The Healing Power of Neurofeedback: The revolutionary lens technique for restoring optimal brain function

by Stephen Larsen, PhD

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Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press/ Inner Traditions 2006.  432 pp.  19 pp notes, bibliography

Stephen Larsen, Psychology Professor Emeritus at SUNY, chronicles the development of neurofeedback – an electronic feedback of brainwave frequencies that elicits amazing healing responses in people with post- concussion syndromes, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorders, ADHD and more. Larsen focuses largely on the methods developed by Len Ochs, PhD, an innovative explorer in these realms.

The earlier approach of EEG biofeedback entrained the brain rhythms for alpha or theta frequencies, producing relaxation and enhancing meditative states. Ochs discovered that by feeding back to the brain    
the frequencies that the individual was producing at the moment produced much more rapid and profoundly effective results.

People with brain injuries who suffered chronic headaches, confusional states, emotional lability and instability and people who had long-standing psychological problems that had resisted conventional and unconventional therapies could respond very rapidly to this treatment. The amazing thing is that the feedback stimuli required to produce these changes are very delicate and brief, yet extremely potent. Initially Ochs used stimulation with flashing lights, but he serendipitously discovered that radio frequencies could produce the same changes more gently.

Ochs wisely does not promote neurofeedback as a cure-all, and often recommends this in combination with supportive and explorative psychotherapy, acupuncture and other therapies to help people process the emotional materials that are released by the neurofeedback.

This is an exciting new field that promises to help many people who otherwise are beyond helping within conventional medical care. Larsen’s style is both informative and engaging, detailing both the excitement of scientific explorations at the leading edge of treatments for difficult problems, and providing heartwarming stories of dramatic successes in a broad spectrum of people with serious disabilities.

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