r/Neurofeedback

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TL,DR: some say alpha theta can be dangerous or destabilizing until I develop a sense of safety and regulation through other NFT, but another suggests I go straight to alpha theta since other protocols haven't been helpful.

Hello! I've been pursuing neurofeedback primarily to reduce constant rumination and to calm my nervous system (I have formally diagnosed treatment resistant MDD, GAD ADHD, OCD, and several therapists have informally diagnosed cPTSD).

I've done about 30 sessions - initially ISF (which did nothing), and then SMR (which has worsened symptoms). This practitioner thinks I should do at least 10 more sessions of SMR, and states that alpha theta is dangerous and destabilizing if my nervous system is not regulated. I'm feeling hesitant to do any more SMR because it is worsening my rumination, SH, and SI dangerously, but I've read many other practitioners who also suggest alpha theta can be dangerous and destabilizing without previous success calming the nervous system with other protocols.

Another practitioner reviewed my qeeg, and has suggested I go straight to alpha theta training.

Are there other "safer" options than alpha theta? Protocols that aren't risky that are strictly for calming dysregulation, other than ISF or SMR?

I am doing neurofeedback home training under supervision. Now I am sometimes allowed to do a session every day, but after 2 or 3 days I notice that my head is completely foggy and heavy. I am afraid that this is due to the protocol and that neurofeedback isn't working. Or can you also become overtrained?

I am doing it for insomnia. Or well, it is more the fear that I won't be able to sleep that is causing me to fail. I have high beta central and high alpha frontal. We are training this down on CZ and I have done it on C4 for a week now, but I don't feel any better doing so. On CZ, I noticed very occasionally that falling asleep went well because I didn't have those intrusive thoughts like: I have to sleep, am I falling asleep yet, etc. This lasted for two nights and then stopped. Is that normal? Sleeping through the night is not working yet anyway. I also have low delta, but according to the trainer, that is not the cause.

Hello,

I had my first neurofeedback session today. My dr didn't do a qeeg, she just relied on the symptoms I told her and her observations from previous talk sessions. For the past 13 years I've been on ssris. First I was on 10mg Lexapro. 2 years ago it stopped working for me so I got put on 20mg prozac (I am currently on 20mg prozac). I have a highly sensitive nervous system and my observer mode is always on. So im basically living life through mental representations of myself and just watching myself go through life. All my attention is turned inwards. Im hypervigilant of my thoughts and I seem to be just "fusing" with my thoughts. So whatever my brain things is my "current state" I become that. Because of this, I have high anxiety and depression, poor concentration, impulsivness, etc there seems to be no separation between thoughts and action, I just fuse immediately with the thoughts and it's really destabilizing me. Also I seem to lack agency in a sense that i feel like my actions/thoughts/feelings dont come from me which is a terrible feeling because it makes me constantly feel like im not real.

My dr is aware of all of this and today she told me we will do SMR protocol minute by minute and see how it goes. The program was called "eeger" I think that's the name of the protocol provider. First minute was fine, nothing happened. The second minute I started to space out badly and it freaked me out i told her im dissociating. Im not sure if this is normal or not but I told her im spacing out badly and she stopped everything. This destabilized me and shortly after I started crying because I felt so hopeless. Im not sure if all this happened because I am super hypervigilant of every miniscule thing that goes on in my head or maybe it wasn't the right protocol. I just know I was so depressed and low from the time of the session (11 am) till 7pm in the evening. Can a professional please tell me what is going? I really want neurofeedback to work for me. I even sold my car so I can afford these sessions (im in sweden, doing sessions with a private psychotherapist who has a PhD and specializes in trauma and has extensive experience with neurofeedback).

Thank you!

TL,DR symptoms worsening significantly, including SI ad SH, but practitioner says this is common and we should continue without adjusting because people often feel worse before feeling better with neurofeedback.

I've been taking part in twice weekly neurofeedback for 4+ months, around 30 sessions, based on my qeeg. My main goal is to help with constant, unrelenting rumination, as well as anxiety and general dysregulation. I've been diagnosed with MDD, GAD, OCD, ADHD, and PMDD. I have not yet found relief from any of my symptoms despite years of trying many advanced treatments, including TMS, ketamine, psychedelics, every prescription, and hundreds and hundreds of hours of individual therapy.

There were no changes after about 20 sessions of ISF; ISF was chosen with the idea that it would be a bottoms-up approach at providing my system with a sense of safety and regulation before pursuing other nfb.

Since there was no improvement, we switched to SMR with it being described as a top-down road to safety and regulation. I've done 10+ sessions now.

My symptoms are worsening, and I am basically non-functioning. My rumination has become intolerable to the point that I cannot follow the plot of a children's movie, I struggle to complete basic home tasks, or follow conversations with my kids. I have increased pain and tension in my neck, jaw, shoulders and back, hips and pelvic floor. I'm exhausted and hopeless.

SI has increased drastically, as has SH - to a dangerous point.

My practitioner tells me this can be normal and expected. She indicated that I actually AM now feeling safe and regulated, but since safety/regulation is new to my brain and body, my nervous system is confused and incorrectly identifying unfamiliar with unsafe, and so I'm not yet perceiving the improvement.

She suggested I complete at least 10 more sessions of SMR.

If I supposedly "feel safe", but can't actually sense the safety, what's the point? It'd be like if somebody gave me a pill and told me "your depression has been cured, you just can't tell because your depression symptoms haven't changed"

Another practitioner looked at my QEEG and suggested alpha theta training. The first practitioner didn't want to do that until I was regulated and safe because it might be destabilizing, but I've heard others suggest it specifically to help feel more calm and regulated.

Thoughts?

Hi everyone,

I have some background in traditional frequency-based neurofeedback, but I’m now interested in the Othmer Method, especially ILF training with Cygnet/NeuroAmp.

I’d like to hear from people who have actually used it.

• Are state changes during sessions usually noticeable?
• Does ILF/Cygnet reduce the amount of active adjustment or monitoring compared with conventional amplitude training?
• How much skill and clinical judgment are still required?
• Did it feel like a real shift from traditional neurofeedback?

I’m considering an introductory course and would really appreciate honest, practical impressions.

Thank you.

I’ve briefly heard of neurofeedback but I’m not entitle sure what it is. I’m honestly not a fan of Brainy explanations to trauma healing but I’ve heard good things about neurofeedback and I’m not too familiar with how or why it works.

I have been in NF treatment in outpatient for 9 months for C-PTSD, 3 times a week. I have made huge progress, even if it took long for many changes to stick. For reference, I am an autistic woman in my 30s.

Recently I asked to work on executive function, and they added it to my protocol. I was pleasantly surprised by this improvement, but it got me thinking, can NF change the way my brain thinks, like, academically?

I was praised for the way I think by my boss, and I feel like it has to do with my autism, but now I am thinking, what if NF will make me lose that? What if my mental jumps and intuition changes or my creativity diminishes?

I do appreciate how much my functioning and mental wellbeing improved on NF. I have less then 10 flashbacks a day nowadays, I can work 5 times a week, which I couldn't do for a long time, I have more energy and now I have some improvement in my executive functioning, whicg means I am much more productive and having easier time switching between tasks (which is hard for me).

I am wondering if NF can make me not autistic anymore? I don't really like being autistic, but this is how my brain is, and it's the only life I know. I am also wondering if maybe I will become "more" autistic, just less traumatized? Because I definitely do stim quite a bit and although my sensory sensitivities are much more manageable, I still can't take the first fork I find in a drawer if it is WRONG.

I want to be as trauma free as possible, and I am definitely becoming happier and more functional with time, but...will NF change what I am?

I am interested in any scientific date and personal anecdotes of any kind.

I am a 26F with Bipolar type 1, GAD, contamination OCD, and I am currently in a depressive episode. Would neurofeedback help my anxiety and depression?

I have had multiple accidents and TBI’s and I have put together a program to try to improve these symptoms as much as possible. I am a CHEK Practitioner and have a BS in Health Science pre-med track so my understanding of the human body is fairly comprehensive.

My morning routine consists of waking and walking for 15-20min with direct sunlight on as much skin as possible, drinking molecular hydrogen water, taking 5mg Cialis, L-arginine, L-citrulline, 500mg SAMe, doing the Foundation Training YouTube exercise video to correct postural imbalances, 10 minutes of Z-Health eye exercises, drinking a bulletproof coffee w lions mane, exercising with BFR bands to increase BDNF with part of the lifts on a whole body vibration plate, and then doing Mendi app.

So I’ve been doing Mendi for almost a week now and I was seeing my numbers go down for some reason. Really frustrating! Just noticed when I tilt my head up and rotate right the feedback is get in the app would skyrocket! I knew from my training spinal cord impingement could affect a myriad of things. I was literally falling asleep all week trying to focus on the 15min session. My neural activity skyrocketed today by over 200% just from how I changed my head position! Definitely get checked by a NUCCA it is part of the puzzle no one talks about.

Eight years ago, insomnia suddenly developed while on vacation, accompanied by anxiety and panic. We were on a group trip, so there was no time to recover, and we had to get out of bed early every morning. I put a lot of pressure on myself during this time, which I have remained stuck in. I have done a lot of therapy and am now doing neurofeedback. First Neuroptimal, where I experienced positive effects, but after a few sessions, those effects disappeared, and I actually felt worse. Now I am doing home training under supervision. I have high beta activity and high frontal alpha on the CZ. We have been training this down on the CZ for four weeks now, five sessions a week, but there is still no stable effect. I have had maybe four nights where falling asleep went well. I still feel grumpy, frustrated, and afraid that things won't get better. We did SMR once with 4-8, 9-12, and 20-30; that made me feel extremely lethargic and slowed down. Then 4-7, 12-15, 20-30, and that went well during the day and I felt good; no effect on sleep yet, but that was after 3 sessions. This one has been taken off again and now I'm only doing high beta/high alpha downtraining on CZ. Sometimes I feel a bit more stable but also heavy in the head. Mostly sad and feeling like nothing works for me🥲 The scores went down in the beginning but after the SMR they are up again. I don't understand it at all. I have been through a lot of trauma. Does anyone have any tips? I have a raw EEG.

I've been listening to the New Mind youtube videos (Dr. Soutar) and reading Dr. Soutar's book. I really need something much simpler that teaches me what brain waves are, how to read them on an EEG, etc. Something that goes step by step. Any recommendations for a book, youtube channel, etc? I'm hoping to open a neurofeedback practice and need to learn, but the learning curve is so steep!

Has anyone experienced a better ability to work through their moral injury with the use of neurofeedback?

I am looking for a donated mendi,maybe someone has one that no longer uses.

I wanted to buy but i don't have How,since i am unemployed and dealing with physical disabilty,that i hope i can fix.

I know the way to tell is to see if the brain waves are changing, but that doesn’t always translate to positive progress. For example something like reading everyday to tell if adhd treatment is working, or going into a grocery store for social anxiety. I know these are personalized but I need some ideas because I genuinely can’t tell if I’m wasting money.

How do so many of you know it’s working? I see so many people say they feel changes after 5 sessions but I just can’t relate. I’ve done 15 sessions and cannot feel anything.

Hello,

I’ve been in neurofeedback for about 20 months. Honestly, I’ve considered a game changer. I’m a late diagnosed autistic and I feel like it’s helped me to stop having meltdowns, though I still do occasionally have them. They’re much more rare. I also feel like I’ve done a lot of trauma processing in it.

However, in December, my therapist decided we were dropping down to one session because I was running out of sessions and I went into burnout/ neurological collapse when we did that and have not come out. It is now April and I’m on temporary disability. I’ve been unable to work. I’ve had to shut my business down. I am barely functioning, my therapist said we could temporarily double up to stabilize me but I haven’t tried.

I left an abusive marriage, September 2024 and it basically been white knuckling it my whole life, and certainly since leaving. I had a really horrible intrusive thoughts for about a year and a half. I couldn’t tolerate the sites that helped with intrusive thoughts, but now those have gotten better and we can do those sites. Last session intrusive thoughts came back and I felt awful after, had to nap think I dod a lot of trauma processing. I was very moody and snappy after session.

I’m wondering if I need to increase sessions to twice weekly again, or if this is just a normal part of trauma recovery. My body is basically falling apart I have six autoimmune diseases that are flaring and I have three bulging discs in my neck.

Ive had to stop the part time work I was doing.

But the one thing that I can tie back to the burnout, neurological collapse starting is dropping from two NF session to one session.

Anyone else experience this?

I have CPTSD, autism, anxiety, depression.

Bonjour,

Je sors de ma première séance de neurofeedback. Le praticien était adorable, cela va sans dire. Mais je me pose des questions.

Les premières 15 minutes, après la première demi heure basée sur la discussion liminale avec le praticien sur mes attentes et le processus de NF en lui même, je commence à écouter la musique avec les électrodes sur la tête.

Comme bien souvent, j’étais plutôt anxieux car plongé dans l’inconnu, quoique curieux et plutôt joyeux (oui mes émotions sont multicolores !) avec une boule dans la gorge, des pensées intrusives, liées à tout et rien, et au début de la tachycardie. Aussi, je me focalisais sur ma respiration, non naturelle, en me demandant s’il fallait respirer bien ou pas. Les sauts de musique, j’essayais de les anticiper, et j’avais l’impression de mal faire au niveau de mon cerveau. Ce qui est bête mais voilà !

Puis à un moment je me suis dit qu’il fallait que je me laisse aller, en essayant de me re concentrer sur la musique bien que mon attention parte souvent dans tous les sens.

A la fin de la première session de 15 minutes, j’ai vu des images hypnagogiques derrière mes paupières, très belles, que j’ai observé longuement tout en écoutant la musique. J’ai également eu envie de faire pipi donc j’y suis allé au milieu des deux sessions de 15 minutes.

J’ai demandé au praticien s’il fallait que je regarde ces images, il m’a dit de laisser aller. Du coup cela m’a stressé car j’ai du mal à me concentrer. Mais bref.

La deuxième session de 15min était sympa aussi. Mais dans ma tête j’avais toujours un peu l’injonction inconsciente à me détendre, ce qui n’était pas trop le cas… sans compter quelques penses par ci par là.

Il faut dire que je teste le NF pour des soucis d’anxiété sociale notamment ! Mais bref.

Du coup, le praticien m’a demandé à la fin comment je me sentais. Mieux peut être, moins la boule dans la gorge, un côté plus détendu. Mais je me suis demandé si cela était dû à la douce odeur d’huile de lavande, au repos allongé et à la musique, plus qu’à la séance de NF en elle même. Et aussi, j’ai senti qu’il fallait que je dise que « oui je vais mieux », par souci d’anxiété de performance sociale, pour ne pas blesser le praticien.

Ma question est que : je continue les séances ? Le praticien m’a dit fallait plusieurs séances rapprochées (au moins 5) pour ressentir les effets, et que j’allais peut être ressentir des choses dans les 24 h.

Mais pour le moment je ne ressens rien de spécial, si ce n’est mon anxiété normale du soir 😂

Qu’en pensez-vous ? Je me demande si mon côté critique (au sens de « je ne crois pas au miracle ») par rapport au NF (qui s’applique à toutes les thérapies que j’ai testé même la psychiatrie médicamenteuse) peut avoir un effet négatif pour l’efficacité de la thérapie. Pourtant je veux y croire !

Voilà ☺️Merci pour votre aide et/éclairage concernant tout ou certains de ces points !

I got DPDR (depersonalization/derealization) , intense hyper monitoring OCD and Im always testing reality. My brain is running very fast on the same loop. Has any practioners dealt with something like this? What type of neurofeedback have you done? Or anyone else that has experienced this and doing NF.

Thanks in advance.