Categories
ADHD Adults Anxiety Kids PanicAttacks Scz Sleep Trauma

Simon, 19, Bipolar, Psychosis

Simon, 19, Bipolar, Psychosis

Transformed in Two Months or 15 sessions

Simon is 19 years old.  He had attended an elite boarding school as a day student on a bursary, meaning he felt socially excluded from his wealthier peers while being aware of his privilege.  His mother had taken a controlling role in his education, choosing his university degree course, Spanish and Business, as well as any other facet of his life she could find.  Simon’s father had been managing his severe Parkinson’s with implants and fentanyl since he was nine.  Simon relished his first month at university.

Social and outgoing, Simon felt a new freedom.  He took to the newfound social scene and acceptance overly well, and despite no drug use, experiencing a manic episode.  Simon appeared to be friends with everyone and well-integrated.  However, he was starting to experience panic attacks and severe lows after nights out.  This rapidly transformed into paranoia and culminated with Simon being hospitalised (sectioned) within the first five weeks of university.  He spent a month in a psychiatric ward and began taking psychotropic medication.  He was diagnosed with bipolar depressive disorder and rehabilitating from psychosis. 

When he was released home, Simon did not endorse the idea of returning back to uni, and was staying in his room, watching movies and gaming when he was not asleep.  He felt generally monged, apathetic, and his self-confidence had eroded.  Avoiding social contacts, he would easily get annoyed at his mother, or at times even the slightest things, yet he was not violent.  His moods would fluctuate, and his focus was shallow.  There were no projects that could interest him, and this continued throughout what should have been his first year at university.  His mother was becoming increasingly concerned, as no medication was providing the necessary stimulus, and sought out complementary therapies.  Simon had tried to stop taking Abilify during this time and found he could not do it – the physical withdrawal made his body shake. 

EEG 19 channel recording of 19 year old on Ability, post psychosis, shows gradual and incremental activation of different site signals over time, commencing only after about two minutes, and showing the impact of human synchrony on brain activation
EEG recording, activation of brain areas starts after c.2min..

We began with a brain map.  Having ensured all connections were good, the first recording was concerning.  The signal was minimal, leading to a re-check that indeed, all connections were fine.  After almost two minutes, a motor area signal became particularly active, and a minute later an adjacent site.  Over the next three recordings, various sites ‘came alive’ in this fashion at different times, front, back, laterally, until after around seven minutes of recording time, all 19 sensors were showing healthy activity.  This development was corroborated by spectral plots of activity by frequency, and the functional connectivity charts reflected a resolving general hypometabolism, with intra-hemispheric connections notably weak at first.  There was no talking other than the minimal instruction “eyes open” and “eyes closed” for every three-minute recording, and no touch, only the presence of a new person in the room (myself). 

The brain map showed fluctuating indicators of vulnerability to psychosis, mood and physiological arousal control issues, trauma markers, distractibility, various sources of anxiety and hypervigilance, and an oversensitivity to perceived reputation or judgment.  We began working on Default Mode Network and other relevant sites with neurofeedback training.  Simon didn’t want to wear headphones and was comfortable with speakers that provided the sound to the movies, and with its slight and temporal variations in volume, the feedback for his brain.  We were able to do 2.5 hour sessions, watching a feature film and some series each time; two sessions per week. 

Initially, Simon felt as though he had just taken an exam, his head had gone through an exercise.  He slept well and remembered dreams.  Within two weeks, or four sessions, Simon felt more aware of his grogginess, a sign that the medication was too strong.  In consultation with his psychiatrist, he was able to reduce the dosage, first in stages and then to the minimal amount he would tolerate.  This proved successful, as Simon’s brain seemed less reliant on such numbing.  The first five sessions he describes as a difficult time, a transition between shame and motivation.  He looked forward to each of our sessions and enjoyed them, yet was left between hope and doubt after, an unsatisfactory feeling.  It contrasted with the solid numbing of his usual rituals.  When he saw that it seemed possible to reduce his medication, Simon reached a milestone.  He continued to improve in many ways: 

  • Felt a clearer head, less brain fog, more focussed
  • More motivated, started projects, study for resuming university
  • Social, contacted former friends, started to play football (soccer) again locally
  • More flexible in interactions with his parents

A further brain map confirmed these changes, and more.  Within two months, we had transformed Simon’s trajectory and helped him reduce his medication to minimal levels.  Fifteen sessions had changed Simon’s course from apathy to participation.

Categories
ADHD Adults Anxiety Kids Scz Sleep Trauma

Theo, 27, Psychosis, Psychedelics-Induced

Theo, 27, Psychosis, Psychedelics-Induced

One-Week Intensive Course for Grounding and Sense of Self

Summary:

Theo, in his late twenties, left his sales job in Australia to explore his true calling, primarily focusing on trading stocks and cryptocurrency while residing in Mexico. He struggled with screen addiction, tried alternative methods like an Iboga ceremony in Portugal, but found himself feeling exposed, raw, and misunderstood. Unwanted dreams, anxiety, and frustration began to overwhelm him. Cannabis use seemed to provide stability, but he recognized that he was retreating into his own world, feeling hypervigilant and aggressive.

Traditional methods like meditation and yoga didn’t resonate with Theo, and he realized his trading was akin to gambling. Concerned about his well-being, his parents agreed to fund neurofeedback treatment, which he underwent during a one-week intensive session in London.

The initial brain map revealed vulnerabilities, including relational thinking, trauma markers, anxiety, impaired mood control, distractibility, compromised personal space and social boundaries, hypervigilance, and imaginative tendencies. Timo engaged energetically in neurofeedback sessions, frequently changing content, but by the third day, he became noticeably calmer, experienced improved sleep, and felt more grounded.

The positive effects persisted, and Theo displayed increased focus, flexibility, and emotional insight. He became easier to work with, with better communication and reduced irritability. A remap confirmed these changes, turning his psychosis risk into the ability to consider different perspectives, and improving trauma, sleep, mood control, and thought disorder markers. Theo returned to Australia with renewed confidence, ready to meet his parents and take on an interim role as he prepared for his next adventure.

Theo's Full Story:

Theo was in his late twenties when he grew dissatisfied with his sales job and took some time out.  Basing himself in Mexico, he still spent most of his day trading stocks and cryptocurrency in an effort to sustain a more modest lifestyle than he was able to afford at home in Australia.  He had not overcome his screen addiction but was going through various alternative methods to find his true calling.  One of these was an Iboga ceremony he had undergone in Portugal, which promised to resuscitate his mind-heart-soul connection.  Only, it left him feeling raw, exposed, misunderstood and frustrated.  Dreams came back, yet the unwanted kind, and he felt cornered.  Highly self-conscious, his mind racing, he found it difficult to get to sleep, concentrate on projects or even just simple work-related task sequences, and became quickly annoyed when things didn’t work out to his expectations.  Easily riled, he found few friends in his chosen home near the beach, a small community of backpackers.  Using cannabis would make him feel more stable, yet he was aware that he was beginning to live in his own world.  He was hypervigilant and aggressive, feeling on edge most of the day, and knew he had to find some calm and direction. 

Meditation and yoga were never his thing, and any attempts would make him more aware of his situation, thus triggering additional frustration.  Theo also realised he was essentially addicted to gambling, despite calling it day-trading, and needed to cut his losses and refrain from further such activity.  His parents were worried, and had been since he quit his promising office job for an indeterminate future, and were not a source of solace and encouragement.  They did however agree to fund his neurofeedback treatment, a therapy they had heard of in Australia. 

Theo did a one-week intensive in London on his way back to Australia.  We began with a brain map, which showed vulnerability to psychosis – relational thinking, meaning every sensory input is perceived as pertaining to oneself, a highly stressful condition.  Trauma markers were present, as were numerous anxiety markers; mood control was heavily impaired, as was spacial attention, i.e. high level of distractibility; his sense of personal space and social boundaries compromised; hypervigilance and excess attention to his surrounding environment; and a tendency to be highly imaginative if not living in his own delusional world. 

Theo was energetic and direct.  We changed movies frequently mid-way as he lost his interest, or grew frustrated at something that triggered him.  Even sitcoms would upset him.  Nonetheless we filled two hours with interesting content, twice a day.  By day three, Theo was noticeably calmer.  He had gone to bed immediately after the previous day’s session, and slept through til the morning, something he hadn’t experienced for a while.  Still somewhat irritable, he did feel more grounded.  After that day’s sessions, he remarked that he felt really good about himself. 

This effect lasted until the next day, and beyond.  It was not a manic burst, which was a real possibility given his prefrontal dysrhythmia.  We did more sessions, having stabilised his Default Mode Network.  His communications, while still direct and minimal, were more pertinent and concise.  He would not get annoyed at the slightest discomfort anymore, and portrayed a new flexibility that made him significantly easier to work with, rather than around.  No longer was he forcing people to walk on egg shells in his presence, making snappy comments that could easily be perceived as hurtful; he would watch entire movies without demanding sudden changes, and commented on characters with emotional insight and consideration.  Theo reported feeling more focussed and purposeful, less raw and more accepted, and his dreams were wild yet no longer scary.  A remap confirmed these changes, having turned his psychosis risk into an ability to take on different perspectives; improved trauma, sleep and mood control markers; and the marker for his thought disorder had normalised.  There were still important sites to work on regarding social boundaries, some anxieties and focus and planning.  Theo returned to Australia, confident to meet his parents and resume an interim role he had been offered to save up for his next adventure.

Categories
Adults Anxiety menopause Sleep Trauma

Linda, 50, Menopause, Motivation

Linda, 50, Menopause, Motivation

Twenty Neurofeedback Sessions restored Sleep, Motivation and Outlook

Summary:

Linda’s life took a challenging turn just before her fiftieth birthday when she realized her husband had betrayed her. This was her second marriage, and she had an eleven-year-old daughter, but she felt vulnerable and despondent. The family had weathered the pandemic’s lockdowns, though her social life suffered, and menopause added to her disorientation. Her daughter was seeking independence, often in a hurtful way. Linda, who had previously battled depression and lived a partying lifestyle in her twenties, knew she had resilience, but her stability was shaken.

Isolation and self-doubt became her norm, and she began to question whether her youthful excesses had caused brain damage. Linda was taking anti-depressants and working in a temporary sales role, which had ended. With time on her hands, she turned to neurofeedback training.

Her nervous excitement gave way to calmness as she started her first session. A brain map and a Robert De Niro film helped her relax and engage with the training. After ten sessions, her brain map showed significant improvements, especially in reactivating her prefrontal cortex, which she worried was affected by her past substance abuse. Her mood, focus, and self-confidence all improved.

Intrusive and self-critical thoughts receded, and her motivation and productivity returned. Linda was no longer reactive and despondent but took control and set rules in her life. She regained her love for music and started redecorating her home. Her social life flourished, and she embraced her role as a partner and parent.

Linda underwent twenty neurofeedback sessions over seven weeks and stopped using anti-depressant medication, with her prescribing GP’s guidance. A remap after ten sessions showed substantial changes in her brain activation, and she continued for ten more sessions. Her family noticed her transformation, and her daughter began confiding in her. Linda’s journey with neurofeedback therapy allowed her to regain her sense of self-worth and rebuild her life.

Linda's Full Story:

Linda had been betrayed by her husband.  The realisation set in just before her fiftieth birthday.  In her second marriage, living in her dream house with an eleven year-old daughter, she felt vulnerable and despaired.  They had gotten through the lockdowns as a family, while her social life suffered, and she no longer felt her bubbly self.  On top of this she was going through menopause, a disorienting experience, and her daughter was striving for teenage independence in a most hurtful way.  Linda had experienced depression before, tried every medical and alternative healing path, and even been to rehabilitation as a way of setting a line to her partying lifestyle in her twenties (“rehab doesn’t work. I’ve made great friends there though!”).  She knew there was a resilience in her, which after all had enabled her to transition from being a single mother with an insecure singing career to affording her current lifestyle and the stability it represented.  This was now shaken.

Self-doubt and introversion were not her natural habitat, yet she felt isolated, and even began to think she had incurred brain damage as a result of her youthful excesses.  Linda was taking anti-depressants and immersed herself in a temporary sales role, which had just come to an end.  With time on her hands, she decided to try neurofeedback training. 

Visibly nervous excitement before the first session quickly subsided.  We started with a brain map, and just wearing the shower cap-like recording device made her feel calm and sleepy.  This takes about half an hour, and we quickly proceeded to do a first training session.  The cap is replaced with three sensors gently fitted to her head at the areas we look to train.  Settling for a Robert de Niro film, Linda was quickly immersed, relaxed and amused.  The morning passed swiftly and she was on her feet ready to pick her daughter up for school after the session ended.  She noted that her sleep was particularly deep that night.

Linda’s brain map showed substantial deactivation of her prefrontal cortex, something she worried was a result of historic substance abuse.  A remap after ten sessions showed visible improvements on this metric, as encouraging as her other improvements in mood, focus and self-confidence.  

Intrusive, self-critical thoughts subsided and her motivation returned along with focus and deliberation.  She felt particularly productive after each session, and this gave her great confidence.  Changes were apparent in every way.  Even her husband was amazed – “you’re back to your bubbly self!”  Linda began feeling a healthy sense of detachment, and was no longer lifting the weight of the world by herself.  She had gone from being reactive and despondent to taking control and setting the rules, which her husband obligingly acquiesced to. 

A former singer in a band, she started humming tunes to herself again, and there was music playing in the house, replacing the solemn silence that was deafening upon our first meeting.  Soon, projects began, she replaced artwork in the living room and began some redecorations. 

Being on her own was no longer her refuge of choice; instead she rekindled productive relationships, and set aside people and places that were soaking up her energy.  Her schedule filled, as she accomplished her spinning workouts before our sessions, and project partners were waiting outside as we finished. 

Linda started to accept her marital situation, redeemed her sense of self-worth, and found a way to make partnership and parenthood work beyond traditional confines. 

Her brain map corroborates the transition:  previously absent alpha peaks emerged visibly, mirroring the cognitive resuscitation she was experiencing.  Other vulnerabilities in her initial brain map included:

  • mood control;
  • lack of emotional safety, or feeling ‘underloved’, both by family and the world at large;
  • heightened auditory sensitivity and a tendency to over-attribute emotional content into how things are said;
  • focus and planning issues;
  • various anxieties – “what’s next”, social anxiety, a sense of everything being directed at her, hypervigilance, and emotional betrayal
  • disengagement from her surroundings.

Linda did twenty neurofeedback sessions, over the course of seven weeks, usually three per week.  During this time, she had dropped the use of anti-depressant medication (in consultation with her prescribing GP / medical doctor).  We did a remap after ten sessions, which showed substantial changes in her overall brain activation and guided the next ten sessions.  (She had already commented, “It’s worth it!” after session five).  After twenty sessions, Linda’s perceived transformation was corroborated by her final brain map.  Of particular note is the way her immediate family embraced the changes, as her daughter began confiding in her.

Categories
Adults Kids Scz

Steven, 27, Schizophrenia, Psychosis

Steven, 27, diagnosed with Schizophrenia and psychosis, resolved symptoms within seven neurofeedback sessions

Symptoms resolved within Seven (!) Neurofeedback Sessions in One Week

Summary:

Steven, a 27-year-old musician, artist, and videographer, had struggled with mental health issues since his teenage years. He had a history of psychotic episodes and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Medications, particularly clozapine, had been helpful in managing his condition. He was living independently and working from home as a video editor, though he had been through a particularly challenging time during the lockdown.

During the lockdown, a combination of isolation, unsupervised attempts to reduce his medication, and conflicts with his parents caused another psychotic episode, leading him to move back in with his parents and temporarily leave his job. His mother, a medical doctor, sought alternatives and brought him to London for neurofeedback training.

In just seven neurofeedback sessions, significant progress was made in stabilizing Steven’s brain function. Brain mapping showed the reduction of crucial psychosis and trauma markers, as evidenced by changes in the brain’s functional activity. Steven watched movies during his sessions and displayed increased self-discipline, experiencing a sense of calm and contentment.

His changes in demeanor were noticeable to those around him, including his mother. Steven felt more emotionally present, experienced reduced sensory overload and auditory sensitivity, and gained better cognitive clarity. He learned to identify triggers and made conscious efforts to avoid them.

After completing the training, Steven focused on his work, resumed his sports and a healthy lifestyle, and reestablished social contacts. He decided against talk therapy and focused on his emotional well-being.

Despite challenges, particularly conflicts with his mother, Steven’s progress was significant. Conversations with a therapist who understood both him and his mother helped mediate their relationship. Ultimately, Steven was able to pursue his dream of independent living again and moved back into the city with new friends.

An important observation was the absence of Steven’s father in the process. He played no significant role in mediating or calming situations, which was reflected in the brain map, emphasizing the need for training in this area as well.

Neurofeedback can achieve fast and impressive results, as seen here comparing brain maps of a client with a schizophrenia diagnosis after one week of intensive neurofeedback training

Steven's Full Story:

Steven, 27, is a talented musician, artist and videographer.  He has been creating content since his teenage years, and following college education got a job as a video editor for an independent advertising and production company, working from home.  As a teenager, he had indulged in psychadelic drugs, which led to brief hospitalisations, being diagnosed with Schizophrenia and psychosis.  Various medication attempts found chlozapine to be most effective, while Abilify did not work for him and he was able to stop using this.  He was living on his own before lockdown, and while resenting the emotionally numbing side effects of his medication, as well as its physical impact, he continued to pursue his favourite sport, skateboarding, and personal music projects.  

During lockdown, a combination of social isolation and an unsupervised attempt to reduce his medication resulted in another psychotic episode, forcing him to give up his independent lifestyle and move back in with his parents while temporarily giving up his job.  Under psychiatric supervision, he was put on a higher dose of chlozapine, a frequent necessity among persons suspending its use.  Working with a psychologist, he regained some stability and was able to resume his career.  Living at home however intensified the conflict with his parents, in particular his mother, whom he deemed to be overly invasive and whose tone of speech and mannerisms frequently triggered him.  Combined with his lost independence and higher medication dosage, his self-confidence suffered as he saw himself regressing.  

His mother, a medical doctor, took an interest in neurofeedback and brought him to London for an intensive training course. 

 

Neurofeedback can achieve fast and impressive results, as seen here comparing brain maps of a client with a schizophrenia diagnosis after one week of intensive neurofeedback training

In only seven sessions, we were able to stabilise brain function by eliminating crucial psychosis and trauma markers, with the result evidenced in his brain map below (orange areas are dysrythmic, and green the desired state).  He watched movies of his choice, and was able to handle 2-3h sessions with substantial self-discipline, as the medication and jet-lag made him prone to sleepiness as soon as he relaxed.  We alternated movie content between Sci-Fi and comedy to cater for his attention cycles.  After the third session he remarked, “I’m not sure if it’s the placebo effect, but I feel really good”, meaning calm, grounded and deeply content.  While the training at times required a physical effort to stay awake and focussed, he felt refreshed and at peace after each session.  Exploring a new environment – London – in between sessions provided further motivation and joy.

His mother was somewhat disoriented by his change in demeanor; she was worried that he was not pursuing his hobby of photography during the times they explored the city of London together.  He explained to her that he was enjoying the moment, and found himself less triggered by her emotional responses.  Changes were happening, quickly and substantially; cognitively, this manifested in a new sense of calm, groundedness and self-confidence.   Sensory overload, auditory sensitivity and thought confusion were substantially reduced.  The changes were apparent in his composure, and to me as the practitioner, it felt as though there was a new, mature and content person before me.

We had trained his Default Mode Network, as well as brain areas responsible for trauma symptoms.  A brain map confirmed that he had responded incredibly well, and changes in functional activity were real.  We had shown his brain what it feels like when the relevant brain areas ‘behave’, or show less dysrhythmia, and enjoyed the result.  

To consolidate the training effects, he focused on his work, resumed sports and a healthy lifestyle, and made a new effort at resuming social contacts and integration.  Still living at home, the frequency of outbreaks caused by being triggered by his mother reduced significantly, though there were still situations where they clashed.  Steven had gained a new sense of interoception, understanding when he was feeling unstable and what aspects of his physical and social environment contributed towards this.  He drew on conversations he had had with his psychologist to make conscious efforts at avoiding these triggers, and decided he did not want to pursue talk therapy.  

Feeling more emotionally present, he found that social events could trigger an awareness that his life had been hijacked by his condition, and that he was missing out on developments ‘normal’ people go through.  He was also still living at home in the outer suburbs.  His mother, meanwhile, was frustrated that there were still incidents where they clashed.  Unfortunately, she found it difficult to understand that some of her behaviour, such as excessive invasiveness, changes in her tone of speech when becoming emotional, a tendency to blame everything and everyone apart from herself, mood instability, a lack of social integration and unattainable expectations regarding her only child.  Particularly worrying was her tendency to view, and talk about, Steven has ‘having a disease’.  Somehow, in her mind, this exonerated her and relieved her of the need to work on herself.  Ideally, she could have done neurofeedback training herself, which would have addressed some borderline tendencies.  

 Still, conversations with a therapist who understood both provided some important mediation, and raised the prospect of letting Steven pursue his dream of independent living again.  He achieved this soon after, and moved back into the city with new friends.

As an aside, it was interesting to note the absence of Steven’s father in this process.  A gentle person, he was removed from outbursts yet also appeared to play no role in calming situations or guidance.  This was visible on the brain map, and an important brain area to focus training on.