Attention Deficit Disorder

NEUROTHERAPY AND ADD -- HISTORY AND TREATMENT
The Brain Wellness and Biofeedback Center of Washington offers several interventions for people of all ages with Attention Deficit symptoms. These are EEG Biofeedback (a.k.a. Flexyx Neurotherapy System or FNS), traditional neurotherapy (brainwave training), and various kinds of physiological biofeedback (ANS or HRV) for learning control strategies to reduce stress levels. The Brain Wellness and Biofeedback Center of Washington has licensed and certified therapists experienced in all of these treatment modalities. The synergistic effect of combining these treatments shortens treatment length and gives our clients life-long tools that help improve functioning in many areas of daily life.

The first research using FNS, an EEG neurofeedback therapy, for ADD was one result of an NIH-funded study of audio-visual neurofeedback treatment of ADD children. Carter and Russell conducted this study in Texas around 1990. (Carter JL, Russell HL. A pilot investigation of auditory and visual entrainment of brain wave activity in learning disabled boys. Texas Researcher. 1993;4:65-72.) Len Ochs, Ph.D., had developed equipment for the study, and later began to use the equipment in his clinical practice, finding that people with a variety of difficult-to-treat problems responded to this therapy.

The story of the development and growth of this treatment is described in The Healing Power of Neurofeedback : The Revolutionary LENS Technique for Restoring Optimal Brain Function, by Stephen Larsen. (2006, Pub. Healing Arts Press) The first formal research using the current EEG neurofeedback technology (known at that time as Flexyx Neurotherapy System) was the NIH-funded study by Dr. Mary Lee Esty at the Neurotherapy Center of Washington exploring the effect of EEG neurofeedback treatment on mild-moderate traumatic brain injury (MTBI). It was published in 2001. (See link in articles to ADHD.) Results showed significant improvement in mental fatigue, and cognitive measures. Especially important is that the data confirmed patient reports that they continued to improve even after treatment ended, so that gains were maintained and people were able to continue functioning at higher levels. In my opinion these data support the concept that once the brain is again flexible it can take in new information and keep learning. It is not longer stuck in an idling pattern.

WHAT DOES TBI HAVE TO DO WITH ADD? ISN’T ADD OF GENETIC ORIGIN?
There is substantial overlap in the symptoms that are diagnostic for both MTBI and ADD. These commonly include some or all of the following: trouble with attention and concentration, short-term memory, organizing/prioritizing, impulsiveness, multi-tasking, and occasionally poor social skills and mood swings. These observations are supported by hard quantitative data from brain imaging studies with children and adults diagnosed with ADHD. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) scan studies show decreased metabolism in many areas of the brain that are involved in various cognitive processes including attentional, inhibitory, and decision making behaviors.

Research funding received by BWB therapists has resulted in extensive experience with persons with TBI, many who had been diagnosed as ADD. It is this background that supports the observation that a history of TBI is a major factor in producing the symptoms of ADD. Dr. Daniel Amen, a neurologist, writes about functional brain problems revealed by SPECT scans in his book Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, (1998). “ADD occurs as a result of neurological dysfunction in the prefrontal cortex (pfc) . . . . . when people with ADD try to concentrate, pfc activity decreases rather than increasing as it does in the normal brains of control group subjects. (p 116)

A controlled study comparing long-lasting effects of Ritalin with EEG biofeedback showed that only those students who received EEG biofeedback were improved when no longer taking Ritalin. For more detail about that study please click here.