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What is Neurofeedback?

Neurofeedback is a Brain Exercise

It is a non-drug, non-invasive reward-based training system for your brain. Think of it as physical therapy for the brain.

Brain training with treadmill running flat design.

The brain needs healthy amounts of fast-moving and slow-moving brain waves in order for it to function in the most optimum way. Neurofeedback, a form of biofeedback, works to change the electrical activity of your brain. It is a non-invasive treatment that works towards improving the source of your unwanted symptoms. By placing electrodes on various regions of the brain, we observe your brain from moment to moment.

 

We show you your brain activity, your brain observes itself and is directed to increase self-regulation and relaxation– which are both very necessary for good brain function. The technology helps the brain figure out what is missing and what is needed. It teaches the brain to become more adaptive and efficient.  It is completely painless and there are no electrical currents going through a person’s brain.

How does Neurofeedback work?

Neurofeedback works by using technology that monitors your brain wave activity and then sends the feedback to your brain. There are different ways in which this feedback is received by you. It can involve playing a game, listening to music, watching a video, and tactile stimulation.

We show you your brain activity and we help you change it by rewarding the shifts towards a more functional and stable brain state.

The specific brain wave frequencies we reinforce and the sensor locations are unique to each individual. The stimuli only operate smoothly when your brain waves are functioning within an optimum range. This is the reward the brain wants. When the brain wave firing is not optimum the movie stops or there is a visual disturbance on the screen (negative feedback). This tells your brain that something is out of balance and causes it to figure it out and return to a seamless experience.

Course of the training program
How does Neurofeedback work

Over the course of the training program, the brain is learning and holding the changes. The brain has an amazing capacity to change itself – a process known as neuroplasticity. We now know that a brain can be changed at any age provided we give it the right stimulation. Your brain learns to do better from the feedback, identical to how your abs get strengthened the more sit-ups you do. Neurofeedback is a powerful tool for brain workouts. Since the brain is the CEO of the body, when we teach it to change it’s firing patterns, brain function improves.

Neurofeedback allows the brain to become unstuck and start the self-healing process. It allows the various regions of the brain to communicate with each other more effectively so that the whole brain becomes much more regulated. Neurofeedback allows us to target and strengthen key brain circuits with real-time feedback.

It helps the brain re-wire itself via the gentle “nudging” it receives from the technology.

Neurofeedback – Why do we not hear about it?

The initial research with Neurofeedback was done by Dr. Joe Kamiya at the U. of Chicago in 1966 and Dr. Barry Sterman at UCLA in 1967. There are over 1500 research articles on Neurofeedback. Even though Neurofeedback has been around for almost 40 years, most medical schools and graduate schools of psychology do not have any courses on EEG biofeedback. This is very identical to how most medical schools still do not have any courses on basic nutrition for doctors.  Additionally, physicians and health care professionals are unfamiliar with neurofeedback technology because there’s no large industry such as the pharmaceutical industry that benefits from educating physicians about it.

Neuro feed back
A physician attaches components of an early “electroencephotograph” machine to a woman’s head in Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 18, 1935. The machine records the electrical changes which take place in the human brain during periods of rest, and activity, and the record appears as a wave pattern written on tape. BETTMAN/GETTY
Pharmacology

Pharmacology has become the mainstream way to treat all brain conditions, and major drug companies spend billions of dollars in marketing their medications. The negative side effects that many of our patients experience from the psychotropic medications is what brings them to us for Neurofeedback. It is true that our brains are regulated by both biochemistry and electrical activity.

By teaching the brain to observe itself and providing some alternatives to it, the brain becomes an organ that learns how to heal itself. The neurocircuitry in the brain can adjust the neurochemistry. Our bodies can be miraculous when we give them the healing path to follow.

 

When the brain is regulated, calm, and focused, then the body falls into its natural state of health.

Our Mission and Vision

  • Integrative brain health
  • Non- medication approach
  • Science-based, noninvasive neurofeedback
  • The brain has the capacity to heal & optimize itself
  • Warm + comprehensive care

Dr. Kakaiya, the founder of Healthy Within, is a Psychologist and a Neuroscientist who has been practicing since 1985. Healthy Within’s core foundation is in Integrative Care. Being a seasoned clinician who was practicing before SSRI’s hit the market 35 years ago, Dr. Kakaiya sees the debilitating side effects of psychotropic medications on the health of people. Having a Postdoctoral Masters of Science in Psychopharmacology gives Dr. K the skilled knowledge required to optimize brain performance.

Dr. Kakaiya
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