Non-medicinal approaches to therapy are powerful and effective tools that can massively benefit the process of healing from trauma and stress disorders. You may already be familiar with how EMDR trauma therapy and exposure therapy are used to help someone heal from emotional stress or traumatic events. Let’s dive into how neurofeedback also works to help a person’s healing process.
What Is Neurofeedback?
Neurofeedback, also referred to as EEG biofeedback, is a treatment that allows the brain to develop healthier, more beneficial patterns of thinking. This is a non-invasive treatment that is capable of modifying the brain on a biological level. This treatment is utilized as therapy for trauma, therapy for social anxiety, and as a treatment for ADHD and autism.
How Does It Change the Brain?
First, it’s important to understand that this form of treatment communicates with the brain through brain waves. The brain waves of someone with a mental health disorder are dysregulated and often disrupted. This dysregulation can cause excessive brain waves for people with anxiety disorders, which causes them to feel panicked or on edge, and not enough brain wave activity for people with ADHD, which causes them brain fog or trouble with focusing.
Non-medication approaches to therapy work because of the power of the brain’s neuroplasticity, which is its ability to adapt and change continually. The process of neuroplasticity can be encouraged and sped up by practicing neurofeedback, which will help regulate a person’s brain wave patterns through exposure to positive and negative stimuli. Let’s explore just how this treatment works.
How Does It Work?
Neurofeedback sessions occur through a set of key steps. First, an EEG recording is taken of the patient’s brainwave activity. Then, clinical software allows the patient’s brain activity to be observed in real-time. Lastly, biofeedback is provided to the brain through visual and audio stimuli designed to improve regulation and overall brain function.
Through training using positive feedback and goal-oriented techniques, a patient’s brain will learn to limit certain behaviors associated with different brain wave patterns. According to the National Institute for Mental Health, social anxiety disorder is an intense, persistent fear of being watched and judged by others. When neurofeedback is used as therapy for social anxiety, the brain learns to reduce the excessively fast beta waves associated with social anxiety and increase the alpha waves that come with the feeling of calmness.
If you’re looking for treatment for trauma and stress-related disorders, then give us a call today. Trauma Healing Northwest is committed to providing you with specialized therapy that focuses on achieving healing.