Brain training

Has anyone else done neurofeedback/biofeedback/brain training? I had a really amazing experience with my bout of it.

i am glad that this is working for you. keep up the good work!

I had home based training in October 2014 to treat my depression and anxiety, it was great and helped a lot to get my brain working well again. Now I still use it, more for fun, and also to train relaxation control as I have a difficulty with relaxing on purpose))

Which headset and games do you use by the way?

can you give some more detailed information about this?...i am looking into alternative therapies and i just saw something today about biofeedback, but was unsure about how it worked or if it was gimmicky

I'd be interested in learning about this as well.

hiiii, so happy someone here knows about it. i was going to post about this. i recently went to a psychologist that uses biofeedback... so i got excited to try it. many people say its wonderful. how many sessions did u have? right now i dont have money for it but i hope i can try it in few months...

ok im new at this but that sounds like bs does it really help and how

My therapist is strongly urging me to do Emotional Brain Training, developed by Laurel Mellin of UCSF. Supposedly it helps rewire the brain. I am hopeful but dubious as well, since I have a tendency to not be able to stick with things. My depression and anxiety have been so severe of late, mid-life crisis stuff, that I can't fathom continuing this way for the rest of my life, so I'm going to give it a try, starting with her books first. EBT | Emotional Brain Training

It presents to me as a money-making scam because I am a skeptic! But, my therapist says it really does work, and getting in with them and doing the programs (packages) involves phone time with others in a group, costs $55/week I think. Since I live in the country and it isn't easy to pop to the city for my therapy, this kind of thing may just be ideal for me. Not entirely virtual/online - connecting with others via phone time.

I've done neurofeedback and it worked great....until it didn't. Turns out I'm hypersensitive, so my brain can only take so much!

Its one of those things that's touted as a "NO side effect, perfectly safe treatment!" but, its not. There are indeed very real side effects....you'll have to do a google search to find them though, as the neurofeedback websites won't admit to any problems with this type of brain training.

My therapist pushed me too far and I ended up having heightened anxiety and rage issues. That was the end of my neurofeedback. However, prior to that it helped with insomnia, depression, and thought rumination.

Give it a try! But, don't believe the claims of it being a miracle cure with no possible side effects whatsoever. Its not a regulated treatment, so it doesn't have to go through such rigorous testing. Thus they can "claim" no side effects.

Oh wow! Thanks for posting that link, WantToGrow! When are you planning to start the program? Do you think you'll be up for posting an update once you get a bit farther along in it? I think it looks really fascinating... I'd love to hear your experiences with it!

I'm tempted to sign up right now, but individual therapy is literally taking up ALL of my disposable income, I can't really do another couple hundred $ a month !

Thanks!

guilloche, my first phone in is tonight. It's only for 25 minutes, though, and I'm wondering what can really get accomplished in that time. I'll let you all know how it goes. I'm pretty desperate. I've had a rough weekend and feel pretty incapacitated. My family urged me to try meditation but my mind won't settle and let go of thoughts. I struggle with following through on just about anything and everything.

Thanks WantToGrow. I hope it went well for you tonight, and that it looks like it's going to be helpful!

I thought I was going to be quitting T today, but I didn't... so I don't think I can afford the whole package right now... but I see the "lessons" (with no groups or coaching) are only $25/m. I can probably manage that... so I may just give that a whirl.

Still, would love to hear your thoughts and if it looks useful. I'm encouraged by what I read about the diet part, as I've been (trying) to stick with a similar diet, and it's been helpful.

Thanks

Hiya WantToGrow...

I hope you're feeling better. Did anything ever come from this? Did you get the materials from the site, or do the phone calls? Was it helpful at all?

It looks interesting, I'd really love to hear from someone who's actually gone through it.

Thanks!

Hello guilloche and everyone on this thread.

Ok, I did sign up and have been doing the EBT for about 5 weeks. The group I joined only had two other people who both proved to not be very compliant about doing daily community connections by phone. Thankfully, my group coach hooked me up with others outside of our group who wanted connection buddies, so I have been utilizing them heavily.

In the connections, you aren't to parent each other but simply to witness checking in, where you spend 2 minutes doing meditative breathing and going within yourself to ask yourself what brain state you are in. If you are at a 3, 4 or 5 (very stressed out!), you can ask your buddy if they have time for you to use a tool to work on breaking that wire. They can give a connecting message about how your work made them feel, and then what the gift was to them of witnessing your work. Otherwise, you can just accept your brain state and end the connection.

I have been working the program pretty heavily. I have also been going through a really rough spell with medication not working, mood swings, with the "good times" not feeling all that good, deteriorating into lows where I feel empty, disconnected, just outright down and apathetic. I'm on mirtazapine and have gone up to almost the highest dose rather quickly, and it is not holding me. My requests for help from the p-doc who prescribed were ignored. I have an appointment to see him on Monday (scheduled the last time I saw him), but I really needed help a couple of weeks ago and didn't get it. I'm just hanging on trying to make it to this appointment. I have an appointment with another p-doc in my therapists office, one she recommended I see, in two weeks. I'd have seen him sooner and ditched the other doc, but couldn't get an appointment sooner.

So, I am struggling with the EBT because I can't seem to access my inner nurturing voice, don't seem to have one, and I can't seem to pop myself to a "1" as they say (by using tools to break those old unhealthy wires, you're supposed to be able to raise your brain state). I have worked this thing like a woman obsessed, but don't ever feel I can get to a 1, where you feel your joy, feel good.

They do say the brain is very stubborn and not willing to change, so in the beginning it is slow going and you may spend mere moments at 1 when you generally wired at a 4 or 5 like I believe I am. But I think my med situation is making it much more difficult, since I'm not at all well-controlled right now. I do think that had I not had EBT to resort to over the last month as I was going through this horrible period, I would have been MUCH WORSE OFF!! Having those live humans to connect with, whether your coach or the group members, has been a life saver or sorts since I live in a remote area and am alone during the day.

I am very lonely, and not working. I know working would give me purpose, but I am frankly not strong enough to seek employment right now and my therapist agrees. It doesn't make it any easier, though, being so isolated.

So, I'm not willing to give up on EBT, yet, but still seeking the shift "above the line" that EBT touts.

(((WantToGrow)))

I'm sorry things have been so rough for you! Thank you for sharing your experiences with the EBT program, and I'm really glad that at least having people to connect with daily has been a little bit of a help.

It sounds interesting, but perhaps a little frustrating too if you're expected to just "pop" yourself into a 1 state. (I imagine if you could already do that, you wouldn't need the program?)

Thanks, and I hope things better for you soon!

Update: I was put back on Effexor, the drug I stopped taking back last summer/early fall, because the Remeron I was put on just wasn't working and I was profoundly depressed. When I took the first dose of Effexor, my mood lifted within an hour! I was amazed and have done much better since, but I have since learned that all my my extreme depression and anxiety over the last six plus months was due to Effexor withdrawal! It is supposed to take up to a month to start working but it worked within an hour; I was like a junkie in withdrawal getting a hit of the drug! So, now I have two drugs to try to get off of!

I do plan to taper off these drugs very slowly once I have been stable for a bit.

The EBT has been working. My negative inner voice has been quieted, and I am identifying and working on some issues that have plagued me all my life. I am feeling better more of the time. I have let go of the "popping to 1" frustration, putting more value in the process of expressing negative emotions in a constructive way, identifying what they are about, and moving on from there. I would say the program has been very valuable to me.

I've never tried neurofeedback before, but I'm gonna try searching more about it, & maybe try it out, if there are some free therapies/programs for it... 'Cause with all the money wasted on the stupid useless drug (Seroxat) that I take (& can't seem to stop taking), I can't afford anything else, God I can't even afford going to a psychdoctor/psychologist!!!

& to WantToGrow:

I'm really happy things are getting better for you... Yes, I agree with you that later we have to take off the drugs from our brains slowly, 'cause it seems like we are just like drug junkies who can't function without paying a fortune every month for some unnatural manufactured pills, God, I hate that!!!

BTW, above you said that you have a problem with continuing & sticking to complete things & with rumination thoughts... Can you elaborate on that?!

'Cause I've got something like that which is nearly ruining my life... I never stick to things till I finish them. When I start doing something perfectly, after days or weeks, I get rumination thoughts that I'm not doing it perfect anymore & that I have to stop, so I stop it (including that I stop everything else in my life, with all the regulations that I do everyday, ex. I also stop praying, stop going out of the house, stop sticking to my schedule of the movie channels that I switch on...), & then after a few days, I start everything from the beginning perfectly again!!! So I never stick to completing anything that I want!!!