Neurofeedback in Salt Lake City

Brain Harmony Technology launches new blog.

Feed Shark

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With wires protruding from electrodes glued to her scalp, Rebecca Boucher stared at a computer screen, trying to quiet those pesky delta and theta frequencies dancing in her head.

    She wasn’t on the set of some sci-fi thriller but in the back of an easy-to-miss storefront at 1055 E. 3300 South in Millcreek, home to Brain Harmony Technology. Here, beside cinder block walls painted with words including “peace,” “soul” and “joy,” Boucher said she was improving her marriage, beating depression and finding sleep-filled nights.

   “Once I am balanced, I should never go back to the place I was,” the Kearns resident said the evening before her 16th session last month. “It’s made a world of difference . . . I’m a much happier person.”
    Boucher is part of a growing trend of neurofeedback junkies, people who pay thousands of dollars to have their brains conditioned or harmonized. By measuring brainwave activity, then feeding back appropriate sounds through headsets, recipients can learn to modify their thoughts, behaviors and emotions. The benefits, proponents say, can be life-changing. But the question arises: Who’s qualified to be slapping electrodes on people’s heads?

    The neurofeedback business, which is raking in about $1 billion a year according to Siegfried Othmer, chief scientist of The EEG Institute in Woodland Hills, Calif., is still “going through its Wild West phase.”

It’s a field that has been largely unregulated and developed by people not licensed in psych or neuro fields, explained Othmer, who has been dedicated to neurofeedback work - training others and devising equipment - for more than 20 years. So while neurologists, psychiatrists and psychologists are increasingly incorporating neurofeedback in their practices, as the work’s efficacy and promise becomes more proven, there are plenty of others swimming in brainwaves.

    That has Judy Crawford scared. She’s with the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America (BCIA), which establishes and maintains standards recognized by the leading biofeedback and neurofeedback associations. While practitioners who are neither certified by BCIA nor members of associations might be legitimate, she said she would never trust her head to just anybody.

  “How can you recreationally work with a brain?” she asked. “Do you want to recreationally take out my appendix?”
    Alex Hoggan, owner of Brain Harmony Technology, studied film at the University of Utah and got on board with brain training as an offshoot of his Water & Wellness Center, which he operates next door to Brain Harmony. He can leave a visitor’s head spinning with information about the “consciousness” within water crystals.
    Dipping into this work seemed a good fit for Hoggan, 42, so he spent three weeks in Scottsdale, Ariz., training at Brain State Technologies, a business that has trained practitioners and issued its own licenses to 114 offices in 15 countries, said owner Lee Gerdes. About $100,000 in business set-up expenses later, Hoggan’s conditioning brains.
    Gerdes, who had worked in computers and software for 40 years, said his inner geek set him on a path more than seven years ago to explore brain patterns and processing. To find a baseline to develop algorithms to help optimize the brain, he said he enlisted the heads of longtime Tibetan Buddhist monks. A quest for deeper meditation practice is, in part, what brought Marilyn Phipps, of Salt Lake City, to Brain Harmony Technology.
    “I can get rid of all the chatter,” she said. “I can literally empty my mind.”
    Hoggan’s business claims to subscribe to the spiritual model, not medical model, of neurofeedback. The weight of words became apparent when the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing in January ordered him to stop “practicing mental health therapy . . . without a license.” He said the order was due to language, including the words “depression” and “anxiety,” that had been used in a now-discontinued pamphlet.
     One of the biggest critics of outfits such as Brain Harmony Technology is D. Corydon “Cory” Hammond, a professor and psychologist at the Universithy of Utah School of Medicine.
    He explained the intricacies - much more complex than the Hoggan method - of the neurofeedback work he has used in his clinical practice for 16 years. Hammond heads the standards committee for the International Society for Neurofeedback & Research, one of the two overarching membership organizations, and said his concern is rooted in consumer protection.
    “In the last four or five years, we’ve started to really see an increase in unlicensed, unqualified practitioners,” he said. “Neurofeedback can really do some wonderful things, but it is a buyer-beware marketplace.”
    In a piece Hammond wrote for The National Psychologist, he said there’s evidence that “inappropriate neurofeedback training” can “increase seizures, depression, anxiety” and more. But he acknowledged in an interview that these problems could be remedied with proper neurofeedback.
    None of this work, no matter where people go, comes cheap. Sessions, which usually need to be committed to in bulk (somewhere between 10 to 20-plus sessions), can run up to about $150 a pop, and that doesn’t include the initial brain mapping. All told, someone can easily spend a couple thousand dollars, and they might need tune-ups down the road.
    There will come a time, Othmer predicted, when insurance companies will cover neurofeedback treatments and drug companies, which have made a fortune on anti-depressants, may run scared.
    Licensed therapists, he added, need not worry about job security. The professionals, he said, simply need to get on board and “be better than everyone else.” As neurofeedback goes mainstream, he said demand for professionals - with insurance-covered services - will boom.
    All of this, however, is of no concern to Lance Campbell, 47, of South Salt Lake. What matters to him is that he’s functioning again, out of his fog, after a FedEx truck he was driving rolled in December and “kind of scrambled my head a bit.”
    “I noticed some results right off the bat,” he said of his initial visits to Brain Harmony. “Until you try it, you have to be open minded . . . You just never know.”
    jravitz@sltrib.com
   
   
   The battle for the brains
   
   Around for about 40 years, biofeedback gained popularity in the late 1960s as a way to reach “altered states” and “enter your own domain of spirituality,” said Siegfried Othmer, chief scientist of The EEG Institute. “It was a way to have the LSD experience without the LSD,” he said. And it was summarily written off as “too weird” and considered “fool’s gold” by university psychologists, he explained. So it was the professionals who let biofeedback fall out of their grasp, he added. All these years later, now that they’re discovering “it’s real gold,” he said they want it back, they want to own it, which is why there’s a brewing struggle over who has the right to dole out neurotherapy.
   
   
   Neurofeedback: How it works
   
    * Brainwave activity is measured through electrodes placed on the head.
    * Instruments “feed back” information via sounds to train the brain to modify thoughts, behaviors and emotions, and change physiological responses, without use of instruments.
    * A brain-trained individual prone to panic attacks, for example, would reportedly learn to recognize signs of an upcoming attack and then think him or herself out of it.
    Source: Approved by an alliance of AAPB, BCIA and ISNR
   
   Reported benefits of neurofeedback
   
    * Improved memory, motivation and focus
    * Greater emotional capacity and ability to love
    * Increased intelligence and weight loss
    * Reduced stress, anxiety and anger
    * Heightened spirituality
    * Eliminated addictions and antisocial behaviors
    * Cured or greatly improved conditions, including high blood pressure, epilepsy, insomnia, stuttering, and, in some head-injury cases, loss of sight
    * With time and research, proponents say neurofeedback may prove an answer to Parkinson’s disease, bipolar disorder, autism, maybe even cancers
   
   For more information
   
    To learn more about the companies and associations mentioned or alluded to in this article, visit:
    * Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback at www.aapb.org
    * International Society for Neurofeedback & Research at www.isnr.org
    * The EEG Institute at www.eeginstitute.com
    * Brain State Technologies at www.brainstatetech.com *
    * Brain Harmony Technology at www.brainharmonytech.com
    * Two of the three listed Utah companies, Brain Map and Brain Gate, are not in business.
    To find a practitioner registered with the Biofeedback Certification Institute of America, visit www.bcia.org.

The body, under direction of the mind has the power to heal itself. The problem is that while scientists have spent endless hours coming up with medicinal remedies, we have yet to learn how to master, or even more completely utilize, our minds.

You as Your Healer

We are walking, talking, moving, thinking, and healing machines. Because we intrinsically have the ability to heal, medical practitioners are beginning to employ the mind, learning to tap into the unconscious mind (also known as our “cellular wisdom”) in order to harness its power through techniques like Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Creative Visualization & Relaxation (CVR). Putting those practices into play and activating the mind has been shown to give the injured, sick, and stressed the ability to mend their own wounds.

If you’re looking for a new way to tap into your healing potential, why not tap into your mind?

For more information visit www.nlp.com or www.newreality.com

Internet Marketing:
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Although millet is often considered a bird feed, it is generally used as human food. Millets are packed full of nutrients. It comes in various shapes and colors, but it’s commonly available as pearled and
hulled in nearby stores.

Millet contains various mineral nutrients such as manganese, tryptophan, magnesium, and phosphorus, with high calories. A cup of cooked millet provides 26.4% of the daily value for magnesium and 24% daily value for phosphorus.

1. Like all other grains, rinse millet thoroughly under running water.
2. Add 1 part of millet to 2½ parts boiling water. You can add broth to taste.
3. When the water is absorbed, turn down the heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.
4. When it’s finished, you’ll get soft and light grains like rice.

If you want the millet to be creamier, stir it frequently, and add a little extra liquid during cooking, and you’ll get a dish that resembles rice porridge or mashed potatoes. You can add any flavor to it.

For a crispy texture, you can roast the millet grain before boiling. You can add some vegetables, chicken, and any other beans to have highly acceptable taste and aroma.

Millet makes a delicious alternative to rice, potatoes, and oats.

You can grind the millet and mix it with baking powder for your breakfast bread. You can also use the grinded millet together with some seasoned-flavored fruits to make cake.

Millet is more than any alternative to the common grains because of its valuable nutrients.

Millet is known to protect your heart by lowering cholesterol contents in the blood. Millet is also recommended for asthma and migraine patients. Millet is known as brain rejuvenator in Japan.

Is it true that people who ate millet during the World War II are more talented? This is a comparison with today’s young generation eating lots of junk foods. Someone told us that a millet diet can
prevent gallstone as well as breast cancer and some cancerous diseases. Now isn’t that good news?

———————————————————-
About the Author:
Junji Takano is a Japanese health researcher involved in
investigating the cause of various diseases since 1960. In 1968, he
invented Pyro-Energen, the first electromedicine device that
eradicates viral diseases, cancer, and diseases of unknown cause
effectively without side effects.
Free newsletter: http://www.pyroenergen.com/newsletter.htm
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Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as the entire
article remains the same as well as the resource box.

“Brain in the News” is a weekly commentary on how brain science relates to the news. The brain is involved in everything we do. Wherever there are human stories the brain is involved. From the impact of war and natural disasters on the brain to drug abuse scandals to courtroom dramas to politics the brain is in the news, and you can read about it here.

Changing Brains Means Changing Lives

One of the most gratifying parts of our work at the Amen Clinics is hearing the stories of changed lives. We have hundreds of personal testimonies on file, many of them can be viewed by following this link - http://amenclinic.com/ac/testimonials.php. We also recently received an e-mail from a viewer of my PBS Television special - Change Your Brain, Change Your Life. E-mails like this mean so much to all of us associated with the clinics and TV program…

“I used meth daily for 12 yrs & tobacco for 25 yrs. I saw your program, knew I didn’t want that brain and threw all my dope and cigarettes out. I thought it would be hell, but with Omega-3 supplements and the foods suggested in your program, it wasn’t that bad. This was on June 06, 2008 @ 10:18pm. You helped me turn my life around!!! Thank you!!!”

Wow! Changing brains means changing lives! I’ve seen it happen for over 25 years and I still get excited about it. Another thing I’m excited about is the addition of a fine physician to the Amen Clinic staff in Tacoma, Washington, Dr. Vern Cherewatenko. Dr. Cherewatenko is a nationally recognized expert in the field of stress and how it affects the brain and body.

A recent study showed a stress-activated molecule may underlie many of the symptoms of some mental illnesses. We control our behaviors, thoughts, and emotions via an important part of the brain: the prefrontal cortex. People with injuries to this part of the brain become impulsive, distractible, and have poor judgment. Major damage to the prefrontal cortex can cause thought disorders and hallucinations. These symptoms are also seen in people with bipolar disorder and with schizophrenia. All of these mental illnesses worsen with stress.

This study highlights the need for regular stress management techniques, such as meditation, relaxation, guided imagery and diaphragmatic breathing. Simple techniques can have a real and lasting positive impact on brain health.

Dr Cherewatenko and I recently recorded a CD titled “Effective Tools for Calming Stress”. On this audio program we discuss the effects of stress on the body, mind and spirit. Stress hurts our bodies, including our brains, and managing it seems more difficult than ever. We give practical and proven tools to help calm stress and live happier, more peaceful lives … you can find it at our online store, www.mindworkspress.com.

To your brain health,

Daniel
Daniel Amen, M.D.
CEO, Amen Clinics, Inc.
Distinguished Fellow, American Psychiatric Association

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“Brain In The News” is offered as a free service to educate people on how the brain relates to our behavior. You can see over 300 color 3D brain SPECT images at www.brainplace.com. You can subscribe for free at www.amenclinics.com

“Brain in the News” is a weekly commentary on how brain science relates to the news. The brain is involved in everything we do. Wherever there are human stories the brain is involved. From the impact of war and natural disasters on the brain to drug abuse scandals to courtroom dramas to politics the brain is in the news, and you can read about it here.

10 Steps to a Better Brain
As I travel the country promoting brain health (and I’ve been traveling a lot recently!) I am often asked for practical suggestions about how we can care for our brains. The truth is, you are not stuck with the brain you have. I have seen my own brain function improve dramatically over the past 20 years as I’ve practiced a basic brain-healthy lifestyle. Here are 10 simple things you can do to improve your brain function and, subsequently, the quality of your life…

Protect your brain from head injuries and toxic exposure. Head injuries, even minor ones can change the course of your life. Your brain is very soft and your skull really hard. Wear your seat belt and think of golf and table tennis rather than football and soccer. Toxic exposure from drug or alcohol abuse, excessive caffeine or nicotine use, environmental toxins ruin brain function, sometimes permanently. As you would not put toxins in your gas tank (duh!) do not put them into your body and brain.

Put good food into your brain each day. You are what you eat. Every cell in your body makes itself new every 5 months. You literally are what you eat. In the book Super Foods there is a list of the 14 best foods, which are all very good for brain function. Try to incorporate them into your diet every week. Here’s the list: blueberries (most berries, but especially blueberries), broccoli, beans (pinto, navy, lima, chickpeas, lentils, sugar snap peas, peas), oranges, oats, pumpkin (squash not pie), wild salmon, spinach, soy, tea (especially green), tomatoes, turkey (or chicken), walnuts, and yogurt.

Put this together: for breakfast, have a bowl of oatmeal and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice; for lunch have a spinach salad with tomatoes, sugar snap peas and lean turkey, for a snack have soy beans; for dinner have a piece of grilled salmon with mixed broccoli and pumpkin squash; for desert have a cup of nonfat plain yogurt mixed with a serving of blueberries, ¼ cup of freshly squeezed orange juice and a small handful of walnuts; for beverages, lots of water (the brain is 80% water) and a glass or two of green tea.

Take a 100% RDA multiple vitamin everyday. In the age of fast food diets we generally do not eat in a healthy balanced way. A number of studies have shown that children learn better when they are taking multiple vitamins. Also, ensuring you have enough B vitamins helps the body counteract stress and lower homocysteine levels. High homocysteine levels have been associated with heart disease, strokes and Alzheimer’s disease.

Be selective about what you watch on TV. New learning causes new connections in the brain, while no learning causes disconnections. In this age of cable and satellite TV, there are wonderful programs that can stimulate thought and learning, and there are many programs that have little redeeming value. Too many hours spent watching mindless programming can have a negative effect on brain function. Work to learn something new everyday. Einstein said if you study anything for 15 minutes a day in a year you will be an expert. Time to get back to the books.

Physical exercise at least 3-4 times a week is essential to brain health. Physical exercise enhances blood flow to the brain, protects brain cells against stress, helps to preserve mental abilities, decreases the risks of heart disease, vascular disease and diabetes and improves your mood. You need to make exercise a habit if you want your brain to look and feel young.

Destress the brain. Stress kills cells in the hippocampus of the brain, affecting memory and mood. Take a moment each day to breathe and settle down. I think we all should meditate, do biofeedback, self hypnosis or spend time each day in prayer. I did a study in 2003 on meditation sponsored by the Alzheimer’s Prevention Foundation and Dr. Dharma Singh Kalsa. We found that meditation had measurable, positive, physical effects on the brain helping with stress, focus and spirituality.

Correct the negative thinking patterns that put your brain at risk for anxiety, depression, relationship and job problems. Most people are never taught to correct the Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs) that infest their brains. Thoughts are just thoughts, not facts. Thoughts often tell you lies and fill you with hear. If you never question or challenge the negative thoughts that go through your brain you believe them and these erroneous little bugs can ruin your life. You need to develop an internal anteater to keep your brain healthy. Whenever you feel sad, mad, or nervous, write down the automatic thoughts that go through your mind, if they are negative and distorted, talk back to them. You do not have to believe every thought you have.

Make love for the brain. Did you know that sexual frequency has been associated with longevity? According to a 1997 British Medical Journal study from Queens University in Belfast, Ireland researchers tracked 1,000 middle-aged men over 10 years. They found that men who reported the highest frequency of orgasm enjoyed a death rate half that of those who lagged behind. In another study, men who had sex at least three times a week decreased their risk of a heart attack or stroke in half! Other studies have shown that regular sex improved sleep, moods and testosterone levels. Research from the University in Pennsylvania reported that individuals who have sex at least once or twice a week showed 30% higher levels of an antibody called immunoglobulin A, which is known to boost the immune system. A study from researchers at the National Cancer Institute suggested that increased sexual frequency lowered the risk of prostate cancer. The same benefits were found for women!

Make sure to get enough sleep each night. Getting less than 7 hours of sleep at night decreases overall blood flow to the brain. Making love at bedtime often helps people get to sleep as it raises oxytocin levels, which in turn raises endorphins and helps you feel calm and peaceful.

Treat brain problems early. A very high percentage of the world’s population will develop a mental illness at some point in their lives. The most common illnesses are anxiety, depression, ADD, and substance abuse problems. These illnesses are bad for the brain and bad for people’s lives and families. They are also highly treatable. Successful people have problems. They just get help. The earlier you get help the better.
As a neuropsychiatrist for over 20 years my clinics have amassed the world’s largest database of brain scans related to behavior, more than 43,000. The brain is involved in everything we do and must be considered whenever we look at the motivation or reason behind human behavior. Give these steps a try, you’ll notice a difference and so will those around you.

To your brain health,
Daniel
Daniel Amen, M.D.
CEO, Amen Clinics, Inc.
Distinguished Fellow, American Psychiatric Association

Dr. Amen’s Blog - Recent Articles
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“Brain In The News” is offered as a free service to educate people on how the brain relates to our behavior. You can see over 300 color 3D brain SPECT images at www.brainplace.com. You can subscribe for free at www.amenclinics.com
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Reply to question: What is your connection with Brain State Technologies and
what do you do?

Dear Bryan,

I work directly with Brain State Technologies as an independent marketing representative.
I can point out to you the advantages of working with me. I have the time, energy
and training for this revolutionary therapy. “Brain Training” is an
advanced form of neurofeedback, which is tailored to your specific brain, this
makes our technology extremly fast and productive. You can view a video on testimonials
at this link, and there are more testimonials on my website, which is camwilliams.com.
This will give you some insight on how people have been helped by Brain Training.

I have Brain Trained
just about 300 clients over a 2 year time period. This has also included orienting
clients, scheduling events and follow up on the therapy. I have also marketed
this service and have the experience to keep a center filled with delighted,
balanced and harmonized clients. One of the significant things I do is pass this
knowledge on to you as well as help you step by step in the education process
of becoming a licensee and teaming with the home office of Brain State Technologies.
As a healthcare practitioner, you bring your experience, background and medical
knowledge.

Brain State Technologies opens 4 centers per month worldwide. My role as a facilitator
is to help you and your center get a head start on marketing and also coordinating
your education, certification and licensing. It is required for you to have
Brain Training of 12 sessions before entering the licensee education program.
If you choose to do this in Salt Lake City, you will receive 1/2 off your services
given back to you at the time you enter the program.

Hope your day is going very well,

Cam Williams, Director of Marketing

801-577-3646

http://www.camwilliams.com

Brain State Conditioning™ is based on many aspects of science in Biofeedback and in Neurofeedback which have been historically used to assist people to over-come pathologies. However, Brain State Conditioning™ should be differentiated from Neurofeedback and Biofeedback.

The basic differentiation of these modalities is based on the following:

1. Biofeedback - is a type of learning used to lessen negative reactions for the individual, based on increasing the awareness of the biological process in order to off-set or stop the pathology as it begins to happen biologically and is applicable during the occurrence of the pathology. For example; panic attacks have biological indicators before the attacks hit, if you can learn the biological indicators you can lessen the panic attack by either degree and/or duration. Biofeedback is oriented to solve diagnosed problems in the client.

2. Neurofeedback - is a type of learning used to lessen negative reactions for the individual, based on increasing the awareness of the neurological process in order to off-set or stop the pathology as it begins to happen neurologically. For example; training sensory-motor neurological frequencies to be more dominant for some athletic events. Neurofeedback is oriented to solve problems defined by a normative data base or model along with those problems and symptoms diagnosed by practitioner and client. Neurofeedback will usually be provided to clients in a medical model and will require 30 to multiple hundreds of sessions to achieve desired results.

3. Brain State Conditioning™ – is a type of brain optimization based on brain observance. It is based on a Quantum Physics understanding vs. a Newtonian Physics understanding of the individual, and this philosophical difference cannot be too heavily stressed as it makes everything intended different. Brain State Conditioning™ seeks to show the brain itself – be a mirror for the brain in its ever more optimized state. The client is not trained with learned behavior. In fact a client may sleep through a session and still realize results because the brain can view itself without direct client participation. While not optimal, it is always more efficacious to have the client participate, it is not mandatory.

For example, clients adversarial to the training, such as those with adolescent misbehavior or antisocial behavior issues, can still be assisted to balance and harmonize their brain and achieve a greater homeostasis.

Brain State Conditioning™ is oriented to solve problems having to do with the balance and harmony of the brain energy and is not based on comparison of the client with a normative data base. It is not based on a diagnosis or the symptoms which are presented. Brain State Conditioning™ is based on the degree of balance and harmony the brain contains and seeks to increase this balance and harmony.