Larsen Neurotherapy - NEUROTHERAPY

WHAT IS NEUROTHERAPY?

Neurotherapy, or EEG (electroencephalography) biofeedback, is the changing of atypical brain waves, moving the brain into more normal functioning.

Most commonly, an adult or child is shown information about their brain waves on a computer screen in a game format, and they learn how to make alterations in the height of the waves. When they move this height, or amplitude, into the desired range, they see the change, hear a beep, feel a vibration, and earn points. This "rewarding" of the brain increases the probability that the same change will happen again.

Besides making changes at individual locations, this same approach can be used improve connections between sites, which can sometimes be too tightly or loosely bound together.

With this type of neurotherapy system, a person is simply using information about the brain to make all the changes him or herself.

Another type of neurotherapy system uses very small blinking lights to effect changes in the brain. In this case the client doesn't need to do anything but sit with his eyes closed, wearing glasses with the lights in them. The almost invisible lights blink somewhat faster than the EEG, entraining, or gently pulling it into faster activity. This procedure is a useful addition to the first type of system described and is particularly good for people who are very fatigued, such as people with brain injuries.

WHAT ARE "ATYPICAL" BRAIN WAVES & WHO BENEFITS FROM NEUROTHERAPY?

Most often, atypical, or abnormal, brain waves are slow waves that are too large. We want our slow waves to be big when we are sleeping, but not when we are awake and trying to problem solve, concentrate, or just deal with daily activities.

Excessive slow waves are seen in common problems such as attention deficit disorder (with or without hyperactivity), learning disabilities, depression, and brain injuries.

Sometimes the fast waves are too large, as in anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Other difficulties associated with abnormal brain waves that can be improved with neurotherapy are sleep problems, tics, aggression, fatigue, anger, reduced emotional control, lack of motivation, autism, bipolar disorder, migraines, premenstrual syndrome, seizures, and multiple chemical sensitivity.

The specifics of how neurotherapy is done are very simple. Two or three clips are put on the ears and a small, cup shaped electrode is placed on the scalp to read the EEG, just as a thermometer reads temperature. This "active" electrode is placed at a particular location, or site, on the head (the pattern of sites is determined by the "International 10-20 System", accepted by neurologists around the world). The brain waves are amplified so they become large enough to be seen and displayed on a computer screen.