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What is brain biofeedback?
A few electrodes are pasted on your scalp. They transfer information about the tiny electrical impulses (brainwave patterns) occurring in your brain. That information is fed to a computer that presents that pattern of activity to you in a visual display. That display may be a graph or a game. Based on the problems you experience from your current brain wave pattern, your professional chooses a program that teaches your brain a new pattern. That program will provide an audio and visual reward only when your brain waves begin to change to the desired frequency. In continued sessions, you practice repeating these brain wave frequencies until your brain repeats the desired frequencies on its own.	This is an overhead view of excessive slow brainwaves in the frontal lobes of a 15 year old with ADD when she was trying to concentrate on a task. The orange represents a concentration of slow brain waves.
How does neurofeedback change the way I function? Each person's brain has varying brain wave frequency patterns. Fast waves are good for processing information. Slow waves are good for relaxation and stillness. The wrong frequencies in certain areas of the brain cause tension, impulsivity, anxiety, lack of control, obsessive thinking, depression and sleep problems, for example. Many people with ADD, for example, have excess slow wave activity in the front of the brain. It slows down concentration, focusing and decision making. When we teach their brains to produce faster frequencies in the frontal lobes, they are able to focus on reading, math and other projects until they complete them. They are calmer, can sit and read longer and sleep more deeply. At the opposite end of the spectrum, folks with excess high frequency brainwaves may be anxious, overreactive and jumpy. They may have trouble falling asleep and may be attracted to drugs or alcohol to get relief. They may be prone to migraines or irritable bowel problems. These clients may find themselves finally being able to slow down enough to take that vacation. They may begin sleeping better and drinking and smoking a lot less. Overreactive kids may find that they are playing more cooperatively and have more friends. Teachers will often say, "What happened to your child? He (or she) is a different person!" (Most parents don't tell teachers in advance. They wait to see what teachers notice.) What we notice is that ALL of our kids who attend neurofeedback sessions consistently, experience a change in grades from D's and E's to A's & B's. 75% of our kids go from suspension to the honor roll.	This is the same child's brain during a task after neurofeedback treatment. Slow wave activity is reduced by 50%! Read more about neurofeedback for ADHD: "ADD, The 20- Hour Solution" by Mark Steinberg & Siegfried Othmer "Symphony in the Brain" by Jim Robbins "Change your Brain, Change your Life", by Daniel Amen, MD back to top
Is any electricity sent to the brain? Absolutely none. The electrodes are tiny "listening cups" that pick up electrical pulses on the scalp coming from the brain. That info is fed away from the brain to an amplifying unit that magnifies those tiny signals about a million times and sends those magnified signals to the computer as digital information. Selected digital information is transformed into signals that produce a visual pattern and that feed auditory sounds. You see the computer screen display and hear the auditory sounds when your brain is producing the selected frequencies. When your brain is not producing the desired frequencies, the visual display stops and the sound discontinues. The brain learns quickly how to produce this rewarding feedback. At least 20 sessions of practicing helps the brain learn how to go to these frequencies on its own. For some people this is enough practice to make the change permanent. For others, they need up to 40 sessions for the brain change to be permanent. Older people may require a few "touch up" sessions every year or so to maintain their change.
Is it painful? No. And at my office we are very careful not to even mess up your hair.
Are there any negative side effects? Studies have been done over thirty years with thousands of patients and no reports of negative side effects. As with anything involving the brain, we are extremely careful to err on the side of caution rather than speed. Exercising the brain is akin to exercising any of the body's muscles, the first time might produce a mild headache (for about 15% of clients) but after the brain gets used to changing frequency it adapts quite well. We believe in tiny incremental frequency adjustments in our target goals. That usually produces significant change.
What changes should I expect? You should expect such rewarding changes as improved organization ability, great motivation, improved mood and increased energy. Most people are able to sleep better, gain increased control of their appetite and addictive spending. They begin remembering information they had long since forgotten. Productivity, clarity of thinking, behavior control and creative problem solving causes most patients to be quite enthusiastic about neurofeedback.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121635345/abstract??CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal
by Les Fehmi and Jim Robbins

The Healing Power of Neurofeedback
by Stephen Larsen, Ph.D.

Getting Rid of Ritalin: How Neurofeedback Can Successfully Treat Attention Deficit Disorder Without Drugs
by Robert W. Hill and Eduardo Castro