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xiphiasI don't think I've mentioned it here on my livejournal, but I've mentioned it to a lot of people who I know in person. Jill-Laurie and Joe Crane are going to be having an open house on February 9 from 5 to 7 PM, to show people what neurofeedback is.
The idea in neurofeedback is that different sorts of brainwave patterns are correlated with different sorts of emotional states and mental states. By training someone to produce a type of brainwave pattern, the theory goes, the person can learn how to be in that mental or emotional state.
And it seems to work, for me at least.
It has a good degree of success helping people with attention type things, sleep type things, and emotional regulation type things. It has some success with motivation type things. I think they've tried it for autism-type things, but I don't know if it works real well for that.
So, physically, what happens in neurofeedback? Well, they've got these electrodes, see, and they stick them on your head, in various places, depending on what sorts of effects they're trying to work on. These electrodes are connected to a computer, and you can look at that computer and see the EEG of your brainwaves.
Then another computer takes the data from the first computer, and translates it into some sort of computer game. When your brain produces the sorts of brainwaves that the neurofeedback therapist is guessing would be useful for your situation, you get points. This trains your brain to continue to produce those sorts of brainwaves, so you get conditioned to it.
Seems to work, for me at least. It's not perfect, and when they've made bad choices in what they're doing to my brain, the results have been . . . interesting. Like the time I lost the ability to sleep for a couple days. But entirely fixable: they can't do anything they can't fix later.
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browngirl, I think I mentioned that you strike me as the sort of person who this could help, a lot.
Anyone interested? The open house is in Waltham, on Trapelo Rd, on the evening of Sunday, February 9. Anyway, y'all would love Jill-Laurie and Joe: they've been friends of my family for years (mom and Jill-Laurie were roommates in college).
The idea in neurofeedback is that different sorts of brainwave patterns are correlated with different sorts of emotional states and mental states. By training someone to produce a type of brainwave pattern, the theory goes, the person can learn how to be in that mental or emotional state.
And it seems to work, for me at least.
It has a good degree of success helping people with attention type things, sleep type things, and emotional regulation type things. It has some success with motivation type things. I think they've tried it for autism-type things, but I don't know if it works real well for that.
So, physically, what happens in neurofeedback? Well, they've got these electrodes, see, and they stick them on your head, in various places, depending on what sorts of effects they're trying to work on. These electrodes are connected to a computer, and you can look at that computer and see the EEG of your brainwaves.
Then another computer takes the data from the first computer, and translates it into some sort of computer game. When your brain produces the sorts of brainwaves that the neurofeedback therapist is guessing would be useful for your situation, you get points. This trains your brain to continue to produce those sorts of brainwaves, so you get conditioned to it.
Seems to work, for me at least. It's not perfect, and when they've made bad choices in what they're doing to my brain, the results have been . . . interesting. Like the time I lost the ability to sleep for a couple days. But entirely fixable: they can't do anything they can't fix later.
browngirl, I think I mentioned that you strike me as the sort of person who this could help, a lot.Anyone interested? The open house is in Waltham, on Trapelo Rd, on the evening of Sunday, February 9. Anyway, y'all would love Jill-Laurie and Joe: they've been friends of my family for years (mom and Jill-Laurie were roommates in college).
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(no subject)
Date: 2003-01-30 08:20 am (UTC)Open House, then dinner with you and
A.
PS Thanks for the info, sweetie. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-01-30 11:54 am (UTC)Like the time I lost the ability to sleep for a couple days.
... I utterly cracked up, then had to explain it to my housemates who are in the room with me and they cracked up. :)
Now we're discussing how effective it could be for getting somebody to quit smoking. Heh. I've heard about it before, but didn't know how it works or what it involves - and now I know, and I thank you for the concise, entertaining explanation. I wish I could try it out. :)