From: peterson_at_d...
Date: 2001-05-02 04:37:55
The following is the text of a short piece Yaniv asked me to write to
describe the potential benefits of cheap neurofeedback. Comments and
suggestions for its improvement are invited.
WHY CHEAP EEG BIOFEEDBACK?
Humans are obviously capable of attaining a large number of
different states of consciousness. Each of these states is marked by
a unique pattern of rhythmic electrical activity in the brain.
One's
ability to function in different roles in life is directly related to
the ease with which one can move among the various states of
awareness—in effect, to move from one brainwave state to another.
Brainwave biofeedback, or neurofeedback, is a relatively new generic
approach for teaching people to control and modify their states of
consciousness by means of deliberately altering their brainwave
patterns. The basic learning procedure uses electronic equipment to
detect changes the trainee's brainwave activity and provide
him/her
with ongoing information about these changes.
Neurofeedback has a number of applications in the general realm of
personal development and realizing human potential. To cite only two
examples, researchers have used neurofeedback to make the process of
learning meditation techniques vastly easier, teaching skills in a
matter of weeks that once required years of training. Other students
of the technology have discovered forms of brainwave training that
greatly enhance focus and concentration skills. This training has
proved useful for a variety of purposes ranging from improving
cognitive efficiency to enhancing certain kinds of sports
performance.
Psychologists have also discovered a number of clinical applications
for this technology. When used to treat conditions of clinical
concern, the method is generally termed neurotherapy. A number of
studies have established one form of neurotherapy, based on training
clients to increase their production of slow-wave activity, as
perhaps the most effective approach yet known for treating
addictions. Other researchers are using a different form of
neurotherapy to successfully treat attention deficit disorders. A
very new and extremely promising line of research is exploring
neurofeedback to remediate the brainwave patterns associated with
depression, thereby effectively treating the disorder without
medications.
A major problem for both amateur explorers of brainwave training for
self-development and for researchers in this field has been the cost
of the equipment. The cheapest machines on the market currently cost
about a thousand dollars, and the more specialized equipment can
easily cost several thousand. These prices place the technology
beyond the reach of many amateurs, and of many professionals as
well. A major block preventing the widespread use of neurotherapy
for treatment of alcoholism has been the cost of the equipment. The
small clinics that do most of this work are generally under-financed,
"shoestring" operations that simply cannot afford the
equipment they
would need to provide effective neurotherapy-based treatment to their
clients.
Ultimately. I believe that the self-exploration aspects of
neurofeedback may well come to outweigh the clinical uses.
Widespread access to well-designed and appropriate neurofeedback
equipment may prove to be the key to a revolution in human
consciousness and spirit. This technology has the potential to free
people from their addictions, to place attention deficit disorder
into the ranks of extinct conditions, and to give everyone access to
the uncharted depths of our inner being.
James M. Peterson, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist
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