Neurofeedback At Home
For about 5-6 months I have been seeing a psychiatrist that specializes in Neurofeedback. I've been going once a week. We've done a few different things, but the stuff we did the most was Heart Math training with light and sound brainwave entrainment. It was super expensive and I just had to drop out due to hospital bills. Basically, I am now trying to recreate his set up in my house. It wasn't that complicated, he used Neuro-Programmer 3 and some AudioStrobe LED glasses and hooked up an emWave desktop as well. During the sessions the lights would flash, binaural beats or isochronic tones would play and I would try and get into coherence. He also measured my GSR and hooked some sensors up to my shoulder to measure the tightness. In previous sessions he would apply 4 or 5 EEG sensors to parts of my head and measure stuff there. One time he hooked me up a to a weird game.
What's the point of all this? Well, since I am no longer seeing him I started thinking about how I could do this on my own and recreating (and improving) his set up. For the amount of money I was spending I could certainly recreate this over a few months no problem.
Here's what I've got on my list so far:
Light and Sound Machine - Mindplace Procyon AVS System Light and Sound Meditation Mind Machine Price: $269.00
My criteria for the glasses were they had to be compatible with Neuro-Programmer 3. These were listed as supported on the web site. There may be cheaper options out there, didn't really look into it.
Emotiv EEG Headset - $750
I have an emWave 2 which I could hook up to my computer, so I won't to get the emWave desktop. I may buy the desktop software if it's got some nicer things on it.
I don't know anything about Neuro-Programmer so I've got some learning to do when it comes to that.
What do you guys think? Does this seem doable? Do you have any recommendations for something that can measure my GSR? Is that really even necessary?
What's the point of all this? Well, since I am no longer seeing him I started thinking about how I could do this on my own and recreating (and improving) his set up. For the amount of money I was spending I could certainly recreate this over a few months no problem.
Here's what I've got on my list so far:
Light and Sound Machine - Mindplace Procyon AVS System Light and Sound Meditation Mind Machine Price: $269.00
My criteria for the glasses were they had to be compatible with Neuro-Programmer 3. These were listed as supported on the web site. There may be cheaper options out there, didn't really look into it.
Emotiv EEG Headset - $750
I have an emWave 2 which I could hook up to my computer, so I won't to get the emWave desktop. I may buy the desktop software if it's got some nicer things on it.
I don't know anything about Neuro-Programmer so I've got some learning to do when it comes to that.
What do you guys think? Does this seem doable? Do you have any recommendations for something that can measure my GSR? Is that really even necessary?
Comments
http://openvibe.inri...topic.php?t=678
and other EEG devices comparison:
http://openvibe.inri...26&p=3251#p3251
If you're going to buy a full EEG amp, I would suggest you forget about NP3 and either get Mindworkstation (Transparentcorp's EEG software suite) or something more geared toward professional use. I'm a bit surprised the practitioner you were working with put so much emphasis on audio BWE, given that it seems to undercut the purpose of neurofeedback, ie, training your brain to guide itself into desired states without external stimuli.
Anyway, I'd really appreciate any additional info you have to share about what you've been doing up to now.
I really enjoyed it, but one of the reasons I'm so into this is because it's been by far the most effective tool for reducing my stress. No question. It ran me about $600 a month (150 a session with 4 sessions a month). The thing that I believe was most powerful about it is that it's not a temporary reduction in stress - I've done other therapies and noticed benefits that were temporary. After a few weeks I would be back to my stress-filled ways of thinking. With neurofeedback however, it feels like it's actually changed the way my brain reacts to situations.
An example: during all my sessions the Dr. would test my Galvanic Skin Response and my shoulder tension. Over the time I saw him I saw those numbers drop by half. I'm not an expert on this by any means, but when I first started going to him my GSR when in normal conversation was 17-20 something somethings (I forget the unit of measure for that stuff). Towards the end of my sessions it had dropped to 7 or 8. For reference, the Dr. always told me that normal GSR for everyday convo was like 4. He had hacked his down to a 2 or 3, so I've still got a ways to go.
I've told some friends about this stuff and they think it might be snake oil. I don't think it is. It's worked for me. Complete life changer.
Thanks for the tips about EEGs and Mind Workstation. I'll update more when I get some stuff in.
PocketNeurobics (no affiliation) has some great new amps, including multichannel Q-Wiz. Worth taking another look at.
Peak Brain Institute
truBrain
Hello jlgore,
Could you please elaborate more. I am a 32 year old male with ADHD with Anxiety and Depression. I think the Anxiety and Depression is Post Traumatic. Medication have only being partially effective and Neurofeedback is a little out of my budget range now.
If you don't mind me asking what treatment were you seeking with the psych. I as a matter of fact have a light and sound device, a GSR Biofeedback unit and also the emwave unit. I use the emwave from time to time but could not get my head around the Thoughtstream GSR unit that I had for some time now along with the Proteus Light and Sound device.
I do use the Emwave from time to time. If you can give me and idea of a protocol, it would be much appreciated. I am suffering pretty bad anxiety right now due to some personal and financial reasons.
Thanks mate!
Kind Regards,
Gaurav
You can get professional neurofeedback-grade 2-channel EEG hardware for about $600, and often a bit less if you shop used. However, that doesn't mean you can do professional-grade EEG neurofeedback for $600. Once you can measure EEG, what do you do then? Do you increase the peak alpha frequency measured between C3 and C4, or do you uptrain the central beta/frontal theta ratio, or do you uptrain interhemispheric coherence, or do you downtrain interhemispheric coherence, or do you squash EEG amplitude in all frequencies? Do you use discrete feedback or continuously variable feedback? How do you set the thresholds? There are tons of different training protocols you can use. Each one has different subjective/cognitive effects. Many are appropriate only in certain circumstances. When you go to see a professional EEG neurofeedback clinician, what you're paying for is mostly their expertise in the science and knowing which protocol to use, not their expertise with the technology itself (which, for most of them, I must say is sorely lacking).
This is also true to some extent with AVE light/sound stim machines. Although those are far less complex than EEG, it's still true that different stim frequencies are appropriate for different people/situations.
Yeah. I got my Q-Wiz in the mail last week and I'm still finding excuses not to open the box yet. I bought some training from brain-trainer.com: videos about electrode placement and getting readings, basic stuff. They have a service where you take a baseline reading and send it to them in a report form, and if you screw it up they can generally tell and have you do it again. I don't know if that qualifies as actual QEEG, but I guess it's the same main idea. Then once all that's sorted out, you get an evaluation, a training program, and whatever BioEx designs you need for the training. That's probably the minimum; you can get coaching and more hands-on guidance if you shell out a little more, and there's a yahoo group for general questions and advice.
I assume there are other outfits out there offering similar services, but for the price, B-T seems to have a pretty good reputation. I'll know more about it after the next few months.
Hi hza- I've been working with brain-trainer for about 10 months and have completely changed myself. Trust in what he says. I have done research on his recommendations and they are pretty much exactly inline with clinical research.