Neurofeedback :: Rationale

It has long been recognized that there is a direct connection between the frequency components of EEG (measured electrical activity of the brain) and a person’s state of arousal, alertness, stability and flexibility. Prolonged stress, physical and psychological trauma & substance abuse can alter the set point of the central nervous system and push it out of normal range into disregulation. In many cases this results in a narrowing of available mental states. In other cases, the brain becomes unstable and may change states inappropriately and without warning.

The brain’s inability to modulate response and to access situation-appropriate mental states appears to be central to the persistence of many chronic medical and psychological problems. Luckily the brain can be retrained. Neurofeedback is a form of operant conditioning-- training the brain to make voluntary changes in function and state. In the short term, this encourages a change in mental state. Over the long term it exercises and strengthens the brain’s mechanisms of state change and plays on the brain’s natural desire for balance.