Neurofeedback has been around for decades. However, it is just now gaining traction. There have been many studies to show its effects and just how well it works for many different conditions. Potential clients and current clients tend to ask me similar questions. To help spread awareness and knowledge, below is a list of eight frequently asked questions about neurofeedback and our answers.

1. What is Neurofeedback?

Neurofeedback/Biofeedback therapy is a process in which a client learns to monitor and regulate the mind and body in ways that promote mental and physical health and well-being. Initially, this is done with the assistance of a clinician and special equipment. This equipment includes sensors that monitor respiration, heart rate, skin temperature, muscle tension, and brain waves. Eventually, the client may learn how to monitor and regulate on their own without equipment.

2. What conditions should not do Neurofeedback or supplemental devices?

For Neurofeedback, there are no conditions that should not do Neurofeedback!
For supplemental devices, they are not recommended for seizures or migraines or if you have an internal device. However, you may use these at your discretion. We just do not recommend supplemental devices for these conditions.

3. What are supplemental devices?

Supplemental Devices are devices to train your brain at home! They are easy to use and can provide similar results as neurofeedback. We have three different devices: the Transcranial Direct-Current Stimulation Device, the Neurocore, and David’s Delight. Each device does something a little different, so please let us know which one you’d like to try or what you want help with!

4. Do I have to do both?

Absolutely not! However, you will see your best results with doing neurofeedback sessions and using a supplemental device at home.

5. What happens during a Neurofeedback session?

Neurofeedback sessions involve relaxing for 30 minutes while you watch a movie or listen to music of your choice. Electrodes are attached to your scalp that monitors your brainwaves during the session. When irregular patterns are detected, a response is triggered from the software that pauses or dims the video or music. This response will automatically cause you to focus more, which will move your brainwaves back into normal ranges. With repetition of this process over multiple sessions, your brain can learn to stay within healthy ranges on its own without neurofeedback.

6. Can Neurofeedback help with ADHD?

Recent research suggests that individuals with ADHD tend to have elevated theta brainwave activity and low levels of beta brainwave activity. Symptoms of ADHD are usually reduced when brainwave activity is changed. Neurofeedback is commonly used as an adjunct or alternative treatment to medication and behavior management.

7. Could you explain more about brainwaves?

Your brain produces four primary types of brain waves: Beta, Alpha, Theta and Delta. Beta is primarily active during your awake state, which is the majority of your day. Alpha has to do with your subconscious, and is dominant during relaxed states when your eyes are closed but you are not asleep. Theta is present briefly during the periods before you fall asleep and before you fully wake up. Delta is primarily active when you are asleep. All of these brain waves are equally important to your health, and neurological disorders can be attributed to specific brain waves. For example, when you have brain irregularities caused by a head injury, your brain may have too much frontal theta or delta being produced when you are supposed to be awake and alert. By retraining these abnormal patterns in the affected areas, symptoms can be improved or eliminated.

8. A brain map sounds scary. Does it hurt?

Absolutely not! A brain map is simply a surface scan of your scalp which picks up the electrical impulses we call brainwaves. We do use conductive paste, but there are no shocks, no pain and no discomfort. All you do is stare at the wall for 6 minutes with your eyes open, and six minutes with your eyes closed. The computer does the rest.

 

If your questions are left unanswered, please schedule a FREE 1 hour demonstration with me. I’d be happy to answer your questions and give you a peak at your own brain!

I’ll be back soon!

Next Time: More information about brainwaves and what they mean to you!

 

Amanda Bergeron, BA
Neurofeedback Technician

Let’s be real: to some extent, everyone is an emotional eater. The truth is, not all emotional eating is unhealthy. It is natural and normal to occasionally enjoy food while celebrating and forming lasting memories with friends and family. However, many of us have an unhealthy relationship with food due to our emotional eating. Ask yourself the following questions:

Do feelings of anger, sadness, or stress drive you to eat? Do you turn to food for comfort or eat out of boredom? Do you ever feel a loss of self-control around highly palatable foods? Are you often in a state of dieting or restricting? Do you frequently eat to the point of feeling uncomfortable or stuffed? Do you feel the need to eat in secret? Are you gaining weight and can’t pinpoint exactly why?

Most people think of emotional eating as a lack of self-control. However, in my experience as a registered dietitian, this is rarely the case. Emotional eating is multi-layered, complicated, and unique for each person. However, I typically see the following 5 things contribute to emotional eating:

Unawareness. Emotional eating is often a direct result of simply not paying attention to what or why we eat. Therapists call this “unconscious eating.” For example, when you are satisfied and finish a meal, and yet you continue to pick at it, slowly eating the remaining portion you originally intended to leave behind. Unconscious eating also occurs with the peanuts, crackers, or M&M’s on the counter that you continue to munch on just because they are in front of you. The solution is simple: make a valiant and conscious effort to be mindful of what and when you eat. To start, simply spend a couple days writing down everything you eat- this may surprise you and help you identify trends in your eating patterns.

Food is your main source of joy. I often ask people what life would be like if they did not overeat or binge. A common answer is, “I would have nothing to look forward to.” Truly, at the end of a hectic day, a bowl of Bluebell Ice Cream can be especially effective at soothing our exhausted and hard-working selves. Why? Research suggests that highly palatable foods can stimulate the release of serotonin and opioids in the brain, inducing a sense of calm. For this reason, kicking the habit of emotional eating can be much like kicking a drug habit. The solution? Find other, more constructive, means of self-soothing besides food. However, in order to give up emotional eating entirely, you must also practice dealing with difficult feelings, which brings me to #3.

Inability to Tolerate Difficult Feelings. We learn from a young age to avoid or procrastinate doing things that are unpleasant. Unfortunately, many of our choice distractions are not always in our best interest. In our culture, eating is an acceptable alternative to dealing with uncomfortable thoughts and emotions. However, this habit can be very detrimental to both our physical and mental health. How do we overcome this avoidance? It’s easier said than done, but we need to practice allowing ourselves to experience honest, authentic emotions. If you feel the need for support, seek the help of a therapist, honest loved ones, or a dietitian to deal with these emotions in a constructive way. Remember, when dealing with constructive help from a reliable source that, “the criticisms of a friend are better than the kisses of your enemy.”

Body Hate. It might seem counterintuitive, but it’s true: body hate and shame are the biggest causes of emotional eating. When it comes to our bodies and sense of self, negativity, shame, and hatred rarely inspire people to make long-lasting, positive changes. In order to break the emotional eating cycle, we must learn a profound level of respect for our body. How? Consistent and daily striving for self-compassion and acceptance. Unfortunately, this is a multi-faceted and complex problem- in order to make permanent progress in this area, we often require professional guidance.

Deprivation. If you are an emotional eater, restrictive dieting, extreme hunger, or sleep deprivation make you vulnerable to overeating and binge eating. When your body is deprived of sleep or food, we experience an increased appetite and more powerful cravings. What’s the solution? Get plenty of sleep and eat several small meals and snacks during the day, about every 2-3 hours. I know you’re thinking you don’t have the time, but if your goal is to stop emotional eating, you must make those 2 things a priority! No way around it.

Emotional eating is a powerful and effective way to find temporary relief from many of life’s challenges. However, emotional eating can lead to serious health complications, and fuels low self-esteem, stirring feelings of anxiety and depression. To overcome emotional eating, we must reach deep inside ourselves and find a place of grit, strength, and patience. Attempting this endeavor alone can often be a tall order. If you feel overwhelmed by the journey ahead, seek the help and comfort of health professionals (doctors, therapists, and dietitians) and your loved ones. I sincerely hope that the reminders above will help you find peace with food!

Libby Higham, RDN, LD
JTA Wellness
400 N. Loop 1604, Suite 175
San Antonio, TX 78232
210-545-4422

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author Karen Marie Moning says, “Who and what we surround ourselves with is who and what we become.” Who or what do you have in your life that allows you to be the person you want to be, to reach your highest goals? Need more inspiration? Follow these seven tips to getting inspired:

1. Reach out to others for advice. How have others achieved success? How have they overcome life’s biggest challenges? Reach out to local business owners or executives in your aspiring career field, professors, local celebrities, parents who’ve raised healthy children, your grandparents even. Ask them to share their greatest life lesson, or what they wish they knew when they were your age.

2. Sign up for courses. Find a class at your local community college or adult learning center. Take an art or cooking class. Can’t find what you’re looking for? Online offers many advanced learning courses, some even for free.
Follow this link to NISD Adult and Community Education Classes: https://nisd.net/ace/sites/ace/files/docs/NISDCatalogSpring2018_WebPDF.pdf

3. Use social media. It’s not all bad. YouTube is a wonderful platform for watching videos of your favorite inspirational speakers. LinkedIn is a networking site that could help you land your next job or at least introduce you to successful professionals in your desired career field.
Follow this link for a powerful inspirational video by Nick Vujicic: https://youtu.be/zOzsjEmjjHs

4. Read a book. Try Daring Greatly by Brene Brown, a prominent social science researcher and author of four #1 New York Times best sellers. https://books.google.com/books?id=2JFADwAAQBAJ&pg=PP9&source=kp_read_button

5. Listen to TED Talks. TED Talks are a forum for renowned professionals and researchers to share their ideas with the world in 18 minutes or less.
Follow this link to a TED Talk on finding inspiration and taking chances: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmN4xOGkxGo&sns=em

6. Join or form a group of like-minded individuals. Groups come in many formats: support groups, educational groups, professional affiliations, book clubs, or even recreational groups, like those found at meet-up.com. Follow this link to a meetup of New Braunfels professionals looking to network, or browse the meetup site for adult sports and recreational groups. https://www.meetup.com/topics/professional-networking/us/tx/new_braunfels/

7. Seek counseling or hire a life coach. These professionals can counsel and encourage you on matters having to do with your career or personal challenges. They can teach you problem solving skills to overcome any barriers to your success. They can keep you accountable for taking the steps needed to reach your goals. For more information, call our office at (830)730-6090.

 

Kristel Zoller, LPC

Therapist

InMindOut Emotional Wellness Center

 

Biofeedback therapy is a process in which a client learns to monitor and regulate the mind and body in ways that promote mental and physical health and well-being. Initially, this is done with the assistance of a clinician and special equipment. This equipment includes sensors that monitor respiration, heart rate, skin temperature, muscle tension, and brain waves. Eventually, the client may learn how to monitor and regulate on their own without equipment.

Neurofeedback is a non-invasive method of reading your body’s brain wave activity. With Neurofeedback we are able to identify where your levels of brain activity are. We know what normal is and because we know that we are able to identify where you are in that range. We are able to identify abnormal patterns of the brain activity for which various symptoms can be attributed to. Too much activity of certain brainwaves can lead to symptoms such as anxiety, depression, aggression, and ADHD. Not enough activity can lead to anxiety, depression, and ADHD. By knowing what normal is and identifying where your activity levels are, we can work on regulating those levels to help you obtain optimal activity levels.

Your brain produces four primary types of brain waves: Beta, Alpha, Theta and Delta. Beta is primarily active during your awake state, which is the majority of your day. Alpha has to do with your subconscious, and is dominant during relaxed states when your eyes are closed but you are not asleep. Theta is present briefly during the periods before you fall asleep and before you fully wake up. Delta is primarily active when you are asleep. All of these brain waves are equally important to your health, and neurological disorders can be attributed to specific brain waves. For example, when you have brain irregularities caused by a head injury, your brain may have too much frontal theta or delta being produced when you are supposed to be awake and alert. By retraining these abnormal patterns in the affected areas, symptoms can be improved or eliminated.

Neurofeedback sessions involve relaxing for 30 minutes while you watch a movie or listen to music of your choice. Electrodes are attached to your scalp that monitors your brainwaves during the session. When irregular patterns are detected, a response is triggered from the software that pauses or dims the video or music. This response will automatically cause you to focus more, which will move your brainwaves back into normal ranges. With repetition of this process over multiple sessions, your brain can learn to stay within healthy ranges on its own without neurofeedback.

The number of sessions needed depends on the individual and the particular condition that has been determined. Much like going to the gym, every person requires a different length of time to improve. 20 – 40 sessions is normal for many conditions to improve or even be eliminated. However, people have reported positive changes after just a few sessions.

Neurofeedback makes a permanent change to your brain activity. Seeing these results vary by individual, but most clients see positive changes after just a few sessions.

Biofeedback is useful for a variety of difficulties faced by our client population. At this time, we are offering this service for clients who meet the following criteria:

•          Interest in mindfulness, meditation, or body awareness

•          Committed to individual practice of skills

•          Difficulty with any of the following:

• attention and concentration (ADHD, ADD)
• impulsive decision making
• depression
• anxiety
• emotion regulation/anger management
• memory difficulties
• addictions
• eating disorders
• tics
• PTSD
• OCD
• Bipolar Disorder
• sleep issues (insomnia)
• migraines
• behavioral Issues
• speech and Motor Skills

•          The client is interested and willing to incorporate a different kind of tool into their recovery process

 

Next time: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions.

 

Amanda Bergeron, BA

Neurofeedback Technician

InMindOut Emotional Wellness Center, LLC

 

Bullying is a word often used today in a variety of contexts that don’t always apply to it’s true definition. Very often I hear the word bullying used by parents and children the moment any kind of conflict is experienced. While there are times when bullying is the appropriate descriptor for an experience, there are others when it is not.

Bullying involves an imbalance of power between two parties. This imbalance of power may be physical or social. A physical imbalance of power would be the common image of a larger or stronger person using their physical advantages to exert dominance over the other person through physical force or intimidation. An example of a social imbalance of power could be the “popular” student using their social status to alienate another less “popular” student. When bullying is involved, the imbalance of power is utilized to purposefully hurt the other person. Bullying may involve verbal harassment, physical assault, or coercion. Verbal harassment and coercion may be experienced in person or via texting, chat forums and social media. Feelings of remorse are unlikely for the aggressor when bullying is involved even after observing how their behavior has impacted the other person. When bullying is identified, it is common to observe strong resistance from the bully to hold themselves accountable for their actions. To address bullying effectively, the bully needs to experience consequences for their behavior and understand that the behavior will not be tolerated. The bullying victim needs to be validated and understand that the bully’s behavior towards them was not their fault.

Conflict on the other hand, is a natural part of learning how to communicate and interact with others effectively. It demonstrates how to give and take, as well as teach important problem-solving skills. Conflict involves two parties coming to an impasse and communicating their discontent to the other person. When it comes to conflict, resolution strategies are an effective means of addressing the concern in the form of compromise, and recognizing when and how one or both parties contributed to the conflict. Conflict resolution strategies are not often helpful when bullying is identified. Unresolved conflict can lead to bullying if one party decides to retaliate.

Recognizing the difference between the two experiences is important for a variety of reasons. Kids who regularly refer to conflict as bullying are at risk for failing to learn important conflict resolution strategies. Mislabeling conflict for bullying also inhibits others from learning how to accept responsibility for their role in a conflict with friends or family. It’s important that the distinct differences between these two terms be recognized and emphasized so that today’s youth can learn important skills necessary to realize their full potential.

Yolanda Gonzales, MEd, LPC
Inmindout Emotional Wellness Center, LLC

References:

Gordon, S. (2018, January 29). How to tell the difference between conflict and bullying [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.verywell.com/conflict-and-bullying-difference-460495

Zirpoli, T.J. (2013, November 18) Bullying behavior. Retrieved from https://www.education.com/reference/article/bullying-behavior/

Look at me 

Look into my Eyes. Yes. Really look at me when we talk. Eye contact is a skill that is discussed in Shonda Moralis, MSW, LC

SW’s book: Breathe Mama Breathe: 5-Minute Mindfulness for Busy Moms. In the book Shonda talks about having a moment where she realized that she is not giving her daughter her full attention when her daughter talks to her. She’s preparing a meal and only half listening as her daughter is telling her a story. Shonda talks about the guilt that she feels when she realized that she is only half present in the conversation.

Not being present all of the time with those that we love is something that we can all relate to. If you are a parent, rushing around, trying to make meals, cleaning the house, getting the kids off to activities, being a support for homework and then trying to get everyone to bed at a reasonable hour can be exhausting! In today’s culture, rushing around, multi-tasking is the norm. Even though we know that multi-tasking has its consequences, the reality is that at times we all do it because it’s quicker and appears easier. We often recognize that that doing one thing at a time is more effective, but it is also more challenging! It is a skill that is to be developed and not something that comes naturally.

We are busy people and with that business and multitasking how many of us take the time to slow it down? How many of us take the time to really look at the person sitting across the dinner table? When was the last time that you looked your partner in the eyes when they told you about their day? When was the last time you looked at your child in the eye when they asked you a question? The reality is that we have all been there on numerous occasions. Now looking at it may bring up feelings of guilt. That’s okay. It’s a sign that you have gone against yourself and your values. That’s alright because that guilt is communicating to you. Let it be your teacher. Guilt is not the enemy. It is what you do with that guilt that matters. My hope for you is that you use your guilt to set a goal for yourself; a path toward you becoming all that you can be. Today.

Today I set my intention to be that I will sit down with my partner and look him in the eye during dinner. I will look at my daughter in her eyes when she tells me about her day at school. I will be mindful of my eye contact with others.

I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well. – Diane Ackerman

 

Heather Ingram, PsyD, BCB

Psychologist, CEO

InMindOut Emotional Wellness Center, LLC