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Bipolar Disorder
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Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar Disoder
According to the National Institute of Mental Health: “Bipolar is a brain disorder causing unusual shifts or cycles in mood, focus, energy, and ability to function. Unlike the normal ups and downs that everyone goes through, the symptoms of bipolar disorder are unpredictable and severe. Untreated these symptoms can wreak havoc in a person’s life resulting in damaged relationships, and poor job or school performance."
Neurofeedback and Bipolar Disorder
One remark that clients commonly make after starting neurofeedback training is “I can trust my brain again.” What does this mean? Bipolar patients who utilized neurofeedback report less susceptibility to mood swings, greater ability to focus and reduced anger. Their daily functioning increases as they find themselves less reactive and increasingly more able to make appropriate responses and choices.
Ed Hamlin is a neuropsychologist in North Carolina with the Pisgah Institute. The institute, consisting of several therapists and five psychiatrists, reported on an ongoing study involving the use of Neurofeedback with over 40 bipolar patients. Many of these patients had been repeatedly hospitalized for bipolar disorder, often once a year or more. Following treatment, those patients were able to reduce medications and enjoyed stability including increased daily functioning, improved relationships, better performance at work and school, and a dramatic reduction in hospitalizations.
Some patients who had been on medications for 20 years were able to become medication free. Previously these patients were told they would be on medications their entire life.
Patients enjoy the independence and ability to gain control over themselves that neurofeedback provides. Many reported they no longer felt flat – they can feel again but without getting out of control. For some who still needed some medication they reported feeling better on lower dosages.
Expected Results
Training the brain strengthens the brain and teaches it to maintain a particular state versus random mood swings. Learning self-regulation allows a person to maintain a particular state or stabilization. For this, a number of training sessions are required. Once the brain is strong enough to remain in the appropriate state for the task and time of day then training can stop or be reduced to an occasional maintenance training. This The number of sessions required differs from person to person depending upon the complexity and severity of the disorder.
We also offer additional effective well-researched interventions for teaching and supporting the brain. Recommendations are tailored to meet each individual's needs based upon a detailed client assessment and consistent re-evaluation by our team of professionals.
Working with bipolar patients we are often struck by how amazingly sensitive most are. The smallest thing will throw them off. No wonder proper medication management can be a nightmare! It is not uncommon that with just a few minutes of neurofeedback training, these sensitive patients notice a shift in mood and become calmer. This can occur even when they are on large dosages of medication. Neurofeedback has the advantage of strengthening the brain. As brain functioning improves our a skilled practitioner constantly fine tunes the training to help maintain these gains– even within a single session. With medications seeing what works takes much longer is and changes occur much less often.
Reducing medications gradually
For most bipolar patients, reducing the use of medications is important due to the unpleasant side effects and lack of feeling like themselves. It is NOT recommended that patients reduce medications on their own. Normally, as training builds stability, medications can be reduced. Most doctors are willing to reduce medications as they observe increased stability in their patients. As stability becomes the dominant pattern in the brain most patients can begin to reduce the amount of neurofeedback training.
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