better results over the course of the therapy. Each session typically runs 30 minutes. Improvements are experienced by the patient within the first few sessions.
Neurofeedback training is also used to achieve better performance by optimizing brain function in the already high-functioning individual. Peak-performance training is beneficial for professionals of all kinds, including performers, athletes, writers, and speakers. The brain learns how to be calm and relaxed with improved focus and motivation, even while under stressful situations.
Alpha/Theta training, called "deep state" training, is another application of Neurofeedback. This therapy allows for the safe resolution of past traumas and stuck emotional issues, as well as aiding addiction recovery. The training gently guides the brain into a very relaxed state where it can safely process, release and change undesirable patterns. The effects include a greater sense of well-being and personal freedom, and increased energy and creativity.

How does Neurofeedback work?
A healthy nervous system has good self-regulation. This means that it is flexible and balanced with appropriate responses to its environment and what's being demanding of it. For example, the brain calms down before bed so that sleep occurs easily, and it becomes focused and alert when concentration is required. The brain creates appropriate responses with its complex electrical activity operating within a system of timed neurological events. If this timing system is not working properly, different areas of the brain are functioning with inappropriate levels of activity, or arousal. This creates a state of dysregulation in which various symptoms develop, i.e. anxiousness, depression, over-sensitivity to pain, difficulty paying attention, insomnia, lack of motivation, irritability, etc. In normal functioning, when the whole brain is at a very low level of arousal, a person is sleeping. On the other end of the spectrum, when the brain is in a very high state of arousal, a person is experiencing a flight-or-fight response and feeling terror or rage. Dysregulated areas of the brains display patterns of arousal that are often too high (i.e. anxiety, anger, fear), too low (i.e. depression, lethargy, foggy thinking) or a combination of both (instability).
Neurofeedback is a powerful tool which trains the brain to regulate its own level of arousal, allowing it to continually return to balanced timing and more optimal functioning on the unconscious, autonomic level. The EEG reflects four primary brain-wave frequencies produced by the brain: beta, alpha, theta and delta. During the training, specific areas of the brain learn to produce more of the desirable brain-wave frequencies (i.e. beta) and less of the undesirable ones (i.e. theta). The training protocols are specifically tailored to each person's unique nervous system.
With commitment to the process, the end result is the alleviation and remediation of symptoms. Neurofeedback training is transformational work that allows one's essential self to emerge. It is a tool for both discovering and recovering one's true self and the ability to engage more fully in life with all of its joys and demands.
Frank H. Duffy, M.D., Professor and Pediatric Neurologist at Harvard Medical School, stated in an editorial in the January 2000 issue of the journal Clinical Electroencephalography that the scholarly literature suggests that Neurofeedback should play a major therapeutic role in many difficult areas.