Just as a quick little refresher on Neurofeedback, it is the technique of making brain activity perceptible to the senses in order to consciously alter the brain’s activity. We like to use the example of the brain being a guitar and Neurofeedback being a tuning device. The whole objective is to get your brain waves back on track so your brain waves are back to playing beautiful harmonious chords. To learn a bit more here is our What is Neurofeeback blog where our technician Michelle talks about it more!
How Long is the Session?
The initial intake session is 30-45 minutes. This is where our initial assessment is performed and we discuss what your treatment goals are. All sessions after that are 1 hour. There is always time at the very beginning of the session for any questions before roughly 30 minutes of being hooked up to the equipment. The remaining 20-30 minutes of the session is used for interpreting the data, discussing techniques to use outside of/in between sessions, and additional time for any remaining questions the client may have.
What is Happening During the Session?
You will be doing what is called amplitude training protocols. To put it simply, after we have identified your baseline brainwave patterns, we will compare them to the ‘normal’ brainwave pattern that they should be. Once the target frequencies have been identified, our technician will set up a Neurofeedback protocol.
After you have been hooked up to the EEG machine, you will be presented with real-time feedback in the form of audio or visual cues which are linked to your brainwave activity. There are a few different protocols or ‘tasks’ that can be done in sessions. One protocol may be you watching a movie, TV show, or other program (right now, it’s a clip of Friends). Your objective is to increase and decrease the size of the screen you’re looking at.
In another session your protocol could be auditory. Two sounds will be playing perhaps a lawn mower and beach waves. Your task will be to eliminate one of those sounds or increase the volume of one of the given sounds. You could even do both of those, silence the lawn mower and make the beach waves louder. This can be done with your eyes open or closed, that is up to the person.
What do I Need to Be Prepared For?
As far as preparation for the session itself goes, you will just need to make sure your hair is dry and that you are free of any clips, metal, or earrings. Your technician will need to know if you have cochlear hearing aids or pacemakers as well. It is also important to note any recent traumatic events that would cause heightened emotions/general emotional distress, we advise you to cancel your Neurofeedback appointment.
There are a few side effects post session that are important to note. Feeling tired is a big one, especially the first few sessions. Your brain is doing a lot of work whether it feels like it is or not, so you may feel tired afterwards. A sense of irritability is another one to be aware of. This does not happen for everyone, but is also a possibility. The last one is headaches.
How Long Until I See Results?
We want to emphasize that this is not an overnight process and it will take time to see results. In order for Neurofeedback to work most efficiently, sessions should be at least twice a week. Naturally results will vary as each individual and what they are being treated for is different. With that said, there tends to be change after the 3rd or 4th session depending on what is being treated. Before we start training, a simple assessment will be taken so that we can see the baseline and what we will need to work on. After 10-15 sessions we do another assessment and compare that to our initial assessment to see the difference.