Neurofeedback and the Side Effects of Cancer and Cancer Treatment

Excellent news: Colleague Jean Alvarez' well-done study on the use of neurofeedback to reduce

cognitive side effects of cancer and cancer treatment has recently been published.

The results of the study are very positive. This is especially exciting because there is very little else that helps with this condition, often called Chemo Brain or Chemo Fog.

The study confirms what I and many other NeurOptimal® neurofeedback trainers have seen in our work - that symptoms begin to reduce very quickly, often as soon as after the first session.

An abstract of the study is available at the Integrative Cancer Therapies journal. You can also obtain more information about the study by emailing Dr. Alvarez. 

If you have questions about neurofeedback and side effects of cancer and cancer treatments (or for other things you would like to see change), please comment here or email me.

Catherine Boyer, MA, LCSW

New York Neurofeedback

Will I Need Neurofeedback Tuneups?

 With NeurOptimal® neurofeedback most people don't need tuneups.

You're likely to come in with a list of changes you'd like to see happen - better sleep, more peace of mind, less anxiety, better focus, less depression, whatever your list is - and stay until you feel happy with where you are. (For a more complete list of things that can change, visit the New York Neurofeedback website).

There's not really a ceiling on benefits for most people, so you choose when you're ready to stop. A very small percentage of people do best with ongoing sessions and may want to get their own system. If you think this is you, you're welcome to email me with questions or for more information.

Occasionally, someone comes back because they had one too many difficult things happen to them at once and got thrown a bit off track. Usually a session or two sets them right.

Or someone might come in because they just got a promotion or other opportunity and want to be at their very best for it.

But most of the time in the former situation, their brain self-corrects and in the latter, well, neurofeedback
might just have something to do with why that opportunity appeared...

If you'd like to ask about something you'd like to see change, please leave a comment here on the blog, or you can email me privately if that's more comfortable.

Catherine Boyer, MA, LCSW
New York Neurofeedback

Can Neurofeedback Help with Addictions?

More and more often I hear about addiction rehab facilities incorporating neurofeedback into their in-patient programs. People contact me after their discharge in order to continue neurofeedback as part of their aftercare programs. Why? Because it can be such a helpful part of their recovery.

Here's a quote from Susan Adams of TreeHouse Learning Community (a residence for college students in recovery) regarding related research:

...there was the William C. Scott, B.S.W. study, “Effects of an EEG Biofeedback Protocol on a Mixed Substance Abusing Population.” It was a double-blind study. Of the alcoholics and addicts who underwent 42 sessions of neurofeedback while in treatment and attending AA meetings weekly, 77% were sober after one year. Of the group of alcoholics and addicts who were in treatment and attended AA meetings who did NOT receive neurofeedback, only 7% remained sober after one year. 

She also says:

First I would like to say that I am skeptical when people say Neurofeedback “works” on addiction. I think this is a dangerous overstatement. What I can safely say is this; one of the most important reasons why people engage in addictive behavior – whether it’s substances or sex or food or whatever – is because it makes them “feel better.”

(These quotes come from an interview conducted by NeurOptimal®, makers of the state of the art system used by New York Neurofeedback.)

Neurofeedback helps people to feel better by eliminating or easing symptoms associated with depression, anxiety, social phobias and other form of “dis-ease” or discomfort. In effect, the need to soothe oneself by engaging in addictive behaviors in lessened.

What I find in general is that neurofeedback makes it easier for people to naturally and without effort do what's good for them... and not do what isn't.

Catherine Boyer, MA, LCSW
New York Neurofeedback

Grant Money Goes to Neurofeedback

I was surprised recently to see an article about Southern California Edison donating funds to California State San Bernardino to fund the school's project making
neurofeedback available at low cost to both students and to the local community.

It's encouraging to see this evidence of neurofeedback's growing acceptance both in the scientific community and in the mainstream.

Catherine Boyer, MA, LCSW
New York Neurofeedback

How Can We Understand Contradictory Research?

Dr. Ben Goldacre gave a funny and, I think, important talk on Ted called Battling Bad Science. It's about 14 minutes long.

What you'll get from watching it is a much more balanced way to respond to the contradictory information we get about what we should do, eat, avoid, etc., in order to stay healthy.

You'll also learn about some of the tricky things pharmaceutical companies do in how they design their clinical trials. And what they leave out.



Useful, right?

Catherine Boyer, MA, LCSW
New York Neurofeedback

Fractal Geometry and Benoit Mandelbrot

If you're interested in the images on this blog and would like to know more about them, visit the Fractal Images page of New York Neurofeedback's website.

You can also watch this wonderful 2008 Nova episode on fractal geometry and its originator, Benoit Mandelbrot (1924-2010). You don't need to be a mathematician to find it fascinating.

   

Fractals are everywhere in nature. Your brain is an immensely complex example of it - that's the relevance to neurofeedback and the reason I chose fractals as the images here and on the NYNF website.

Most people looking at fractal art (look to the right of this post to see a slideshow) find it soothing in a way similar to the way it feels to spend time in nature. Interesting, isn't that?

Catherine Boyer, MA, LCSW
New York Neurofeedback

How Can Neurofeedback Help with So Many Things?

It's a great question, and one that sometimes has people ambivalent about trying neurofeedback. How can it be that good? How can anything help with problems ranging  from depression, anxiety, insomnia... and the desire to lower your golf score?

Here's why it can be that good. Neurofeedback works directly with the central nervous system (the brain and the spinal cord), commonly referred to as the CNS.

I think of the CNS as the captain of the ship, central to all the ways you experience your life, for example:

• Emotions, including those associated with anxiety and depression
  
• Sensations - what your eyes, ears, nose, etc., are telling you
  
• Coordination of the activity of the body (including the involuntary actions like breathing and keeping your heart beating)
  
• Control of behavior (along with the peripheral nervous system, which connects the CNS to your hands, arms, legs, etc., and to your organs)

Neurofeedback is training for the CNS, tuning it up to be at its best. Since the CNS is key to all of the above, that means there is potential positive change in a huge variety of the things you would like to have change. To see more examples of this, read the Client Comments page of New York Neurofeedback's website.

You're also welcome to email with questions about what you'd like to see change, or you can post a question or comment here on the blog.

Catherine Boyer, MA, LCSW
New York Neurofeedback