Finally a brain test showed which medications would help.

Trial and error medication: Even in the hands of the very best psychiatrists, prescribing medication is a trial and error process. The doctor evaluates patterns of symptoms, makes a diagnosis, then prescribes a medication that research has shown, on average, to be helpful to those with that diagnosis. But there's a rub: For most disorders, there are multiple medications that have been found effective. And no medication has been found to be effective for all individuals with that disorder. Individuals [...]

By |March 7th, 2017|Categories: Anxiety, Depression, Neuroscience|0 Comments

NIMH Funds Definitive Study of Neurofeedback for ADHD

After almost four years of planning, we are now getting started on a very carefully controlled randomized double blind study of the effectiveness of neurofeedback for ADHD. This study emerged in the aftermath of a panel I sat on at the annual 2010 conference of CHADD (Children and Adults with ADHD) - the national ADHD advocacy organization. After the panel, we agreed to form a collaboration between established experts in neurofeedback and established academic ADHD researchers. The group included six [...]

By |September 15th, 2014|Categories: ADHD + ADD, Neuroscience|0 Comments

Do you have your thoughts, or do your thoughts have you?

Help! I'm stuck. At one time or another, this has probably happened to you:  you get mentally stuck.  Unable to move on. Locked in a repetitive mental loop. Ruminations, repetitive thoughts, "stuck" ideas, automatic thoughts: this experience is common to several different kinds of suffering. Your thoughts have you, instead of you having them. It feels as though you can't stop thinking about something.  This is common to obsessive compulsive disorder, autism spectrum disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, depression (for many [...]

By |August 12th, 2013|Categories: Autism Spectrum, Depression, NDC Tips, Neuroscience, Uncategorized|0 Comments

New Neurofeedback Partnership: fMRI and EEG

Functional magnetic resonance imaging is one of the most technologically advanced forms of brain imaging. It is capable of measuring very accurately throughout the brain changes in blood oxygenation, and therefore changes in brain activity and connectivity. This tool has become one of the leading edges of brain science. Unfortunately, it requires a huge and hugely expensive piece of equipment. In basic research, fMRI is increasingly studied as a means to provide immediate feedback to allow people to learn to [...]

By |July 17th, 2013|Categories: Neuroscience|0 Comments

Train self control to win the “marshmallow test”

A landmark study: Can preschoolers wait? A study done by psychologist Walter Mischel at Stanford in the sixties has long been a classic. But it takes on dramatically increased significance with the growth of our understanding of brain plasticity in the last two decades of neuroscience. In this study, preschoolers were seen in a small room with their mothers. The experimenter put a marshmallow on the table and told the child he can eat it right away. Or, if the child [...]

By |May 20th, 2013|Categories: ADHD + ADD, Family, NDC Tips, Neuroscience|0 Comments

Neuroscience reveals rat telepathy

Our clients often tell us how amazing they find the neurofeedback process. Instantaneous guidance by brain activity? Changing brain activity based on rewards? Exciting new neuroscience research takes this several steps further. Imagine having your behavior guided by someone else's brain! Here is the study: two rats have tiny electrodes implanted in the part of their brain that governs motor responses. The rats are on two separate continents. In their cages are two levers, each with a light above. Both rats [...]

By |March 3rd, 2013|Categories: Neuroscience|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Traumatic brain injury: Football and boxing, sure. But soccer?

There’s lots of buzz about the risk of concussion in football. Some interesting solutions are being studied, like a football helmet with built in sensors that measure the force of impacts and can signal the need to assess for concussion. Another great solution is the routine use of computerized neuropsychological tests, before any injury to serve as a baseline comparison, and then after a blow to the head to detect traumatic brain injury. Testing is done before the athletic season begins to establish [...]

By |November 7th, 2012|Categories: NDC Tips, Neuroscience|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments