Meditation helps strengthen our Default Mode Network, as well as the ability to switch between Task Positive and self-referential states.
8 weeks of 10-minute sessions a day sufficed in this recent study:
https://www.binghamton.edu/news/story/3195/research-shows-just-8-weeks-of-meditation-studies-can-make-your-brain-quicker
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-90729-y
#neurofeedback #meditation #DefaultModeNetwork
Mental Health Diagnosis and how we work with it has changed incredibly during the last 50 years.
Watch this contrast between Susanna Kaysen’s BPD diagnosis in 1967 from Girl, Interrupted, and two YouTubers discussing Schizophrenia.
https://youtu.be/7LE_D7a2_LA
A short video introduction to Brain Maps and Neurofeedback.
https://youtu.be/sLJ_mI-yidc
A genetic predisposition to schizophrenia can be set off by exclusion from the external environment.
Migration, that is, higher exposure to social adversity, has been found to substantially increase the risk of developing schizophrenia.
Cannabis use in adolescents has been linked to schizophrenia since the 1980s, and it’s ability to stimulate internal content generation could be one reason for the high rate of use among persons on the schizophrenia spectrum.
Read more about Neurofeedback for Schizophrenia.
The Science of Compassion is dedicated to helping clinicians and care providers feel a sense of achievement in their work; increase their sense of fulfilment; and be energised by their work.
This makes contributing to helping people who need care a sustainable process.
Modern researchers define compassion as having 4 components:
(Jinpa, 2012; Jazaieri et al., 2016)
• 1. Noticing another’s suffering (cognitive/attentional component)
• 2. Empathically feeling the other person’s pain (affective component)
• 3. Wishing or desiring to see relief of that suffering (intentional component)
• 4. Responding or acting to help ease or alleviate that suffering (motivational component)
Compassion Satisfaction is defined as:
• A positive sentiment the provider experiences when able to empathetically connect and feel a sense of achievement in the careproviding process.
• Increased sense of self-efficacy and fulfilment in helping work
• Invigorated in the work and energized further to contribute to helping people who need care.
(Stamm, 2002; Stamm, 2010; Slatten et al., 2011; Zeidner & Hadar, 2014)
Neurofeedback improves quality of life, sensory integration, motor skills, movement initiation and balance in Parkinson’s Disease.
Peer-reviewed research shows the following effects in neurofeedback applications to Parkinson’s Disease:
– improvement in static and dynamic balance
– improved motor symptoms, on a par with other therapies such as rTMS – while being non-invasive and drug-free
– improvement in life quality
– potential to train up speed of movement initiation by 37%
– increased sensory integration in 10-12 sessions
– reduced symptom severity
General (non-PD specific) effects of neurofeedback training include:
– overall increased fine motor skills
– boost behavioural performance and learning
Comorbid mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, aggression, and mood imbalances can be addressed directly with neurofeedback.
Chronic Pain is another application for neurofeedback, where studies have demonstrated its efficacy.
Subjectively, PD sufferers find neurofeedback training calming, reassuring and report an improved sense of feeling being part of their body.
It has recently been shown that neurofeedback training led to cognitive improvements in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients, and that this corresponded to improved functional connectivity in key motor and salience networks. Increased fractional anisotropy (FA) was observed, which correlated with cognitive improvement.
MS is a neurodegenerative condition that adversely affects axonal myelination. FA is among other a measure of myelination, so the result that neurofeedback can make positive changes in this condition is very encouraging.
A study with sufferers of Huntington’s Disease, another neurodegenerative condition, showed that cognitive and motor skills improved and that these changes related to improved functional connectivity in key brain regions, again a conclusion that neuroplasticity can be induced despite the presence of neurodegeneration.
Research on audio-visual hallucinations in Schizophrenia patients have found that Neurofeedback training can produce significant results in reducing treatment resistant auditory verbal hallucinations. In 30% of cases antipsychotic medication has little or no effect
Researcher Katherine Fletcher (PhD) of Parkinson’s UK asserts that:
“The idea of Neurofeedback is very interesting and the evidence [above] shows great potential. Larger studies would be needed to fully understand the potential and safety of this method for people with Parkinson’s before we could share it with our community.”
Research funded by Parkinson’s UK regarding hallucinations is currently focused on CBD and anti-sickness pills. Neurofeedback training is drug-free and non-invasive.
Neuronal functioning was found to become impaired by a high fat diet in a recent study.
Neurons require internal energy to be released for optimal functioning. Their long axons contain mitochondria, small organelles that release chemical energy stored as ATP. Saturated fatty acids affect the mitochondrial energy release process adversely in mice.
As this is a key component of the popular Keto Diet, research interest could increase.
This study demonstrates that working memory in older adults can be revived by training specific brain behaviour.
The method used focused on training particular organisational frequencies which the brain uses to transmit information between different areas of the neocortex.
Adults between 60-76 years showed rapid and lasting improvement in working memory performance after one session.
The method focuses on theta-gamma phase amplitude codes, or modulation, in the temporal cortex; and theta phase synchronisation across the fronto-temporal cortex. In this case, transcranial alternating-current stimulation (tACS) was used.
These protocols can be trained using neurofeedback training, which is non-invasive.
A small pilot study has indicated that neurofeedback – where patients concentrate on modifying their own brainwave patterns – has potential to treat many of the 100m people worldwide who suffer from Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD). This is the first time that neurofeedback has been shown to improve both individual symptoms and overall recovery in TRD.
According to the World Health Organization, “Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide”, with over 300m people suffering globally. There are treatments for depression, but up to a third of people don’t respond to treatment, even after trying different antidepressants. This is Treatment-resistant depression (TRD). For these patients, there are limited options.
Now a new pilot study from Korea indicates that neurofeedback may be offer a viable treatment to patients suffering from TRD, if used with antidepressants. Working with 12 patients with TRD and 12 controls, the researchers put patients through 12 weeks regular training sessions, where the patients learned how to vary their brainwaves in response to audio and visual signals.
Personalised Brain training for mind and soul