Case Studies
Anxiety
At the Center for Cognitive Enhancement we use a model of disorders that sees stress as the underlying cause of most problems. Stressors interacting with genetic factors elicit symptoms that reflect the weakest aspect of each person's psychophysiology. As human beings we experience stress as a consequence of thoughts and feelings rather than particular events. Being fired from a job may be stressful to one person and liberating to another. As children we learn ways of thinking, feeling, and doing which become automatic and which we carry into adulthood unexamined. These ways of being in the world can often be dysfunctional and result in behaviors that are self-defeating as we try to navigate the social order and meet our basic human needs. By the time we reach a therapist's office we are usually in a state of crises due to the long-term consequences of constant anxiety.Our job at CCE is to reduce anxiety, help individuals get in touch with their bodies and emotions, and help them renegotiate new ways of being in the world that generate positive experiences for them. The technologies we utilize for this are cutting edge and include Neurofeedback, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), Systematic Desensitization, and Hypnosis. Our results are fairly rapid with regard to initial symptoms and we believe more effective with regard to long term outcomes than most other approaches we have encountered.
Anxiety: In a society where stress is a constant companion anxiety reigns supreme among disorders. Conservative estimates place its incidence in the population at 25%, with 19% of men and 31% of women experiencing severe symptoms. Contemporary research on stress indicates it may be behind a wide variety of physical disorders ranging from hypertension to irritable bowel syndrome. Anxiety disorders include Panic Attacks, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.Case Study: The client was a female, middle aged, with a teenage son. She was experiencing constant anxiety attacks, could not sleep, and was unable to work or function at home. She was experiencing racing thoughts that were delusional and constantly revolved around her failure to help her son who has OCD. After performing a biodiagnostic interview and a QEEG brainmap, we had her doctor prescribe her 100mgs of Zoloft and began training her with neurofeedback and Audio Visual Entrainment (AVE). By session four she had exceeded her baseline goals in the alpha frequency and experienced a dramatic reduction in symptoms. By session five her meds were reduced by 50% and she was able to concentrate at work again. By session eight her meds were reduced 50% again she was sleeping well, and was having profound insights into the issues that precipitated the panic attacks. By session ten she was preparing to reduce her meds another 50%, was reporting that she felt relaxed and happy, and that things were going well at home and work.
Research Available: Anxiety was one of the first disorders treated with neurofeedback by Joe Kamiya at the University of Chicago back in the 60's. Both state and trait anxiety have been documented to be reduced by alpha training with neurofeedback. Numerous other group studies have been conducted with similar results since then and a great number of case studies as well.
Depression
Depression is probably the second most common psychological disorder in the general public and may affect around 15% of the population. From our experience we find depression to be a state of psychological exhaustion resulting from a mix of chronic anxiety and anger. Symptoms include racing thoughts, profound lethargy, insomnia, lack of interest and motivation, entrenched negative thought patterns, anxiety, excessive crying, hopelessness and profound guilt. Depression is more difficult to treat than anxiety because once we get a person out of their depression, they also have to deal with their anxiety and the underlying fears that drive it.Case Study: Clair was 46 years old and doing well at her job, but was lonely and found her life was flat and boring. She had been overweight and depressed since she was a teenager, suffered irritable bowel syndrome, experienced frequent numbness on one side of her face, and had been on Paxil for years. Her EMG (Electromyographic) readings indicated her muscle tension was so high from stress that it caused spasms and numbness in various parts of her body and was responsible for the numbness in her face. After ten sessions of alpha training and EMG training her numbness went away. SMR (Sensory Motor Rhythm) training for ten more sessions helped her sleep better and feel more relaxed, By session 24 she was having good days and reporting considerable improvement in her mood. We began beta training at F3 to help her increase her concentration and attention and by session 32 she cut her Paxil dosage 50%. As she continued to work with us she began taking more workshops and redecorating her house. By session 50 she was off her Paxil, dating, and enjoying her life more every day. A year later Clair continues to enjoy her life without the need for Paxil.
Research: The research on depression in this field continues to be with small clinical samples and case studies. Interventions vary as much as clients. Most depressions respond to parietal alpha training, but recent more efficient protocols have emerged and been reported in the Journals by J.P. Rosenfeld involving bilateral training with alpha. Depression often takes longer to deal with because of the underlying anxiety involved, and the more chronic (endogenous) the depression, the more numerous the sessions.
Audio Testimonial
"Living with Depression is like trying to find your way through a thick foggy night..."After starting neurofeedback, this client has seen improvements in his job function and ability to focus, and is no longer held back by Depression
Listen to: Depression & Neurofeedback Testimonial
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD)
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD) affects about 5% of the population by conservative estimates and burdens adults as well as children. Various brain-scanning techniques including PET and SPECT scans indicate reduced metabolic activity in the frontal lobes. QEEG brainmaps also find a reduction in EEG activity in the frontal area of the brain. This excessive slow wave activity reduces the individual's ability to control and inhibit the brain and related nervous system activity. Impulsivity in motor and attentional centers of the brain results in impulsive behaviors and inappropriate responses to situations due to lost information during communications and general information gathering processes. Individuals are always trying to piece together what is going on after events and communications take place because they often lose key pieces of information. Consequently their performance suffers greatly in most contexts. They experience the world as overwhelming and over-critical of their actions. Children with ADD usually suffer from low self-esteem, anxiety, and often depression.
Case Study: Ron was 14 years old and on 10mgs of Ritalin three times a day. Other medications had proven ineffective. He was acting out in class, oppositional with parents and teachers, forgetting books and assignments, having difficulty staying on task when reading, and suffering from comprehension and memory problems. He was also hanging around the kids who were in trouble at school all the time and his parents were concerned he would get into more trouble and become involved with drugs. Ron received 26 sessions of neurofeedback while his parents received training in parenting skills at the same time. His sessions included 8 sessions of alpha training to reduce his anxiety and oppositional nature followed by 18 sessions of beta training to increase the amount of activity and speed of processing in the frontal lobes. He was conditioned to increase beta while reading a textbook. By the fifth session Ron reported that his friends didn't like him anymore because he was different; too calm and unresponsive to their fooling around. He started hanging out with a nicer crowd of kids. His parents noticed changes in his behavior at home around the same time. By session 15 he was on 5mgs of Ritalin and his classroom behavior and schoolwork were improving. His anger and oppositional behavior had diminished to the point where it was no longer a problem. By session 24 he was off the Ritalin and a one year follow up found that he was still doing well and not on Ritalin.Research: The research on ADHD is plentiful and well designed. Many group studies have been done and several clinics doing neurofeedback have large client databases to support their claims. The research indicates that neurofeedback is effective in 60-70% of cases. The milder the symptoms, the more effective it seems to be. Most cases require about 30 sessions of neurofeedback but difficult cases can require twice as many sessions. Few MDs, psychologists, and professional health people are aware of the existing studies or the clinical outcome studies of this intervention.
Audio Testimonial
A mother of an ADHD child discusses the changes she sees in her son after starting neurofeedback trainingListen to: ADD & Neurofeedback Testimonial