Depression: Neurofeedback Therapy

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[@veramann]

At the LA Neurofeedback Center, it charges each person $89 for the first session. Then, the fee becomes $275 per session. If he or she buys a package of 10 sessions, it's $2500, which is still expensive.

[@superlasse2468]

I call it an investment. What's the use in having the money in your bank account if you're still depressed? What materialistic thing would make you happier than having the symptoms of your depression alleviated?

[@RobertLongM]

Are there different qualities/methods of NF?

[@johns5917]

My friends, depression is in the mind not in the brain. The mind is not present in the brain, it just uses the brain to interact with this world, so I'm not sure what you guys are treating. Stimulating the front left side of the cortex won't get the patient very far. This intervention will be comparable with what happens with patients that have a lasik surgery,; after a few years myopia comes back.

[@Extivita-RTP]

Thank you for your comment John. While depression may be psychological ("mind"), studies have shown it to involve a neurobiological basis: electrical imbalances/neurochemical dysfunction and inflammation. That's how anti depressants help by balancing the chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters. Neurofeedback addresses the electrical imbalances by helping correct asymmetrical of brain waves (alpha and beta in the case of depression).

[@johns5917]

@@Extivita-RTP Very well said, I like your’ thinking pattern and I also love science. For the purposes of grasping what I want to say I will use this simple example: Suppose John is the body-mind complex which will be regarded as the psychological “mind” that you are referring to. He has a car - which can be regarded as the physical body of a healthy human. Simply say “mind” is John which is the owner of the car, while the car is his body; all the car parts are John’s organs, flesh, bone, circulatory system, etc…you get the idea. John gets inside his beautiful brand-new car and starts driving it everywhere, on bumpy roads, over potholes, off-road, you name it. At the beginning he’s unaware of the damage that he’s doing and continues driving it like a maniac. After some time, things start breaking apart, one by one. To simplify let’s say John hit some huge pothole while on high speed. Somehow, he manages to not crush but now one of his rims is bent and John has trouble steering the car since it started to pull to the right. Because is not a mechanic, he goes to his friend and shows him the damage. Then the friend recommends him a mechanic. He goes to the mechanic and gets his wheels/rims balanced, but after that he’s still not satisfied with the car since it’s still pulling right. Then he goes to the dealership instead of the local mechanic and they tell him that his car needs an alignment, service that needs to be performed every 6 months to avoid such unpleasantness, because you know….Roads! After fixing the alignment John realizes there’s another problem but this one it’s really hard to even describe hence he goes to the most sophisticated mechanic that’s available. It turns out that there’s a misfire on one of the pistons. He ends up spending a fortune to fix that also, but of course our John continues to drive his car as hectic as before, if not more aggressively because now he’s not a beginner driving great car, he “knows” exactly what he’s doing. We can clearly see from the above example that “John” is the real reason why his car turned into a wreck in the first place, but because he’s not aware of this, he blames the roads, etc. Fixing his car won’t last him too much because although he doesn’t want to damage it again, he can’t help that he has an addiction for speed or he fails to realize that all his troubles are caused by him pressing too hard on the gas pedal. That said, if we relate the above example to what’s happening to a patient, you guys will be the most experienced mechanics. Correction of the asymmetrical brain waves through neurofeedback, if successful will temporarily fix the issues but the side effects that come with the procedure are yet to be discovered. The only permanent fix could happen only if John himself realizes he is the one that turned such a beautiful car into a wreck, it’s not the car’s fault. Then he starts investigating and finds out that he has an addiction for speed, a heavy foot on the gas and so forth. The moment he realizes it, the change has already started and this change is the REAL change. Procedures on the brain can indeed “fix” or better say hide the symptoms of such conditions or others, however if the tendencies don’t change, they will soon find another outlet to express themselves if those are caused by the mind. It seems to me that doctors NEVER fix anything, either they prolong the time of the ticking bomb or simply throw it on the other side of the fence to some other doctors and so forth until the bomb explodes. A wise man once said: The sum of addictions remains the same for unaware people. People manage to break a habit to find later on that they have immerse themselves into another. Does this mean these issues cannot ever be fixed? No, it means that they can ONLY be fixed if one has the right approach. I hope that clarifies why I said the procedure won't get the patient very far. Once again, it is possible to alleviate the symptoms and give one the impression that the issue is gone, but the issue will manifest in the system throughout a different outlet.

[@superlasse2468]

@@johns5917 Hi John. I'm a bit late to the party, but I agree. I have depression and am combining neurofeedback with a psychological therapy, so as to promote neuroplasticity and allow for greater impressionability during therapy. Exclusively neurological therapy is not the answer. The answer, from my experience, tends to be in relationships: relationships with ourselves or others. If the brain is more open to change, this can happen sooner, so, although I agree with you, I do believe neurofeedback has its use and benefits. If you examine cases where autism is caused by genetics or issues during pregnancy, the parents nor' the child can fix their behaviour. Neurological intervention seems rational. In the case of autism, it's delta and theta brain wave reliability that needs to be progressed. It's lovely to see those as interested in the neurological and psychological origins of our feeling as I am. Thanks for sharing your input and experience.