Neurofeedback Therapy

Before you act, your brain is acting. Or reacting. Or prepared to do one or the other … or both.

When you are in the waking world (even in some sleep patterns), your brain fires. Synapses interact, chemicals change, and electric connections are made. And each specific activity in the brain always translates to an activity in your body, even if you are unaware of it.

Breathing, blood pressure, blinking—ultimately, these brain actions result in behaviors.

Neurofeedback therapy gives patients the tools to understand brain patterns before they become behavior. And act accordingly.

In some ways, this is obvious, but when speaking about behaviors and how to gain more of a connection to our bodies when experiencing unwanted actions and reactions, the ability to recognize, even feel, what our brain is doing can give us the ability to have better influence on our “automatic” behaviors.

Neurofeedback therapy is a form of biofeedback therapy that involves gaining self-control of various brain functions to help change our personal lives. The core goal of this treatment is to help you understand the different ways your brain reacts when you are anxious or stressed and work on controlling these reactions.

In most cases, most therapists will use an EEG machine and sensors to help monitor how your brain responds to different stimuli. With this knowledge, they can train you to avoid any negative state and recreate the positive brain states related to relaxation and peace.

Struggling with anxiety, depression, or substance abuse issues can be overwhelming. While you may want to live a better life, it is easy to feel like you have no control over your cravings, anxious thoughts, or even the ability to step out of bed. However, this does not have to be the case.

With neurofeedback therapy, you can get a first-hand view of what is going on in your brain when you get anxious or have cravings. By viewing your brain’s reactions in real time, you begin to recognize the state of your mind when you are stressed or battling feelings of relapse or myriad other triggers that bring about unwanted behaviors or emotions. This is potentially a powerful tool. The goal of neurofeedback therapy is to help patients identify then act.

As an illustration, if you struggle with substance abuse issues, your brain will generally enter a certain state when it begins to crave that substance. Unfortunately, most people fail to recognize this and quickly spiral out of control, reaching the point where they relapse.

On the other hand, after completing a neurofeedback treatment, you should quickly be able to recognize the patterns that your brain works through just before it begins to crave a substance. In this case, you can then focus on entering a state of positive emotions instead of falling down the rabbit hole.

Qualified neurofeedback therapists use Electroencephalography (EEG). Simply put it takes the measurement of electrical patterns in a patient’s brain. It takes its measurements from your scalp (not invasive). Most people refer to these patterns as “brainwaves.” Quantitative Electroencephalography (qEEG) is a way to process this raw “brainwave” data and make it a visual for people to understand.

All this information is gathered by electrodes placed on a person’s head. Sometimes an elastic hat fitted with electrodes is used. The process is safe and painless.

At Lido Wellness Center in Newport Beach California, we offer neurofeedback therapy for a variety of mental health disorders. If you want to hear more about our process or if this approach might benefit you or your loved one, please call us today. Our team is available to answer your questions and offer more direction for your journey. Call today: 949-503-9655.