Adventures in Neurofeedback: A case study

I recently started working individually with a client who is dealing with anxiety and depression and has a significant trauma history. She has PTSD symptoms that include flashbacks, dissociation, and hypervigilance. This makes finding coping skills for the anxiety and depression tricky. Every time she tries to calm down with traditional skills like taking a bath or reading, her trauma gets triggered since she has associated being calm with being in danger through repeated instances of trauma.

We started doing neurofeedback to help calm her nervous system in a non traditional way. By noticing prevalent brainwave patterns, we could also think of ways to even them out that would help calm and distract her but not trigger trauma. Knowing what her brain needed, rather than what just sounds soothing, helped us develop a more effective tool box. After a few sessions and consistent skill practice between session, this client reported "feeling empowered for the first time." We still have a ways to go, but neurofeedback therapy will likely be a game changer for this client.

If you or someone you know is a good candidate for neurofeedback therapy, please reach out to me. I would love to see if I can help make strides in their therapy progress.

Adventures in Neurofeedback: A case study

A client was referred for individual therapy for substance abuse, an eating disorder, and trauma. We started to work together after she had completed a stay in residential treatment. She is brilliant, funny as hell, and suffers greatly. We had been working for several months with traditional talk therapy using DBT, ACT, and Attachment Theory to promote change and insight and healing. She was making progress, but progress was slow, and trauma and emotional dysregulation kept popping up and making this client feel hopelessness and shame. 

So, I suggested we trial neurofeedback. We did two sessions per week. I used protocols to enhance SMR frequencies which help with creating a calm and focused energy and help with regulating sleep and mood. We also used Alpha Theta Training to address trauma in a gentle way. 

After a few sessions, she was more regulated and able to articulate thoughts and feelings in session. She was able to do tasks that previously felt overwhelming, like making phone calls, running errands, and walking her dog. This has built momentum as she's gained confidence and she now has found her voice with her partner and with work. She has made friends. She has described herself as happy. 

Another interesting result is that she felt pain in her neck and back that she had previously been numb to. Noticing the pain helped her take better care of herself and not get more injured. 

Trauma is now more easily addressed as she is more grounded and confident in her day to day life and as she is more able to articulate her experience rather than freezing or avoiding. 

The journey is not over, but she has made progress in the span of a few months that would have taken a few years with talk therapy alone. 

If you think neurofeedback may help you, feel free to call us or email. 

Adventures in Neurofeedback - A Case Study

A 25 year old female came in for neurofeedback training at request of her therapist. This client was dealing with anxiety, an eating disorder, and difficulty tolerating and expressing emotions. These symptoms were chronic, since she was a teenager, but exacerbated by grief over her best friend's suicide. She had been doing intensive individual and group therapy, but kept noticing internal walls and blockages that kept her feeling stuck and frustrated.

Enter neurofeedback.

After 5 sessions she was sleeping better and able to complete a shift at work with only one cup of coffee (instead of her previous 4-6 cups). A month into our 2x/week treatment, her therapist called and said she cried in session. Typically she would get squirmy, use humor, or dissociate, but instead she was able to stay in her emotions and connect. After about 10 sessions, she reported that she had eating disorder urges, but she was able to notice them, evaluate them and label them as urges, notice underlying emotions driving her behavior, and often, not act on the urges.

By helping her brain regulate itself through neurofeedback training, she was able to use the tools offered in therapy and make major changes in her life.

If you think you might benefit from neurofeedback, shoot us an email or give us a call.