Anxiety

Anxiety affects us all to some degree. Occasional worry and stress are just part of everyday life. But when these problems get out of control, that’s when anxiety thrives. Anxiety is basically worry and stress on steroids.

 

Anxiety includes symptoms such as excessive worrying, overactive sense of fear, restlessness, overly emotional responses, negative thinking, catastrophizing, and defensiveness. It is also closely linked with other issues such as addiction, perfectionism, and behavioral issues.

 

While some may display outward signs of anxiety, others hide it well. In both cases, the person's mind is running overtime, catastrophizing every simple situation and making it nearly impossible to sleep. These intrusive thoughts can escalate to the point of interfering with everyday life.

 

Research on Neurofeedback for anxiety

Anxiety is generally a response to stress, either from a psychological, physical, dietary, or environmental source. It’s easy for the brain to get locked into these patterns, and very difficult to break these patterns.

Neurofeedback works by helping the brain recognize and become familiar with a new, healthier pattern. There have been many studies showing that Neurofeedback is effective in reducing anxiety. At Integrated NeuroHealth, we have found this to be the case. Research has also shown that Neurofeedback can be even more effective when done along with therapy.

For people who struggle with anxiety, learning to recognize and change negative patterns can be life-changing.

See the problem, then correct it.

Many people turn to medication to deal with the symptoms of anxiety, generally selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) also known as anti-depressants. These work short-term by stimulating the production of serotonin – also known as the “feel good” transmitter. But that doesn’t get to the core of the issue: the brain. You can keep treating symptoms, but until you deal with the brain, nothing is really going to change.

At Integrated NeuroHealth, we take a different approach. Using a quantitative EEG or a brain map, we can see where your brain may be having a hard time. If there’s too much activity in one part of the brain, we can help balance that out using Neurofeedback brain training.

This helps your brain retrain it’s thought patterns, treating the source of the anxiety.

Neurofeedback can help reduce anxiety long-term and can even allow you to taper off medication (with a doctor's supervision). Less medication is needed the better your brain gets at naturally regulating itself.

Neurofeedback is a natural way to help gain back control of your life.

 

How Can Neurofeedback Help Anxiety?

The goal of neurofeedback is to transform a dysregulated, abnormal brainwave pattern into a normal, healthy, organized pattern. By doing this, the brain becomes more stable and can operate optimally and efficiently.

Neurofeedback works by helping the brain pinpoint dysregulated brainwave patterns and correct it into healthy, organized patterns. This helps the brain be able to recognize these patterns on it’s own and become more stable.

 

PTSD

PTSD is a specific type of anxiety that is generally caused by one or a series of traumatic experiences. The symptoms of PTSD are sleeplessness, anger, depression, anxiety, feelings of worthlessness, and isolation.

 

When the stress response is triggered, it is very difficult to turn it off.

 

We feel that if Neurofeedback was better known to help PTSD, that it would be the first treatment used for those who suffer from it. There are several cases of severe PTSD in which therapists and clients have reported that the clients got their lives back after completing Neurofeedback training.

 

Medication is often used to help reduce symptoms, but again, treating symptoms doesn’t fix the source of the problem.

Neurofeedback actually helps to retrain the brain to balance out the stress response, allowing the person to reclaim their life.

 

How Does Neurofeedback Help Alleviate PTSD?

Neurofeedback targets the specific parts of the brain affected by PTSD and trains it to produce healthier, calmer brainwaves. It also teaches the brain to regulate the stress response.

 

Is Neurofeedback an Effective Way to Treat PTSD?

Yes, neurofeedback can help those with PTSD regain their life. Studies show that PTSD is a disorder based in the brain. The training teaches the brain to turn off the stress triggers and reclaim the regulated brain from before the event(s).

During training, the first noticeable improvement is sleep. As training continues, other related PTSD symptoms begin to improve. Once symptoms are reduced or eliminated and these gains hold for longer periods of time, training is gradually reduced until it’s clear the stability and calm is holding. At that time, training can end.

Studies show that Neurofeedback is very effective with helping alleviate the underlying cause of PTSD. Because PTSD is a brain-based disorder, training the brain to regulate the stress response is the first step to reclaiming your life.

When you begin brain-training, you will first notice how much better your sleep is. As training continues, other symptoms will become much less severe, or even eliminated entirely. Then, training can be gradually reduces until we know that the newfound balance in the brain is here to stay.