Frequently Asked Questions

Is there enough research?
A recent child and adolescent psychiatric journal devoted much of a special issue to research in neurofeedback. There are over 1000 publications supporting the field. Much more HERE.

Are there differences in neurofeedback and biofeedback?
Neurofeedback is EEG biofeedback – it’s just a specialized form of biofeedback. But there are differences in traditional biofeedback and neurofeedback. Click HERE to learn more.

Which professionals use neurofeedback?
It's estimated 2500-3500 health professionals now use neurofeedback, including psychologists, MD's, LCSW's, educational psychologists, marriage and family counselors, RN's. Most of the clinicians in the US using neurofeedback are in private practice.  A number are associated with universities.   Several professional organizations have been created around the world to support increased professional education for this emerging modality. More HERE.

What do health professionals say it does for their clients?
In a survey, clinicians who use neurofeedback reported that it improves symptoms for a large percentage of clients. It often reduces the use of medications. Here are other commonly heard comments.

What do clients/patients say about neurofeedback?
An example of some comments from clients with ADD, autism, depression who've used neurofeedback. What are some of the challenges clients face in understanding the impact of neurofeedback? A mix of comments from clients.

Why aren't more MD's recommending or offering neurofeedback?
Neurofeedback works very well in a clinical setting. But few MD's are really educated about it, which is probably the biggest obstacle to acceptance. Why is there such a lack of education? Does insurance coverage play a role in slowing adoption? Is it a problem with research? The answer is straightforward.  It's a lack of education and familiarity. Read more HERE.

Are there adverse effects?
There are 30 years of clinical experience with neurofeedback, and hundreds of thousands of training sessions. There are no known situations where a long-term adverse effect has been identified.

Can training occur at home?
Should a parent or individual do training at home with limited experience?
Even if you're supervised at home by a trained professional (many won't do it), it's harder and the chances of failure are higher. There are situations it is appropriate, but it should be done very cautiously. More details HERE.

Is training at home less successful than training with a clinician?
Family dynamics, being around a lot of noise,irregular sessions . . . these and others contribute to challenges at home. Autism may be somewhat an exception to this rule so far.

How can training change sleep quickly?
Sleep is one of the first symptoms to respond. Here's a quick example of how to change someone's sleep. For more details on how to change sleep quickly, click HERE.

What EEG frequencies are typically trained? What do the frequencies mean?
• Beta frequencies (13-20 Hz) tend to be associated with an alert, awake, attentive state
• Alpha-theta training (rewarding 8-11 or 8-12 Hz for alpha and 4-8 Hz for theta) guides people to deep quiet states
• Excessive theta and delta (slow wave activity) can be associated with distractibility, inattentiveness or not focusing.
• Excessive high beta is associated with anxiety, tension. It can interfere with attention.

When you see the EEG change is the brain actually changing?
Yes. The EEG is a physiological measure. Neurofeedback trains you to change the EEG. When someone changes their EEG, by definition, they are changing their brain - and how neurons are firing. If the EEG is changing, what does that represent? Read HERE for the answer.

Does the EEG always change after training?
It's not unusual to see a clear change in the EEG's behavior. Sometimes, the change is much less clear, but improvements occur. For more details, click HERE.

How is brain imaging and cognitive neuroscience impacting neurofeedback?
What part of the brain do you train? As more is published daily about imaging studies, its providing important clues.

Other questions

How come it's not in all the schools?
It should be. Here's a list of challenges and some ideas about how to achieve it.

When does anecdotal information become common clinical knowledge?
There's a lot of well known common knowledge in neurofeedback.
Is it simply anecdotal?