neurofeedback

short version:

the process of improving the brain by directly rewarding it on a repeated basis for healthy activity. neurofeedback is painless, non-invasive, and has no significant side effects.

long version:

the process of using electroencephalographic (eeg) equipment to measure brain metabolic rates (brain waves) in order to repeatedly reward the brain for healthy shifts in brain activity. based on the understanding that the brain is a learning organ, neurofeedback uses the principle of “operant conditioning” (think pavlov’s dog and the bell) to reduce over- or underactivity in various neural pathways.

thus a brain that has adapted to function in the face of various unhealthy stimuli (e.g. excessive stress, toxic emotions, genetic predispositions, exposure to toxins, etc.) can, under the direction of the neurofeedback system, adapt to healthy levels of activity again.

neurofeedback is used to work with a variety of conditions. however its most popular applications include add/adhd, chronic depression and anxiety, bipolar disorder, ptsd, and sleep disorders. it is especially effective in alleviating chronic conditions that seem to have no known cause such as environmental illness. recent medical studies are showing promise in cutting edge applications such as autism spectrum disorders, alzheimers disease, and schizophrenia.
gus – dude, i was just checking out the list of things neurofeedback helps on vanguardcenter.com. it goes on forever!

rich – yeah, i heard the canadian olympic ski team used it to increase their performance under stress.

sam – yeah, but it’s no panacea. fixing the brain is fine, but you gotta fix the body, too.

gus – duh.
there is zero evidence of efficacy, and zero plausible foundation for how or why this might treat medical conditions. pract-tioners can be found who claim it treats anything: autism, adhd, incontinence, migraines, chronic pain, depression, drug abuse, sleep disorders, you name it. these disorders all have different underlying causes, so it’s implausible to expect a single treatment to target more than one of them, let alone all of them
the notion that some healthy eeg waves are “good” and some are “bad” is without any neurological foundation, and thus, so is neurofeedback. “bad” eegs are neither characteristic of, nor the cause of, the conditions neurofeedback pretends to treat, so save your money.
expensive bullsh-t

perpetrated fraud

magnetically extracting money from the gullible
quack medicine imprecisely applying poorly constructed headgear of magnets to head to “train” the brain out of genetic flaws. to peruse a list of outrageous claims of “cures” by nerofeedback interweb browse to hxxp://eeginfo.com or hxxp://neurotherapy.us (with an interweb browser linkification extension one may double click non-hyperlinked munged urls to load. for the best interweb experience everywhere be sure to use a free adblocking extension.)

can magnetic fields cure genetic defects? f-ck no, but that’s what proponents of neurofeedback would bullsh-t you into believing. plan to pay hundreds of dollars per session. unsurprisingly many many sessions will be required. similarly unsurprising: insurance companies do not cover fraudulent-science so you will be wasting only your own money.

if you could instantly think your way out of disease or will changes to your dna medicine would be obsolescent quickly. obviously neurofeedback is fraud. any doctor offering it under his shingle risks losing his license, the privilege of practicing medicine, or stiff fines. report these tricky motherf-ckers to their state medical board