A Symphony in the Brain: The Evolution of the New Brain Wave Biofeedback (Paperback)

Neurofeedback is based on a variety of methods, but they all include giving a person positive and negative reinforcement about their brain wave patterns at different frequencies. Based on clinical experiences, some brain wave patterns provide more calmness, while others provide more clarity, while others encourage creativity. The field has built up based on trial and error beginning with insights from animal research, often done with cats. Often, this treatment is combined with psychological counseling and behavioral reinforcements of other types. Sometimes dietary imbalances that affect brain chemistry are addressed, as well. How neurofeedback treatment is administered depends on the practitioner. There is no government licensing or certification in the field. Many types of equipment are used. Some even allow you to do the treatment on your own at home, with an investment as low as $950. The experience and skill of the practitioner seem to add value though.

This field should be distinguished from biofeedback. That process (which is also unlicensed and unregulated for practitioners) focuses on giving patients feedback on things like how warm their hands are, primarily as a mechanism to help people reduce stress. Cold hands can be one sign of stress. By learning to induce more relaxed states, many patients improve from various psychological ailments that involve excess stress. Neurofeedback measures the brain waves themselves (that which directs the body) rather than the outcome of the brain waves (what the body is doing).

The book details many interesting cases of great improvement in Attention Deficit Disorder and its near cousin, AHDH (which includes hyperactivity), alcoholism, epilepsy, depression, autism, and high performance (such as opera singing). Each one seems to require a different application of neurofeedback, and is specialized in by different practitioners. One of the encouraging things about the book is a complete list of research reports, descriptions of which practitioners treat which areas, and ways to get more information from web sites and manufacturers. The author also tried neurofeedback and reports his positive and negative experiences. He also looked for failures, and describes those.

The main drawback of neurofeedback is that it developed outside of the medical community, so a full set of definitive studies of it remain to be done. So far, NIH has not sponsored any research in this area although it has received grant applications. My own impression is that this would be a good area for NIH to sponsor research in. If efficacy is established, many more researchers would become involved and the field would improve more rapidly. If the process cannot be proven to be effective in double-blind tests (properly designed), then people should stop wasting their time and money and move on to something that works better. To me, the combination of promising results of flawed research and the anecdotal evidence suggests that the $10 million to find out more would be well worth the price. For this therapy is relatively inexpensive, and shows promise even in reducing recurrence of criminal behavior among inmates. If this therapy works, we will save a whole lot on drugs, incarceration, education, and wasted lives.

Read this book and see what you think. I certainly identified two people who I think might be good candidates for neurofeedback who aren't doing well with medication and psychiatric help. Perhaps this is what they need. It's certainly worth the money to me to find out.

While you are reading this book, also think about our disbelief stall about the way things work. For decades, we treated stomach ulcers with surgery, stomach lining drinks, and acid-production inhibitors. All helped. For the same decades, some scientists believed that these ulcers were caused by stomach infections of the lining. These scientists were right, and now that's the way most ulcers are treated, and quickly and inexpensively cured. Can it be that we have been discouraging another way of thinking that could help us again? It's certainly possible.

The book also touched me personally. I and another family member have ADD / ADHD and are using NF to control our symptoms. I started reading the book looking for more information on the actual process. I found this book is the start of the road in learning about Neurofeedback and would consider it essential reading for anyone interested in how NF may be used. I was left with the feeling of promise that NF holds for the future of medicine.

Robins also delves into some of the more controversial aspects of NF, including the use of NF to enhance our everyday lives and open our minds. This is the aspect that gave NF a bad reputation early on and Robbins mentions it, but does not heavily promote it. He presents it in the spirit that NF may have a place beyond purely clinical uses.

Overall, the book is well balanced and Robbins does a credible job of promoting the useful aspects of Neurofeedback while maintaining the proper distance from the fringe groups that gave NF such a bad reputation that conventional medicine still does not give the field the respect it deserves.