Depressed with no end in sight?…Neurofeedback Can Help.
Over the last ten years, thousands of mental health professionals have become increasingly aware of the limitations of medication and psychotherapy for depression. SSRI medications like Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa, Paxil and Lexapro are considered “standard” solutions. They target the brain, but rarely completely solve the problem alone.
The problem with medication:
Medication frequently doesn’t give enough relief, and once on antidepressants, it is hard to get off them, because the brain becomes reliant on them. This makes it more difficult to manage your own mood, to get out of depression or become motivated on your own.
Neurofeedback Brain Training in Depression
Thousands of psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists and mental health professionals now use neurofeedback daily with their clients. As an alternative to medications, neurofeedback can often help people reduce or eliminate antidepressant drugs as their brains become more stable.
There are many factors that contribute to depression and mood disorders. Events such as loss of a job, death of a friend, family member or a pet, break-up of a relationship, dissatisfaction with one’s performance, etc. can all cause periods of depressed mood states. These event-related disturbances in mood are generally transient and one gets on with life.
Neurologically-based mood disorders, on the other hand, persist and predispose one to have more prolonged or more intense reactions to emotional events. Some depressed mood states are characterized by intense feelings of sadness or hopelessness, others by burn-out and fatigue and still others by feelings of disinterest, emptiness and flat emotional states. Bipolar conditions, on the other hand, often involve periods of intense depression alternating with periods of hyper-arousal or anxiety. The hyper-arousal periods can be problematic episodes of uncontrolled spending, unrealistic projects or abrasive interpersonal engagement.
All of the mood disorders have identifiable brainwave patterns that permit very precise diagnoses and more importantly point out precisely how the neurotherapist should proceed to correct the problem. Some forms of depression are associated with imbalances in the frontal regions of the brain such as when Beta amplitude is considerably greater in the right frontal cortex relative to the left. Other forms of depression are associated with deficits of slow frequency brainwave amplitude in the back of the brain. Bipolar conditions are usually associated with brainwave anomalies in both the front and the back of the brain. A brain map by a qualified neurotherapist is the first step toward treating depression without dangerous drugs.
Our center offers brain diagnostics as well as neurofeedback training. This can help identify the specific areas of the brain to target. The good news is that you can exercise your brain into breaking up the stuck pattern. Most clients report that the impact of neurofeedback on mood is very powerful. We’ve seen cases where people notice being in a better mood within a few sessions and with more training their mood stabilizes. Neurofeedback, like exercise, is not a one time “fix.” It requires repetition.
The two images below are brain maps from different people. The map on the left is a person with a long history of depression indicated by the orange and yellow area. It represents an excess amount of slow brainwave activity. This pattern is often associated with depression. The picture on the right displays a normal brain without depression. This “green” brain can be achieved with neurofeedback.
