1 They need more help than medications and psychotherapy can offer some patients.
Most experienced clinicians are well aware of the limitations of medications and psychotherapy. But what are their options?

Biofeedback is not strange, and it’s not new. Few clinicians are aware of brain biofeedback or the degree to which it has advanced. Once they hear about it and start to look into it further, you hear them say “it made sense” or “I knew I had to look into this further.” That’s true for even very conservative professionals. They just have to be willing to dig in and learn about it. Most clinician who adopt neurofeedback already have 15-20 years or more experience. It’s clearly not the young clinicians who pick it up first. It seems experienced clinicians are more acutely aware of the limits of medicines and psychotherapy.

2 Clients are demanding an alternative.
Parents often don’t want their children on meds. They’re concerned about side effects and are actively seeking alternatives that work. More and more doctors and patients are concerned about side effects. When they learn about neurofeedback and its efficacy, they’re often open and interested in a modality that has solid success rates, research, and no side effects.

3 It makes sense to regulate the brain.
Many clinicians say they’ve always had an interest in the brain, and the idea that you can train the brain and improve self-regulation through biofeedback makes sense to them. It’s obvious many patients have very dysregulated brains. How does a clinician help the client change the brain? Meditation, yoga, or slow breathing helps clients change the brain, but many of the problems patients bring need stronger interventions.  EEG biofeedback helps an individual learn to regulate their brain – to increase certain activity and decrease other activity.

4 The neurophysiology is compelling.
Many clinicians are unconvinced or very cautious as they look into neurofeedback. But if they experience a really good course that makes the neurophysiology understandable, it can be an “aha” moment. This isn’t simple stuff and it takes some effort to get it. When someone changes their EEG, you are by definition changing activation and timing patterns. These affect many pathways and feedback loops in the brain, including the thalamocortical axis down to the reticular activating system. When you start to understand those mechanisms, neurofeedback becomes more compelling.

5 Watching symptoms change quickly.
Seeing someone experience a change rapidly that cannot be explained any other way never fails to amaze. The brain can shift states very quickly. As an example, in many training courses we’ve observed, by the end of several days of training, 80% or greater of attendees have noticed clear, significant changes in state. Changes affect sleep, mood, alertness or attention. It’s not uncommon to see a migraine or headache stopped. For some clients, changes occur in minutes – often quite unexpected changes. Experienced clinicians quickly note these unexpected changes cannot be placebo, and can only be explained by the training. NOTE: Many training sessions are needed before any short-term, transitory changes can be expected to hold.

6 The research is impressive.
Though the “lack of research” or its limitations are often cited, that’s usually from people who haven’t read much of it. When clinicians read enough of the research and look at some outcome studies, particularly with ADD, depression (small studies), and addictions, it’s very hard to dismiss. The size of the clinical effect is impressive compared, for example, to the tiny effects you see in many studies on medications. While much more research is needed, significant research exists to confirm the benefit of neurofeedback.

7 Hearing from other clinicians.
Many clinicians look into neurofeedback after hearing another good clinician talk about the impact of neurofeedback. We encourage you to listen to the clinicians we’ve interviewed. They provide some excellent clinical insights. These are experienced clinicians you’d probably never get a chance to hear otherwise.

8 Family, friend, or patient who has experienced it.
Many clinicians enter this field because someone they personally met had an experience that was simply too difficult to dismiss. It could be chronic refractory depression that’s no longer chronic or a really out-of-control child who’s settled down and is making great grades. Those are two examples. What’s compelling about neurofeedback successes? The changes tend to sustain over time. How many alternatives see changes sustain 2, 4, or 5 years later? Though it doesn’t always occur, it’s not unusual.