What is neurofeedback?

Neurofeedback is a biofeedback that enables a person to train their brainwaves and thereby improve abilities such as attention and emotional regulation. Biofeedback techniques use equipment that provides information on mental and physical processes that are usually beyond our conscious ability to perceive them. In the case of neurofeedback, it is the electroencephalogram that provides the feedback to the user. Sensors placed on the scalp amplify and digitalise the electric currents of the brain. When the person meets the criteria established by the clinician and produces the desired brainwaves, the game or movie being used advances and music plays. If the selected brainwave patterns are not present, the game either slows or stops and the auditory feedback changes or stops as well. In this way, the patient's brain automatically learns to produce the state required to achieve the desired results. Eventually, the brain develops and stabilizes new patterns which are more functional to the task being performed - focusing attention or regulating emotions.

The qEEG or quantitative electroencephalogram
The identification of the brainwaves to be inhibited or reinforced is made using the quantitative electroencephalogram (qEEG). There are several types of qEEGs that can be performed depending on the presenting problem. Unlike the analyses of brainwaves performed by neurologists who are looking for signs of pathology, the neurotherapist is looking for patterns and ratios that can be associated with the client’s presenting problems. The qEEG is a non-invasive and painless procedure.

Neurofeedback 
Training
At each training session, sensors are placed on the scalp and ears and secured with a conductive paste. For an attention problem, the client normally must concentrate to inhibit excessive slow waves and augment the desired fast waves. When successful, the music plays and the animation advances. In this way the client can experiment in different ways to regulate the electrical activity of their brain. Other strategies are required for other problems. After several training sessions, the brain self-regulates and the presenting symptoms diminish or disappear completely.