Thought Technology for Biofeedback
EEG – (encepholography) – is often called biofeedback and is a non-invasive, painless, non-pharmaceutical method of teaching you to become aware of your body processes and to help you learn to change them. It works with the brain in the same way that weight lifting works to build muscles and strength through repetition and increased difficulty. It is as effective for adults and the elderly as it is for children, both challenged and gifted. Biofeedback does not doing anything to you. The equipment acts as a mirror to show you what you are doing. You have to change your mind-set and the graphs show you exactly what is happening.
It usually takes a minimum of 5-10 sessions to see measurable improvement, but many people begin to notice progress almost immediately. A new behavior must be practiced in order to become a habit or skill, like kicking a goal or playing a musical instrument or calming our thoughts.
Benefits derived from training with biofeedback include, improved cognitive performance and motor skills, reduced hyperactivity, normalises sleep, anxiety and depression, improved memory and happier disposition. Over-all it is about learning self-regulation with the immediate assistance of the graphs on screen to measure your progress. It is very empowering for a client to discover that they are able to decrease or raise their brainwave patterns through conscious control. Clients are encouraged to write down their own scores as an incentive to keep them moving in the desirable direction.
There are different screens we use for adults and children and have the choice of changing the screen during the session either to keep interest or show the progress in a different way. For example, we may begin training a child wih ADHD and find that during the sesson his tendency to wander off the given task is reflected in the graphs therefore we change the screen to re-new interest and complete the session. However, with all ADHD children it is easy to keep attention on a new 'game' but the object of the exercise is to train them to retain focus and attention when confronted by a 'boring' task. Once they understand they are in control, it is amazing how such children come to enjoy this challenge due to the way we use complementary methods whilst they are engaged with their biofeedback training.
For executives, athletes or sports persons, feeling stressed out by high demands upon them, we suggest training for mental flexibility and control of the physiological measures reflecting alertness, muscle tension and breathing. The training first of all emphasises how to be fully externally focused and problem solving even when the situation is less stimulating; then practice is necessary to remain highly alert and relaxed while they imagine dealing with their daily challenges without succumbing to a stressful mind-set.
One of the latest scientific results is mentioned in the BMC Neurscience July 2009 makes reference to a study that found neurofeedback training for self regulation made significant improvement in surgical technique of the participating trainee eye surgeons whilst also considerably reducing the time they spend performing the surgery.
It It must be noted that biofeedback is not a panacea nor instant fix. It is a complimentary tool that when combined with the appropriate interventions and professional skills, produces powerful results. It is not intended to treat or diagnose any disease or disorder, nor replace any medical advice or treatments.