Clinical Effectiveness of Quantitative Electroencephalography, Biofeedback and Neurofeedback
Neurofeedback "Neurofeedback treatment for many disorders such as ADHD, depression, anxiety, seizures, and others has been shown to be highly effective with long term lasting results. There are hundreds of published studies and several books demonstrating this."
"I have been utilizing biofeedback and neurofeedback in conjunction with psychotherapy in my practice for approximately 25 years. I have presented seminars, workshops, and training programs in biofeedback and neurofeedback throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. I have found biofeedback and neurofeedback to be instrumental in helping clients gain autonomic self-regulation and neuromuscular balance – leading to reductions in physical and emotional symptoms. I have found it to be especially helpful in addressing anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder."
On the recent publication of the book "Introduction to Quantitative EEG and Neurofeedback-Advanced Theory and Application," published by Academic Press and authored by Budzynski. "Budzynski, Evans, and Abarbanel (2009) covers in detail many of the clinical applications, the theoretical and empirical foundation for neurofeedback."
"Biofeedback and neurofeedback offer a wide range of approaches to help the client suffering from any one of a number of consequences of stress and autonomic and physiological dysregulation."
"Overall, the field of EEG biofeedback offers a neuroscience-based intervention program which research has supported for a host of problems in human behavior and cognition. In my practice, the use of EEG biofeedback has become the primary initial intervention model for any problems in cognition, such as learning disability, attention deficit disorder, and traumatic brain injury. The approach offers the only effective intervention model for these problems."
"Traditional EEG biofeedback treatment approaches have produced significant gains in functioning in such cognitive skills as IQ scores (15 points) and attention abilities. The research has also shown significant research improvements with negative behavior, such as oppositional behavior, conduct disorder, and the Autism Spectrum Disorder with more advanced EEG biofeedback protocols."
"For the past 18 years, I have been director of a university-based clinic specializing in the application of biofeedback, primarily EEG biofeedback, to the treatment of a variety of neurological, physical, emotional, and addictive disorders. This clinic also serves as an interdisciplinary training site for graduate students and licensed professionals in behavioral and health care fields who want to gain competency in this emerging treatment modality. After years of clinical experience with persons with disabilities and chronic illness, I can unequivocally support the growing body of well-designed research on biofeedback that demonstrates the improved patient outcomes that accrue when an appropriate form of self-regulation training is added to a treatment regimen."
"The primary presenting conditions treated successfully with biofeedback by our clinic over the years include the following research-validated applications: attention disorders, substance abuse, post traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, migraine headache. As a research facility, we have also contributed to the growing number of clinical trials demonstrating the benefits of EEG and other biofeedback modalities for treating insomnia and for reducing symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders, childhood conduct and learning disorders, Reactive Attachment Disorder, head injury, stroke, Crohn's Disease, diabetes, tinnitus, and Bipolar Disorder."
"I have found that neurofeedback has been very effective in my practice in treating ADHD, learning disabilities, dyslexia and closed head injury... There is solid scientific support for neurofeedback treatment of these disorders."
"It is with pleasure that I must recommend EEG neurotherapy and SEMG neuromuscular retraining as biofeedback assessment and treatment procedures. We utilize these techniques in the treatment of a number of chronic conditions or dysfunctions including Attention Deficit Disorder, chronic pain (particularly fibromyalgia), myofascial pain syndromes, and closed head injury."
"People seek our services when they don’t want to be taking medications or exposing their offspring to any unknown risks or side effects from same. The clinic is extremely busy, because we are successful in reducing the symptoms... without creating unwanted side effects."
Board Certification through the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance (BCIA) "The use of neurofeedback must be performed by highly qualified health care professionals. BCIA certification is an essential credential needed to promote for the public confidence that their providers have the necessary background and training to employ these services."
"Patients seek treatment at our clinic because other treatments have been ineffective for them, to reduce their medication or avoid risks associated with it, or they are referred by their physicians because they cannot tolerate or wish to avoid taking medication. Because biofeedback requires cross-disciplinary academic training and specialized clinical supervision, extensive professional training is required. Preparation should be at the Master's level or above and should be validated by requirements for completion of a national certification examination, continuing education, and adherence to ethical standards of practice as administered by the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America."
"I recommend that neurofeedback treatments be performed by a qualified professional who is board-certified by the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America."
The BCIA certification offers students the best guidelines available to become qualified to apply bio, neuro and pelvic floor feedback. I strongly recommend to anyone who requests a referral for biofeedback or neurofeedback that they only go to someone who is BCIA certified. Through the certification process, bio and/or neurofeedback fulfill the minimum requirements necessary to begin effective clinical and/or educational training or therapy. We have used integrated biofeedback approaches in research and successful treatment for asthma, neck and shoulder pain (repetitive strain injury), as well as peak performance. Given that mind-body are interconnected and much of the responses are beneath the client and therapist’s awareness, I cannot conceive how a psychologist, physical therapist, physician, nurse or health care professional can practice effectively without the additional information and training biofeedback provides. The feedback signals make the invisible visible, the unfelt felt, and the undocumented documented as well as provide the skills to enhance self-mastery and self-healing.
Applications Anxiety "I have found biofeedback and neurofeedback to be instrumental in helping clients gain autonomic self-regulation and neuromuscular balance – leading to reductions in physical and emotional symptoms. I have found it to be especially helpful in addressing anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder."
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder "I have been practicing in the EEG biofeedback field for the past 19 years. For the memory impaired learning disabled/attention deficit disorder child, we have been able to obtain 300% or 3 standard deviation improvement in auditory memory abilities, which exceeds by far all previously published research in this area."
Learning Disabilities "I have been practicing in the EEG biofeedback field for the past 19 years. For the memory impaired learning disabled/attention deficit disorder child, we have been able to obtain 300% or 3 standard deviation improvement in auditory memory abilities, which exceeds by far all previously published research in this area."
Pain "(In our recent review of) evidenced-based, non-pharmacological interventions for chronic pain disorders... using well-established criteria, we concluded that there is overwhelming empirical evidence as to the efficacy of biofeedback for the following pain disorders: Lower Back Pain, Migraine Headache, Myofascial Pain Dysfunction Syndrome (formerly known as Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction Syndrome), and Tension Headache."
"I use biofeedback and neurofeedback as important components of my treatment of chronic pain patients. With this population as well as others who have experienced little success in treatment, biofeedback, with its ability to adjust reinforcement thresholds and measurement sensitivity, can make success possible. The ability to demonstrate to the client their success, by showing them the data, facilitates the psychological owning of their results. This success can initiate a growing sense of self efficacy within patients, so important in the treatment process."
"Showing clients the physiological patterns underlying their pain is difficult or impossible to do without biofeedback. How else can clients see the patterns change as they happen? This makes biofeedback a superb teaching and learning tool."
"Numerous studies have shown that most people with chronic musculoskeletal pain cannot tell how tense the muscles in the painful area are as accurately as people who do not have pain in that area of the body... When muscles are kept too tense for too long, they hurt. Biofeedback of muscle tension levels is used to teach people to “calibrate” actual tension levels to perceived levels of tension in painful muscles….. How could this learning task be accomplished without biofeedback?"
Phantom Limb Pain "Amputees can see the spasms as they happen and quickly learn to associate sensations with the pattern. They are then coached to prevent the spasms – which prevents the cramping phantom pain. Well documented longitudinal studies have not only established the relationship between cramping descriptions of phantom pain and the spasms described above but also the ability of people who have suffered from phantom pain for decades to eliminate it within days of being shown the raw signals produced by the muscles in their residual limbs."
Psychotherapy "I have been utilizing biofeedback and neurofeedback in conjunction with psychotherapy in my practice for approximately 25 years. As an awareness tool to assist psychotherapy, biofeedback is like a window into oneself. The client having difficulty identifying feelings will be assisted by real time feedback of their physiology."
PTSD "I found biofeedback and neurofeedback to be instrumental in helping clients gain autonomic self-regulation and neuromuscular balance – leading to reductions in physical and emotional symptoms. I have found it to be especially helpful in addressing anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder."
Substance Abuse "In 2005, my colleagues and I published a controlled study using Neurofeedback within a substance abuse treatment program (Scott, Kaiser, Othmer and Sideroff, 2005) in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse. In this study we demonstrated significant improvement in length of stay in treatment, one year abstinence, and cognitive functioning. In addition, we found significant improvement over controls on five of the ten clinical scales of the MMPI in before and after comparisons."
Traumatic Brain Injury "I have been practicing in the EEG biofeedback field for the past 19 years. In the area of traumatic brain injury, the approach has resulted in a 2.62 standard deviation improvement in auditory memory, (which is) significantly above other published research results."
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McCarthy Counseling Associates P.A.
4603 Oleander Drive, Suite 2
Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
Phone: 843.497.5240
Email: MCA1970@aol.com