What Is Neurofeedback?

Neurofeedback has a pretty weird name, and it sounds - and looks - kind of scary, like electroshock therapy. The great news is, it’s not weird or scary at all!

So what is it? In its most basic sense, Neurofeedback is a training system for your brain that uses operant conditioning to strengthen your brain’s ability to produce states of calm, focus, attention, and performance.

That’s a mouthful, right? Don’t worry, there’s lots more info below.

How does Neurofeedback work?

Ever trained a dog? Or, for that matter, a kid? When they do something you like, like rolling over or cleaning up after themselves, you reward them. As pretty much any psychological study, parent, or dog owner will tell us, rewarding them makes them more likely to do that thing again in the future. Then, when they do something you don’t like, you withhold the reward, which makes them less likely to do the thing that didn’t result in the reward in the future.

The geek word for this basic behavioural principle is “operant conditioning,” and this is exactly how Neurofeedback works.

Basically, with Neurofeedback, a sophisticated computer monitors your brain wave activity. Some brain waves are associated with calm, presence, performance, and attention, while others are associated with agitation, distractibility, anxiety, or dissociation. 

While the computer monitors your brain wave activity, if your brain begins to do what we want it to do - that is, remain in that calm, alert, focused state - some nice, gentle music plays. Your brain considers the soothing music to be a reward, and since it likes that, it will do more of what gets it the reward, that is, it will stay in a calm, focused state.

If it happens to stray into the brain wave activity associated with agitation, anxiety, dissociation, fogginess, or distractibility, the music crackles - and your brain doesn’t dig that. So what does it do? It corrects itself to get more of the soothing music and less of the crackling.

Over time, then, Neurofeedback gradually trains your brain to stay in a state of calm, and to stay out of a state of agitation and dissociation. Like reps in the gym, your brain will correct itself dozens of times over the course of a single training session, and hundreds of times over multiple training sessions.

Is It Supported by Research?

Yes. Although most people haven’t heard of it, there’s a pretty good amount of research suggesting that Neurofeedback has been supported by a number of research studies. It’s also been shown to be effective for helping people focus, handle their emotions more effectively, and perform better at work or sports.

The Vancouver Canucks have made extensive use of Neurofeedback as part of their training, and so has the soccer team AC Milan and the 2010 Canadian Winter Olympic team.

And, if it’s good enough for the Canucks, it’s good enough for the therapists here at Transformation Counselling. Many of our therapists use Neurofeedback. Our Clinical Director, John, who’s been meditating for 13 years, says that Neurofeedback is like “meditation on steroids.”

This Sounds a Bit too Good to be True…

So here’s the rub. The research suggests that you have to do it at least twice a week for a minimum of 10 sessions (5 weeks) to see results. Most research studies were actually based on 2 sessions a week for 20 sessions (10 weeks).

In order to see results, we recommend 2 sessions per week for a minimum of 5 weeks (10 sessions). Even better is 20 sessions over 10 weeks. Anything less than this probably won’t work, kind of like taking a day’s worth of antidepressant medication over the course of a month.

So, is it too good to be true? Not really, since it requires a pretty significant investment of time and money.

One Person’s Experience of Neurofeedback:

In his amazing book The Body Keeps the Score, famed trauma therapist and researcher Bessel van der Kolk interviewed a survivor of extensive childhood trauma whose life was changed by neurofeedback. Here’s what she said:

It calmed me down. It stopped the dissociation. I can use my feelings; I’m not running away from them. I’m not held hostage by them. I can’t turn them off and on, but I can put them away. I may be sad about the abuse I went through, but I can put it away. I can call a friend and not talk about it if I don’t want to talk about it, or I can do homework or clean my apartment. Emotions mean something now. I’m not anxious all the time, and when I am anxious, I can reflect on it. If the anxiety’s coming from the past, I can find it there, or I can look at how it relates to my life now. And it’s not just negative emotions, like anger and anxiety — I can reflect on love and intimacy or sexual attraction. I’m not in fight-or-flight all the time. My blood pressure is down. I’m not physically prepared to take off at any moment or defend myself against an attack. Neurofeedback made it possible for me to have a relationship. Neurofeedback freed me up to live my life the way I want to, because I’m not always in the thrall of how I was hurt and what it did to me.

Want to book a session? Or rent one of our systems so you can do Neurofeedback in the comfort of your home? Click the button below to get in touch with us!

Rates and Rental Information:

Individual session in office: $135-$140

2 week rental with 10 sessions, $600 + HST, $60 + tax per session

4 week rental with 20 sessions, $800 + HST, $40 + tax per session

4 week rental with 100 sessions, $1000 + HST, $10 = tax per session 

Pickup and drop off can be arranged at Transformation Counselling’s office in Uptown Waterloo. 

Support is provided with NeurOptimal training videos, making it easy to get setup 

Please note that while in-office neurofeedback sessions are covered under extended health plans that cover Registered Social Worker (RSW) and/or Registered Psychotherapist (RP) services, neurofeedback rental systems are NOT covered by extended health plans.