Personalised Brain training for mind and soul
Neurofeedback - How Does it Work?
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Functional Brain Areas
Our understanding of functional brain areas has improved substantially since EEG and fMRI in the last fifty years. Presently there are around 200 studies per year researching the particular functions individual Brodmann areas govern. These provide us with neuromarkers for various behaviour patterns and mental health issues.
With a Kaiser Neuromap we can detect these and assess vulnerabilities in a granular way. For example, there are at least five different brain areas that can contribute to various forms of anxiety. These include social anxiety, “what’s next” unsuredness, proneness to sensory overload, hypervigilance, and relational thinking where everything is directed at oneself.
Neurofeedback training lets us train the identified vulnerabilities and strengthen the brain’s Default Mode Network. This improves our sense of self, and how we synchronise with our environment. Frictions disappear and we develop a healthy detachment, converting instincts into pro-social actions that help us integrate better and lead.
Neurofeedback Process
Daniel Webster offers the most advanced neurofeedback methods as home visits and intensive courses, in the UK and internationally.
Neurofeedback takes a scientific approach to mental health and optimising brain function. Our brain governs our interaction with our environment, manages our reactions and anticipations, harbours our dreams and visions, and digests our experiences. This makes it a natural organ to treat when we feel out of synchrony. Personalised Brain Training lets us do this, non-invasively and medication-free.
We start with a qEEG-recording, from which we generate a brain map. We can analyse the performance of specific brain areas that contribute to our emotional and mental feeling of well-being. This lets us see vulnerabilities, such as anxieties, trauma, focus and mood control issues, as well as indication of various neurodegenerative conditions and overall brain maturity.
The brain map takes about 45 minutes for a 20 minute recording time. We then discuss the findings in a separate, one-hour call.
We can then train underperforming areas by giving the brain feedback as to their performance.
This process is enjoyable: While watching a movie – any movie – a sensor placed on the relevant brain area lets us monitor its activity real-time, and when it produces undesirable brainwaves, the volume of the movie drops slightly, for a fraction of a second.
This is sufficient information for our pre(sub-)conscious brain to understand the feedback and adjust its behaviour. With practice, we can achieve significant improvements, some of which we see developing in session. A 2 hour session lets us apply multiple protocols at various brain sites.
Most clients notice a feeling of calmness and liberation after the first session; sleep tends to improve and within ten to twenty sessions, many issues have resolved. See Results for Case Studies for more…
Neurofeedback is effective, evidence-based, non-invasive and medication-free.
How Often?
Most clients find 10-20 weekly sessions produce transformative results. Sleep improvement, and a feeling of emotional groundedness tend to emerge within the first few sessions. The training effect quickly builds up as we address brain areas responsible for regulating mood, motivation, attention and focus, and our ability to regulate physiological arousal. Anxieties subside and social interaction takes on new dimensions. We feel valued, able to express our unique skills and strengths, and performance improves, paying dividends on the investment in Personalised Brain Training.
Intensive courses involve two sessions per day over the course of a week or longer. Transformative results can be achieved in a short time period, where we accomodate 10-20 sessions in the UK or internationally. Children enjoy the exceptional screen-time during their school holidays, balanced with activities in and around London. Adults find this a similarly efficient use of time off work, combined with a trip to a new location, and gain additional confidence from negotiating novelty and finding acceptance in a welcoming environment, providing a more effective re-set.
Hybrid courses involving intensives and weekly training are a convenient way of achieving faster results, utilising term breaks and vacations, or long weekends.
"Anna was definitely a lot calmer, didn't 'lose her rag' when I expected her to; she spontaneously picked up a book, which was unheard of before, and started reading; her turn taking improved and she was allowed to join a group for play who had previously ostracised her."
"Julian's previous therapist suggested we go for an ASD assessment, having noticed some autistic traits in addition to his diagnosed ADHD and slower social development, along with tics, motor control issues and habits. After five sessions of neurofeedback, he had calmed a lot and was in full control of his impulsive aggressions when he didn't get something he wanted. His focus and general maturity improved incredibly in the twenty sessions we did in all, as did all of his other symptoms, as well as sleep."
"Tamy's social fears and repetitive routines stopped and she regained her delightful demeanor. She started playing with children in her age group."
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Brain Maps and Personalised Brain Training Explained
Brain Maps expose Individual Vulnerabilities
With a Kaiser Neuromap, we can identify character traits, vulnerabilities and strengths.
Different brain areas and networks govern our behaviour. For example, there are parts of our brain which control mood regulation; spatial distractibility; physiological arousal; our sense of self; self-critical thoughts; anger and emotional attachment; and there are various sources of anxiety.
A brain map shows us which brain areas are behaving immaturely, and thus expose us to vulnerabilities or mental health issues.
Rather than fitting people into categories – diagnosis – we can assess vulnerability to behaviour patterns. Every brain is different. A brain map provides a more granular approach to understanding our strengths and weaknesses.
Personalised Brain Training with Neurofeedback
Neurofeedback lets us train dysrythmic brain areas. With sensors comfortably fitted to the brain areas we want to train, we detect brainwave patterns real-time while watching a movie. When these patterns are inefficient, the volume drops momentarily. This is the feedback we are giving our brain, short and instantaneously.
The brain area we are training recognises this – while our conscious mind is focussed on the movie – and adjusts its behaviour to restore the normal volume. With repetition, throughout a session, learning occurs.
Meanwhile our conscious mind is solely focussed on the movie; the training process is passive in this sense.
The drop in volume is subtle, so we continue to understand the flow of the movie. No current or electrical stimulation is fed to the brain; sensors simply read brainwaves and the feedback is purely audio-visual.
Neurofeedback trains our Pre-Conscious Mind
Rather than engaging the conscious mind, which slows us down, we are training preconscious processes.
This equips us with the ability to live in the moment and attain our potential (if we have to resort to conscious control, we are not living in the moment).
We take a holistic approach to healthy brain self-regulation, rather than categorisation or diagnosis.
Personalised Brain Training is an advanced qEEG brain map-based approach to neurofeedback training developed by the founders of the field. Taking Othmer Method / ILF training methods further, it employs Default Network Training protocols as developed by David Kaiser.
Neurofeedback is Evidence-based
Neurofeedback training is an evidence-based complementary therapy. Its efficacy was first demonstrated some 50 years ago, and with advances in technology, training protocols have become more efficient and the feedback method – watching movies – thoroughly enjoyable.
Neurofeedback is evidence-based. It’s first application was discovered in 1971 when it was used to resolve intractable epilepsy.
There are over 2,000 peer-reviewed research reports on PubMed demonstrating efficacy across a number of pathologies.
In the US, it is an accepted complementary treatment for many challenges.
Neurofeedback Training Sessions
Personalised Brain Training aims to optimise the cortical connectivity, as well as promoting improved thalamo-cortical connection. Neuroplasticity, the ability of neural networks in the brain to make new connections, is an essential and continuous process that underpins our ability to learn. With brain training, we can promote this process.
Protocols are generally around 30-45 minutes per brain area that we train; as such, training sessions are ideally around 90-120 minutes. This corresponds to the average length of a movie. This is also the length of our ultradian rhythms – attention cycles that govern our day, letting us perform at more than 100% at peak, and less than this at trough – think of the lull we experience around lunchtime. By training the brain throughout a complete cycle, we are more likely to provide the brain with a challenge at different points in its attention cycle for a more comprehensive training.
The primary feedback mechanism in Personalised Brain Training is auditory, that is, a subtle change in volume. The brain recognises this, preconsciously, while our conscious mind is focused on the movie, and corrects its behaviour to preserve the continuity of the watching (or listening) experience. A secondary, visual feedback mechanism can be activated, whereby the picture size changes too, though this is optional in cases of high visual sensitivity (e.g. migraines).
We can track progress by remapping the brain at intervals, usually after every 20 hours of training. Ten sessions will give a good indication of responsiveness, which besides subjective feedback we can ascertain with a further remap. With neurofeedback training, we are showing the brain a more efficient state during a session. Upon repetition, the brain learns to adopt this new state. The person has to then implement this new learning in their life. Internal changes have to be externalised. Training success depends on this ability thus results can vary.
Neurofeedback training begins with two to three sessions per week and the frequency of training can then be adjusted to need and symptom improvements. Intensive courses involving two or more sessions per day can also be accommodated.
Contact Daniel on +44 (0)7966 699430 or daniel@neurofeedback.io to arrange sessions.
Neurofeedback is a form of complementary therapy and should not be seen as a replacement for conventional medicine. qEEG brain map-based neurofeedback training takes a more holistic approach to brain functioning, rather than just focusing on medical symptoms. It is not intended as a form of diagnosis nor medical intervention nor medical advice per the disclaimer.