Neurofeedback: How it Can Help Improve Brain Health

Why neurofeedback is still a well-kept secret!

It’s been exactly six months since I discovered a little-known technique called neurofeedback, and it continues to be a transformative remedy, helping me to keep my mood stable, and depression at bay. It has also helped people I know who have had no luck treating their depression with antidepressant drugs like SSRIs.

After my last story, many of you told me how much you wanted to hear more about neurofeedback, a decades-old treatment for depression that is still, largely, a well-kept secret. Neurofeedback relies on the brain’s innate ability to change — a characteristic of the brain called neuroplasticity. What stunned me is that after only four sessions last December, I saw a remarkable improvement in my mood; overall, I have continued to feel a sense of calm resilience.

As I have dug deeper into neurofeedback, and talked with practitioners, I have begun to realize what a central role the brain plays in improving health in general, and in keeping us healthy as we age.

Neurofeedback’s Remarkable Results

Neurofeedback rescued me out of a deep depression that descended after the election last fall. And it has helped others I know who have suffered from depression for decades. One of those people is a dear friend in Denver

where I live during the winter months. Carol, whose name I have changed, has tried a boatload of different anti-depressants over the years, but she never found a drug that worked successfully to boost her mood. After my success with neurofeedback late last year, I casually mentioned the technique to her over coffee in January, and told her how much it was helping me.

The next thing I knew Carol had found a neurofeedback practitioner in Colorado and had begun treatment.

When I met her for coffee only a few weeks later, she greeted me by saying, "Claudia, I am forever indebted to you for that recommendation." I was surprised and delighted, and asked her how she was feeling. Her response was stunning:

"I am a completely new person," she said.

A Well-Kept Secret in Mental Health Treatment

Carol isn't the only person who has responded dramatically. I did, and so did my sister and at least one other person I know.

The question I continue to ask is why did I have to wait until I was in my seventies to discover neurofeedback? Why does this treatment for depression continue to be such a well-kept secret? Like so many millions of others, I thought the only way to treat depression was to take oodles of anti-depressants.

One book I have consulted, called A Symphony in the Brain, by Jim Robbins, suggests why neurofeedback hasn't "exploded onto the treatment landscape."

"Brain wave training remains a victim of the fact that it is outside mainstream concepts, is far ahead of the science of how it works, has a persistent but undeserved reputation as a softheaded 'new age' idea, and is a model that -- unlike the drug model -- doesn't lend itself to astronomical profits.”

In other words, Big Pharma hasn't found a way to make money on neurofeedback. Because of that fact, neurofeedback hasn’t been adequately studied scientifically, says Sebern Fisher, a Massachusetts-based pioneer in the use of neurofeedback to treat deeply traumatized young people and adults.

The Brain is Fundamentally an Electrical Organ

“The major premise of our scientific understanding of the brain is chemical,” Fisher says. “That’s the profitable domain because you can make drugs.” But if it were true that the brain is fundamentally chemical, Fisher says, “then antidepressants would be successful,” and so often that is not the case. “Antidepressants are chemicals, but what happens when you take them is that they affect your brainwaves.”

In other words, the brain is electrical in nature. Neuroplasticity is a feature of this electrical brain, Fisher says. This should come as no surprise, as everything in the universe is, at heart, composed of electrical energy..

Still, scientific research on the brain has not been focused on its electrical nature. Fisher points to an amazing fact: a scientific paper in Nature magazine in January, 2024. “That was the first paper built entirely on the premise that the brain operates in a frequency domain, meaning it is fundamentally an electrical system.”

Based in Northamption, MA, Fisher was for many years the clinical director of a residential treatment center, which was home to children and adolescents who arrived suffering from the effects of severe abuse and developmental trauma, including neglect or complete abandonment. After she left the center, Fisher began using neurofeedback in her private practice, treating young people and adults suffering from developmental trauma. She has had great success with this approach.

Fisher is author of a very highly regarded book entitled Neurofeedback in the Treatment of Developmental Trauma, which explores how neurofeedback can help with the hard-to-treat population of children and adults who display developmental trauma. Neurofeedback, she says, enables practitioners to help clients modulate their brain-wave frequencies, thereby helping patients to “self-regulate,” managing the way they deal with fear, the emotion which is at the heart of so-called developmental trauma.

Neurofeedback, which Fisher estimates is effective in 90 to 95 percent of people who try it, often does more for a patient than alleviate depression. Fisher says neurofeedback “offers the brain a chance to self-regulate across the spectrum of the body, mind and brain,” affecting all kinds of mind/body functions.

Not only does it help quiet fear, but also, she says, “your dreams can change. Even your sugar cravings can change.” In some instances, people she has treated have found remarkable improvements in their health. One of her patients saw an autoimmune disorder disappear. Another patient had diabetes, and that disease, too, disappeared.

Fisher is cautious to say, however, that she is not a physician, and does not diagnose or treat medical conditions. Rather, she is a psychotherapist who uses neurofeedback as a tool in helping individuals cope with emotions. “When I offer the brain the chance to self-regulate, it responds.”

“Sometimes I Feel Like Galileo”

After Fisher told me that she has observed health conditions improve in certain patients, I realized something amazing: I suffered from regular UTIs all last year, but those infections stopped abruptly in December, when I started neurofeedback. I haven’t had a UTI since.

Of course, this observation of mine is what’s known as anecdotal evidence. The notion that neurofeedback can contribute to an improvement in one’s health has not been formally studied. Even before the Trumpers started running rampant over our government, the nation’s science-supporting agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, routinely rejected applications for scientific studies of neurofeedback.

According to Jim Robbins, author of A Symphony in the Brain, even though UCLA researcher Dr. Barry Sherman’s pioneering research on neurofeedback is said to be “unimpeachable,” Sherman has had numerous grant applications turned down by the NIH. “We’ve written solid grants but the minute you use the term neurofeedback certain people’s minds snap shut,” says Sherman. “I feel like Galileo.”

Certification and Training in Psychology are Essential

Unlike drugs, which are regulated by the FDA, neurofeedback isn’t regulated by any government agency. There is a certification for neurofeedback practitioners, called the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance, or BCIA, which requires that practitioners have at least a master’s degree, and also, meet specific training standards.

Sebern Fisher feels very strongly that neurofeedback practitioners should be trained as psychotherapists. She also believes that while there are more and more over-the-counter neurofeedback systems appearing all the time, the one she has used throughout her career, called EEGer, is ideal. “The reason I am happy with this one is because the whole algorythm, the assumptions built into the computer, are based on clinical input, and they have been adjusted and changed based on clinical input.”

Unfortunately, “anyone can hang a shingle saying they do neurofeedback,” Sebern warns. A person can train for three or four days on a neurofeedback system, and have no training in psychology at all, and still offer the service. Fisher warns that practitioners need to have a thorough grounding in psychology in order to do an effective job with neurofeedback therapy.

How Neurofeedback Works

Here in brief is how neurofeedback works when I am working with my therapist Margaret Dondiego, in person in Pittsfield, MA. (In the first neurofeedback story, I talk about the system I use remotely; it’s called a BrainBit.)

At Margaret’s office, I sit before a computer screen displaying powerful visual images -- like spectacular photos of the cosmos,

or gorgeous scenes from what looks to be the Colorado Rockies, where my husband and I love to hike.

But I don't see the entire image all at once. Instead, I receive it piece by piece on the computer screen, one small rectangle at a time. My brain in effect earns each new section of the image as a reward only when I'm emitting the optimal brain waves.

Through this process, my brain learns to regulate, or reprogram, itself. All I need to do to generate these improved brain waves is to relax and focus on the image. Often, I find myself smiling knowing that I am effectively crafting a healthier brain -- it feels rather cosmic.

Neurofeedback practitioners themselves aren't sure how exactly brain cells, called neurons, reconfigure to produce new, healthier brain wave patterns. But the important thing is that they know it does work. And unlike many anti-depressant drugs, neurofeedback doesn't seem to have any adverse side effects, either.

As Carol said to me over coffee, “Honestly, Claudia, I don’t care how it works, I’m just so glad it does.”

My Sister Introduced Me to Neurofeedback

So too is my younger sister, Karen, who was trained as an RN and a public health researcher. It was my sister who first introduced me to the idea of neurofeedback. She started working with a neurofeedback practitioner in Hadley, Massachusetts, Mark Gapen, PhD, almost a year ago. Within weeks, Karen’s mood had lifted in a remarkable way, one that she had never experienced before. She wasn’t giddy; she simply felt like she had a buoyant new energy.

“I’m awfully glad I found it,” she says. It has made all the difference in how my sister feels about life. She is upbeat and energetic, and thinking about life in a positive way.

Like Carol, my sister’s change has been remarkable.

Carol’s Neurofeedback Therapist Adds Nutrition, Exercise and Breathwork

So it’s important to be very careful in finding a practitioner.

Carol consulted several friends in Denver, and finally found an unusual neurofeedback practitioner, one who is BCIA-certified, but also, deeply involved in coaching individuals on how to maximize brain health through fitness, nutritional counseling, metabolic assessment and even, breathwork.

“You can think of me as a personal trainer for the brain,” says Lori Miller, who began working with neurofeedback several decades ago. She is also a competitive runner and widely trained in nutritional science and functional medicine, a comprehensive approach to healthcare that focuses on identifying and addressing the root causes of disease rather than just treating symptoms.

Besides providing Carol with neurofeedback, Miller has managed to convince my friend to make two other rather remarkable lifestyle changes: she inspired Carol to start exercising for the first time in her life, and she convinced Carol that she needed to reduce her sugar consumption (which Carol admits was huge in the past.)

What’s the result? Carol’s mood has been boosted. Just as important, however, is the fact that she is on the road to real brain health, Miller says, maximizing the chances that she will live the rest of her life retaining cognitive function.

At a time when Alzheimer’s is claiming more and more people, it’s vital to do whatever we can to improve brain health.

Which has got me thinking, maybe next winter, I will hire a personal trainer for my brain. Or maybe, I’ll start sooner.

This personal account reflects my own experience with neurofeedback. While it has been transformative for me, individual results may vary. Always consult healthcare professionals about treatment options for depression or other mental health conditions. If you are looking for a neurofeedback practitioner in your area, be sure to consult the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance (BCIA), the organization that certifies individuals in the practice.