Health & Wellness

Positive Feedback

by Amanda Jean Harris

This is your brain on neurofeedback.

The brain, as we all know, is unlike any other organ in the body. The techniques that can change brain activity, however, are much more complex.

Enter neurofeedback, a type of biofeedback that uses movies, video games, computers and other tools to help patients regulate their brain waves: “You learn to change your brain waves and gain better control over your brain states,” explains Rhonda Guidry of Neurofeedback Clinic in Lafayette.

Guidry is a registered nurse and a board-certified practitioner of neurofeedback — therapy that has been around since the 1960s but remains controversial in some medical circles. While some research shows promising results, other studies have been inconclusive. The technique is computerbased and for the patient as simple as sitting down to watch TV.

Multiple sessions are necessary, Guidry says, and results are different for different clients just as each issue with the mind is different. She says in some cases the results can leave clients with the ability to self-regulate brain waves, which means changing cognitive, emotional and behavioral functions.

It’s painless and can be used to improve symptoms associated with traumatic brain injury, PTSD, migraines, depression and ADHD. — AB