From: peterson_at_d...
Date: 2001-06-29 03:05:41
--- In buildcheapeeg_at_yahoogroups.com, e_e_ling_at_h... wrote:
> 23:17 GMT 22/06/01 openeeg.org is up again. I guess the web host
is
> crap, but for now you guys can look at it.
>
> The site is by no means done; I've done the general design and
Lucas &
> I have done some content but we really need to start building the
site
> from *now*. Everybody's involvement would be appreciated, just
send
> me stuff, whatever it may be, and unless it's totally inappropriate
> I'll build it into the site.
>
> Regards
>
> Eric
>
Here is the text of my original essay that was included in the Texas
Instruments Design Award entry. I once again invite amplification,
corrections, etc. from the group, and suggest that it be
incorporated, along with any suggested improvements, in the website.
Eric--I'll provide you with a Word file of the test after people have
had a chance to review it.--Jim
@ @ @ @ @ @ @
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 and procedures 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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