Non Med Options for Brain Treatment: Neurofeedback 2

Meds might not be the place to start for a variety of brain issues – from ADD/ADHD to brain injury or both. Especially both.

Some of the most difficult to treat individuals suffer with both Traumatic Brain Injury [TBI] and associated prefrontal cortical injury that contributes to or kindles an ADD problem. In many of these people the ADD is obvious, but the brain injury and it's consequences remain in denial. Neurofeedback [NFB] can help correct both difficulties simultaneously.

Just saw a new patient, 23 yo male, last week with flaming inattentive ADD as the chief complaint, previously diagnosed and previously treated. But even with previous stimulant treatment this young man continued to smoke marijuana, drink heavily regularly, and, guess what, didn't take his meds regularly. Never formed a working relationship with the prescribing doc who said in brief: “Take it when you need it.” And, as discussed in my podcast ADD series, dropped off hard in the afternoon with a comorbid Clint Eastwood depression becoming more angry and disrespectful.

Promise not to get on my soapbox with that last comment, but that remark is one of the main difficulties with correcting an ADD problem. Yes, occasional usage does work, but without a clear, specific titration strategy the outcome is almost always unsuccessful. Occasional usage works for the short term but does not work effectively for the long term.

When we finished that interview he had no less than 5 serious head injuries, but remained in denial about the injuries because he didn't loose consciousness and had symptoms of Post Concussion Syndrome [PCS]. The telling symptom: Dark thoughts at night that kept him awake, indeed kept him out of bed simply because he couldn't deal with the craziness of the thinking. He had to be exhausted to sleep immediately without the dark thoughts, and suffered from years of sleep deprivation in the range of 5 hr/night with sleep architecture in the tank.

I suggested several intervention strategies including SPECT imaging to confirm both diagnoses, will use meds more carefully with what appears to be temporal lobe dysregulation [as described in Amen's book Healing ADD] and have recommended NFB to start right away. He wants to go back to school this fall.

More next post on specific types of Neurofeedback interventions.