Typical CNS symptoms that are commonly reported as clinically responsive to neurofeedback:

• ADD/ADHD, Attention Problems
• Conduct Disorders, Oppositional Behavior
• Behavior Disorders
• Depression, Mood Regulation
• Affect Regulation Disorders
• Bipolar Disorder
• Anxiety Disorders
• Panic Attacks
• PTSD
• Insomnia, Frequent Waking
• Restless Leg
• Bruxism
• Migraines
• Chronic Pain
• Seizures
• Learning Disabilities
• Pervasive Developmental Disorder
• Autism, Rumination
• Obsessive Compulsive, Rumination
• TBI Traumatic Brain Injury
• Tourette’s Syndrome
• Peak Performance
• Anger, Rage
• Substance Abuse

Think CNS problem. There are clearly others not listed which have responded to neurofeedback, though in much smaller numbers, including schizophrenia and Parkinson’s.

Neurofeedback does not target each disorder. It’s used to change timing and activation patterns in the brain. It creates changes in feedback loops and pathways that make up the brain. This improves brain regulation, which impacts a variety of symptoms.

Different problems may require different training targets. As examples, many clinicians report that depression may involve frontal lobe training, and anxiety may involve some parietal training.

Just as there are different ways to exercise the body, there are different approaches to training or exercising the brain.

When does neurofeedback not work? There are various reasons.

Some commentary on neurofeedback regarding each disorder:

ADD/ADHD

More kids and adults with ADD/ADHD are using neurofeedback than any other problem. Experienced clinicians estimate that at a minimum, they have significant impact with 80-85% of these patients who complete 30-40 training sessions. Is it the most commonly treated because it’s the easiest problem to deal with? Not really. ADD/ADHD is often many different symptoms rolled into one diagnosis. These must be sorted out as part of doing neurofeedback. There are some practical reasons that ADD/ADHD is the most common use for neurofeedback:

1. Parents are far more motivated to help their children succeed than to help themselves.
2. Increasing concerns that putting a child on medications for years is not a good thing. Parents want an alternative that works.
3. For many kids medications don’t work very well. They have side effects, make the kid feel less normal, or create more problems.
4. There are thousands of neurofeedback success stories around the country. More clinicians are adding neurofeedback because patients are asking for it or talking about it.
5. There is solid, published research on ADD/ADHD and neurofeedback.
6. There is increased awareness of the role of the brain in ADHD (as well as other disorders). In the last 5 years, every magazine seems to have had a brain imaging picture on its cover. As a result, neurofeedback as a brain-based intervention doesn’t seem so foreign, and there is much more openness towards the concept.

Anxiety

Most clinicians say generalized anxiety is one of the first symptoms to start responding to training. Significant improvements are typically estimated at 80-90% of people being trained. However, results also depend very much on what other comorbidities may exist. More complex cases that have multiple other problems may take more expertise and time to respond. We still expect that these more complex cases will respond to neurofeedback. Listen to Dr. Angelo Bolea talk about some of his most difficult cases. However, they take more time, expertise, and clinical skills. That means not every clinician will achieve good results with these cases.

Depression

Even for long-term, non-responsive depression cases, neurofeedback typically helps alleviate symptoms. It can also help reduce multiple medications, which is not uncommon. Depression and dysthymia are among the more common conditions neurofeedback helps. This is not to say it’s easy. Clinical skills are important. There are a variety of protocol options, depending on the comorbidities associated with the client.

Learning Disabilities (LD)

Over the last few years, two professionals in particular have published data about new brain training techniques they are using to target learning disabilities with qEEG. This was really big news for the field of neurofeedback. It’s common for reading, math and other problems to improve with neurofeedback and that is significantly helpful, but some clients could still have deficits after neurofeedback training. By adding in this new technique  of coherence training,  a fairly sophisticated component of training, several highly-reputed professionals are reporting more consistent improvements in dyslexia, reading and math deficits, and visual and auditory processing problems

Bipolar Disorder

Clinical reports from psychiatrists and psychologists indicate that neurofeedback helps patients with Bipolar Disorder become more stable and better able to reduce medications

Cognitive Impairment (Traumatic Brain Injury, Stroke)

Neuropsychologists have reported that improvement with TBI often occurs even many years after the injury and that neural plasticity still exists. Emotional and behavioral improvements are significant for this group.

Migraines and Headaches

Therapists and doctors report that the frequency and intensity of migraines are often reduced and sometimes eliminated.

Chronic Pain

For chronic pain, neurofeedback helps reduce pain or perhaps how the brain manages pain, even in severe cases

Sleep Dysregulation

The first changes clients typically observe after receiving neurofeedback relate to sleep. This includes improvement in insomnia, bruxism, poor sleep quality, difficulty waking, frequent waking, and nightmares.

Autism & PDD, Reactive Attachment Disorder

Autism, PDD, and RAD are the fastest growing areas of neurofeedback. The calming effects of neurofeedback produce noticeable results quickly in these severely-affected populations.

Substance Abuse

In one published study, neurofeedback was compared with a successful 12-step program for crack, cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin users. Sustained abstinence was significantly greater (2 times or greater) with the group that also received neurofeedback training. Previous published studies show similar results for alcoholics. Substance abuse is an obvious form of poor self-regulation and self-medication.

Epilepsy

Multiple peer-reviewed studies show a reduction in seizures that are non-responsive to medications and that the training effect holds. This literature is compelling in respected journals, and the clinical reports consistently reflect improvement. But for several reasons, including a lack of funding to educate physicians, the research is not well known.