NeurOptimal Neurofeedback Introduction Part 2

Learn more at:
http://clevelandneurofeedback.com/

You’re probably interested in what results you can anticipate from doing neurofeedback, but first let me tell you a little about coming to our office—what we’ll have you do in preparation, and what you will experience in your first session.

River’s Edge, where our office is located, is on a beautiful piece of land that backs up to the Rocky River Metropark on the west side of Cleveland. Lots of our clients like to come early or stay late to take a walk.

When you come for your first session, we’ll want to get to know you a bit, and have you fill out some paperwork before beginning your first neurofeedback session. Depending on your reason for trying neurofeedback, we usually ask you to fill in several assessment tools before you begin. There are a couple of reasons for this.

First, NeurOptimal is carefully designed to be training equipment, not diagnostic or evaluative equipment. People often ask, “Do you get some sort of readout at the end of a session that tells you how I am doing?”…and the answer is “No.” Our belief is that it doesn’t matter what the equipment could show us—what matters is whether your life is getting better. And so the assessment tools you will fill out at your first appointment give us a baseline: how you are feeling, and how you are experiencing your life before beginning neurofeedback. Then after 8 sessions we’ll have you re-do the assessment to see whether—and in what ways—you are experiencing an improvement in your life.

The second reason for doing a baseline assessment is that often, change happens so subtly that even if there has been a lot of change over 8 sessions, you may not notice it. You wake up every day feeling like yourself, but you don’t notice that your experience of “yourself” has changed. The baseline gives us an objective measure to add to your own subjective experience.

So now, with the assessments completed, it’s time for your first neurofeedback session. You’ll sit in a super-comfortable zero gravity chair, and can tip back as far as feels comfortable for you. I’ll attach several sensors to your scalp and ears. These enable to software to watch the electrical activity in your brain. NOTE: Nothing is going into your brain; the sensors are just recording the brain’s electrical activity. (Think of the sensors as being like a stethoscope, where nothing is being done TO your heart…it’s just enabling the doctor or nurse to hear the heart’s activity more clearly and precisely than would otherwise be possible.) In addition to the scalp and ear sensors,, you’ll also have earbuds so you can listen to the music that accompanies the program.

The sensors send the electrical signal through an amplifier, and down a cable to the computer, where the software watches your brain’s dynamical activity (if you didn’t see the previous video, basically that means the computer is watching your brain’s changing activity over time). When the computer detects turbulence, or “wobble” in your brain, the music interrupts for just a fraction of a second, causing your brain to alert, or come back to the present moment.

This is a very subtle process—the interruption sounds like a tiny bit of static. Most of the time your conscious mind won’t even hear it,,,but your brain learns to recognize that its own activity is triggering the interruptions, and from there it is an easy step for the brain to self-organize toward greater flexibility and resilience.

The session lasts just over half an hour. Most people find it profoundly relaxing, and come to the end of the session feeling very refreshed and eager to return the next week.

But, you ask, what about my anxiety or ADHD? Does this really help my symptoms improve? Click on the next short video for some information about outcomes we are seeing.