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
ADHD Anxiety Kids PanicAttacks POTS Sleep Trauma

Victoria, 16, Trauma, ADHD, PoTS

Victoria, 16, Trauma, ADHD, PoTS

Elena, 15, had self-harm ideation which was resolved within twenty sessions of neurofeedback training

Panic Attacks, PoTS, Anxiety and Sleep Issues resolved in Two Months

Summary:

Victoria, a 16-year-old student, experienced panic attacks just before her junior year of school (Year 12). Isolated at home with her family during the summer vacation due to COVID-19, she eagerly anticipated returning to school and socializing with friends. However, she had been struggling with anxiety related to difficulties in processing written information and completing essays, which took her much longer than her peers. This issue had been masked by her family’s strict self-isolation protocols during the previous two years. The night before school started, she suffered a panic attack, leading to a visit to the emergency room.

Doctors prescribed mild sedatives and recommended deep breathing exercises, which helped manage her anxiety. Victoria’s mother insisted on her wearing a N95 (FFP2) face mask continuously during the school day due to COVID-19 fears. Her teacher in Biology had given her coursework to complete during the summer, which took her an excessive amount of time, causing significant worry about falling behind.

Victoria’s brain map revealed her positive traits, including emotional insight and a caring demeanor, but it also identified various sources of anxiety, trauma markers, hypervigilance, guilt, sleep, focus, and mood control issues. The brain map further indicated hypometabolism, showing a lack of necessary blood flow in critical areas and a lack of connectivity between the brain hemispheres.

After seeking medical attention and the neurologist’s opinion, Victoria’s panic attacks remained manageable, but she developed a deep distrust in her bodily functions. She struggled with PoTS-like symptoms (Postural Tachycardia Syndrome), which were not officially diagnosed. Victoria had a history of sleep deprivation, early trauma, and a difficult adoption process, which contributed to her challenges.

Victoria started neurofeedback training, attending two sessions per week for a month. Her panic attacks subsided, and PoTS-like symptoms became manageable. She enjoyed the social aspects of school, but her mother’s fears and restrictions caused her distress. After a break, she resumed neurofeedback training for the second term, which led to improvement in her symptoms.

In the midst of all this, Victoria’s mother’s intense involvement and overbearing behavior were evident. She had neglected her own social life and self-insight, causing stress within the family. This prompted her to begin neurofeedback treatment herself.

Victoria did a one-week intensive neurofeedback training, which significantly improved her well-being. When school resumed, she was back to her usual self, confident and thriving in her social and academic life.

Victoria's Full Story:

Victoria, 16, was experiencing panic attacks at the end of August, just before her junior year of school (year 12) was about to begin.  Hyperventilating, she was scared of her body’s overdrive, necessitating an A&E visit at 3am the night before her first day back.  Having spent much of the summer vacation isolated at home with her family, who a year post lockdowns was still exercising social distancing, she had been looking forward to socialising again, meeting her friends and embarking on the critical last two years of school.  Some anxiety had been building up due to her difficulties in absorbing written information in a timely manner, as well as when writing essays, which would take her substantially longer than her peers.  A homework assignment that should take an hour to complete would require four hours of her concentration, which would have taken a toll on her ability to socialise, though this aspect was masked by the family’s strict self-isolation protocols during the previous two years.  Once submitted, she usually achieved top marks, and her intellect and potential was apparent.  In Biology, a subject she aspired to study at higher level, her teacher gave her coursework in advance of the new school year to complete in view of this unexplained condition.  When she discovered how long this was taking her to do, the prospect of falling behind within a month instilled deep worry that weighed on her.  Things came to a head however the night before school started, and her body felt out of control. 

The doctors prescribed mild sedatives (beta blockers) and gave her a bag to blow into so as to help normalise her breathing.  This helped and became an important habit before and after school during the first week of term.  Her mother was still requiring her to wear a N95 (FFP2) face mask continuously during the school day out of fear of Covid contagion.  Victoria’s sister had recently started neurofeedback training for her depression and self-harm inclinations and was experiencing great results, while appreciating the non-invasive character of the treatment – no soul-searching talk sessions with a psychotherapist of the mother’s choosing, just watching her favourite new movies.  Victoria elected to start neurofeedback training on her third day at school, and we began with a brain map and two sessions per week.

Victoria’s brain map confirmed the pleasant core aspects of her character – emotional insight, a caring demeanour, desire to integrate and form social bonds, and the ability to take on different perspectives.  She also had multiple sources of anxiety, some trauma markers, a sense of hypervigilance and guilt, overpriming her environment at the expense of her own sense of agency, and sleep, focus and mood control issues.  Most worryingly, her brain appeared to be hypometabolised, meaning, lacking necessary blood flow in many critical areas, and a clear hemispherical division, that is, a lack of connectivity between the two brain halves, in virtually all functional areas. 

Having received medical attention frequently during the preceding months, the blood flow issues and structural findings of the brain map had not been flagged, and her mother took her to a neurologist for further investigation.  By this time, her panic attacks were more manageable yet Victoria had developed a deep sense of distrust in her bodily function, convinced something was wrong with her.  When she got up from her seat, her heart rate would frequently explode, and by her mother’s measurements and research, she could easily have met the diagnostic requirements for PoTS, or Postural Tachycardia Syndrome.  The neurologist would have none of this.  At the time, PoTS had not received much mainstream coverage, and itself appeared to be a fairly novel, yet real, condition.  He explained to her that what she was going through was mere psychological anxiety, or “somatisation”, and found no grounds for concern in his scans.  Nonetheless, physical exercise, even short walks, remained unworkable.

Victoria had a history of sleep deprivation and early trauma.  Adopted during infancy, her new parents took her on a trip to her country of origin when she was seven, and she was subsequently unable to sleep properly most nights, lying in bed with her eyes closed yet her mind racing, all night.  This had only improved a few years prior, though she had never recovered the energy and vivaciousness of her early years.  She had also changed school three times as a consequence of racially motivated bullying, together with her sister, and her mother had developed a paranoid cynicism that preceded all social interactions, as if to purposefully conjure up antagonistic reactions in an attempt to prove the worst and thereby achieve some sense of control and certainty.  Her mother’s combative approach contrasted with Victoria’s, and her sister’s, gentle and likeable demeanour.  The two girls’ friendships at school were carefully vetted, and their mother’s presence was felt in every fibre of their lives.  Team sports were discouraged, and class trips prohibited.  Birthday parties were curtailed after disappointments in their early years, and the family’s isolated lifestyle made meetings with friends outside of school hours rare and difficult.  Instead, the family engaged in weekend activities together, comprising music lessons, art and theatre appreciation, and outings to nearby parks.  Privacy from their parents was an impossibility, and in fact their mother, who had given up her own career, declared her increased devotion to “be there for them completely” during their important final two school years. 

Victoria did two neurofeedback sessions per week for the first month of school, and improved significantly.  Her panic attacks subsided, and her PoTS symptoms were manageable, though she still felt lethargic on the weekends.  The social side of school was emotionally invigorating, and her mother developed a new fear about the teenager’s natural interests.  At this point, Victoria had been made to share a bed with her distrustful and concerned mother, whose overwhelming presence had taken a toll on her marital relations, with her husband relegated to a separate room.  Victoria’s sister meanwhile prospered socially and academically, enjoying the relief of reduced maternal attention.  Her mother took to the idea of reducing the academic pressure on Victoria with typical fervour, contacting teachers regularly, and she was exempted from completing homework assignments and left to work at her own pace.  Victoria’s concentration had improved concurrently, a trend that was set to continue over the next months and culminated in passing her mid-term mock exams with good results, including biology that had triggered the initial episode. 

For the next month, we did weekly neurofeedback sessions, followed by a brain map after the twelfth session.  The hypometabolism had largely resolved and interhemispheric connectivity impressively occurred.  Marked sleep improvements were corroborated, as were reduced anxieties.  PoTS symptoms were no longer mentioned.  Motivation had increased, and the moving body pain was manageable.  Victoria felt able to complete her homework assignments, and school became a priority for the next month in preparation for her mock exams.  We did two more sessions and took a break from neurofeedback.

Shortly before Christmas, Victoria’s mother sought to resume neurofeedback training.  Victoria had done well in her mock exams and was coping with schoolwork – the initial issue of taking much, much longer to complete assignments than her peers was no longer mentioned.  Neither was PoTS, headaches or sleep issues.  Mask wearing, the N95 type, was still enforced by her mother, who did not entertain the idea that this could infringe on her ability to socialise or learning how Victoria’s facial expressions and reactions could impact those around her.  In addition to this censorship, her mother’s stated fear of Covid resulted in further constraints on social interaction, with the prospect of spending her birthday alone at home over the pending vacation.  Due to the six week gap since our last session, we started with a remap, which unfortunately showed some regression.  There were clear trauma markers, some anxieties came back, as did her hypervigilance, and in addition to a worrying lack of own perspective, a marker indicating the presence of an abuser, or someone Victoria paid particular attention and monitoring capacity towards, appeared for the first time. 

Victoria’s mother had spent the first term of the school year under severe stress, committing herself fully to support her adolescent daughters, and inserting herself further into every fibre of their lives.  She acknowledged that this was in stark contrast to how her brother managing his children’s transition into early adulthood.  Her own sleep had not been great to start the term with, and the built up worry, anxieties, and pre-existing mood control issues were exacerbated by the stress.  Afraid of losing control, and the pending next stage of her own life once her children were going to go to university and leave the house, she compensated with surrendering any own motivations to perceived helpfulness and dedication.  Scheduling every move and activity, she noticed when Victoria was spending time locked in her room, or even the bathroom in their weekday home where she was sharing again with her sister.  Any semblance of a social life from before Covid lockdowns had long gone, and she was feeling neither part of general society nor connected to former friends and family.  She was ever more convinced of intrinsic racism and antagonism towards any of her causes, and complained about the abolition of social distancing and other Covid measures that had happened over a year ago by now.  Her overbearing intensity was difficult to dispute, and it appeared that her children, and husband, were suffering from her lack of self-insight.  She would frequently break down when out of sight of her children, upset when her husband, himself suffering from Long Covid symptoms, found the occasional energy to call her ‘neurotic’.  It would take a year for her to commence neurofeedback training for herself (see Case Study).

We did a one-week intensive training, with one (long) session per day, over the course of a week, which provided significant relief throughout the social void of the vacation period.  When school resumed, Victoria was back in her element.

Categories
ADHD Kids SH Trauma

Elena, 15, self-harm

Elena, 15, self-harm

Elena, 15, had self-harm ideation which was resolved within twenty sessions of neurofeedback training

Self-harm ideation resolved within twenty neurofeedback sessions

Elena had already changed school multiple times due to bullying.  She was exceptionally smart, and creative, and found it hard to be accepted by different playgroups during her early teens.  Home schooling during the last years further reduced her social circle, and after returning to school for a year, her best friend was hospitalised following a suicide attempt.  

Meanwhile, she was having difficulties with body awareness and began questioning her gender identity.  Having voiced urges to self-harm, she began ‘cutting’ after a family vacaction she had long looked forward to turned out to be a disappointment.  They had gone on a trip abroad with friends of the parents and their teenage children, who had just finished their GCSE exams (10th grade).  While the others were celebrating the end of this intense study period, Elena was ‘encouraged’ (forced) to continue wearing an N95 mask in their presence, as well as in all public places.  Her mother discouraged her from mixing with the other teenagers without adult supervision, thus ostracising her physically and emotionally.  When Elena returned from vacation, she appeared deeply upset and broken, insisting on wearing her hoodie while training at first.  This lasted throughout most of the session and she was loathe to even make small talk.  The advantage of neurofeedback training became particularly apparent through this, as we don’t rely on, or even require, any deep conversations and instead work on training subconscious processes.  By the end of the session, she was relaxed and confidently pulled back her hood. 

Elena, 15, had self-harm ideation which was resolved within twenty sessions of neurofeedback training

Elena’s mother had made the well-intentioned decision to make herself available to her daughter in all forms of support.  This proved to be overly invasive for the teenager; it also caused issues with the school and other parents, and consequently with Elena and her acceptance by her classmates.  The mother’s intensity, mood swings and hypervigilant obsessions were not of emotional support to Elena, nor to the family in general:  Effectively still self-isolating, distrusting Covid-safety of public places and transport, insisting on the constant presence of racial hostility in all situations, and fostering an atmosphere of severe anxiety and hyper-vigilance instead of providing an emotional safe space and teaching the ability to rationally self-soothe.  She continued to insist on Elena’s wearing of an N95 mask in all public situations, including at school, which made Elena look physically different, prevented others from seeing her facial expressions, and her from appreciating the effects of non-verbal communications.  

We did twenty neurofeedback sessions over the course of three months, during which Elena cast away the cloud under which she had found herself and gained acceptance at school.  Her self-harm tendencies quickly abated and were no longer mentioned after a month.  Sleep improved, and her more bubbly, extroverted self came out.  She made friends with a group of students in a class above her.  Elena became more assertive, which led to some friction with her mother who still insisted on being a part of every fibre of her life.  At this point, or before, it would have helped for the mother to have done neurofeedback training herself; this way, we were working against substantial adversity in her immediate environment.  Instead, Elena was left to carve out personal space by herself, which she managed with a mix of rational argumentation and some emotional confrontations.  Her father was encouraged by this; he had been effectively relegated into a submissive side-role by her overbearing mother, and found new encouragement as Elena’s resolve strengthened.  This helped change some entrenched family dynamics and introduced a new optimism, consolidating her relationship with her dad who became a more pivotal go-to person in her life.

Elena enjoyed watching movies, which were part of her curriculum in a film studies class.  Her requests were well-researched, and she was quick to point out when a film was not capturing her full attention and needed changing.