Gamma Training Part 2

Gamma has been an unexpected journey.

It is easy to wrap one’s head around the need to address brain functionality, to enhance memory, to decrease anxiety, to improve reading comprehension, to develop good organizational  skills or to fine tune executive functioning for your child or yourself. We  can all appreciate the need to overcome traumatic or acquired brain injury, current or generational trauma.

Gamma has helped to revisit deeper aspects of brain injuries, refine healing and add more dimension to processing information. It has also been an exploration, not easy to describe.

 Gamma brain waves have a small amplitude and a fast oscillatory range. Gamma allows  the brain to process multiple sensations at  the same time. It allows us to experience the five senses altogether. It efficiently absorbs information and change in one’s environment to fine tune instinct. It speeds up mental processing and perception by linking information from all parts of the brain. Gamma deepens REM sleep. There is  a sense of euphoria, our own natural anti-depressant.

The foundational Neurobiofeedback  prepares you for the intense work that it takes to target the gamma range. At one point I described the Neurobiofeedback effects as changing knob and tube wiring for well insulated copper wire. Adding gamma is  like creating a fibre-optic cable connected to a vast network. Often more sleep is needed and good quality nutrition is always necessary to support the development of the new connections the training stimulates.

Like the initial Neurobiofeedback training gamma also needed the first 20 hours just  to build a template for the new function. There was one immediate sensation that made the initial development of gamma more enjoyable. Euphoria!

 It was overwhelming at first when gamma brought all the other brainwaves and senses on-line at the same time to process information. It was like experiencing  multiple dimensions, sensory overload and information coming at me from all directions all at once. The sense of expanded reality equalized quickly to a comfortable level for which I was quite grateful. I learned to relax into the volume of co-ordinated information. What used to be a mentally crowded jumble of lists, chores, responsibilities etc. went the other direction. I felt as if there was endless, open room to fill or organize as I wanted. My days had “free time”. Previously so much effort had gone into sorting through unsynthesized information.

 The training settled into a week of euphoria then a week of building capacity which, frankly, was often unpleasant. There were memories that had threads to current circumstances that had never come to full awareness in therapy, including EMDR and Brainspotting which both access the left and right hemispheres of the brain. I suspect that the more integrated function of gamma helps the brain co-ordinate a lifetime of imprints and influences much more efficiently than memory or willingness alone can account for.

One of these moments, I think, is worth mentioning.

I had come to many layers of understanding and resolution over two incidents that, although separated by 35 years, were similar in one critical element. I had became responsible for the safety and the life of someone who should have been cared for by an adult in the first circumstance and then for someone whose  safety and needs were dismissed by a medical professional in the second circumstance. Both times I was in a vulnerable state myself.  I had resolved what I thought were all the  nuances of my responses to these events. But one morning, the day after a gamma training, I woke up light headed, dizzy and trembling. It was a completely  familiar  sensation. This was the same post trauma, full body response, linked also by the scent memory of hospitals and drugs that I had experienced first at 15 years and then again at 50 years of age. Gamma had brought together  everything from all the senses. It brought up the deepest of survival and empathic instincts.  I realized that even the smallest element of similarity in other situations would heighten perceptions and cause my body to gear up for battle by ever so slightly initiating an internal trembling.

Another layer of exhausting conditioning resolved. Another opening for deeper resolution of other injuries. My dream world was a  marathon for a couple of weeks.

 Sometimes we, well certainly I, have in some circumstances never downgraded other conditioned responses that while useful at the time have just become  automatic in the nervous system especially those events that are long gone from current necessity but still play their part in shaping current or future behaviour. The best example I have for this is the attentive sleeping that parents or  palliative caregivers maintain long after the children have moved out or the caregiving is over. I was with my Mother when she was in hospital with pancreatic cancer. I listened for her breath for weeks. I woke up at 4:22 every morning for years after she died. My nervous system was deeply imprinted.

There may not be any fault or negligence in how many events are dealt with but who can know how or why  events configure as they do in unique and individual ways that may be influenced by biochemistry, DNA, personality, environment, nutrition etc.  I have found that with gamma training there has been a deeper cohesion, consolidation and understanding of previous events. I think that this is in large part because gamma links all the senses with more of the brain and nervous system. There has been a  deep relaxation, an emotional resilience and a very profound sense of well being that is easing into everyday life. This is a gift of unexpected magnitude for me. I am very much an introvert who as a child was deeply affected by things that would be inconsequential to most people. It would take me days and sometimes weeks to recover from an incident. On the upside I developed a lot of empathy.

 The euphoria is not as pronounced any more but a quite ordinary, garden variety of consistent kindness and calmness is there in everyday use. The type of kindness that  allows enough sleep every night rather than one day of collapse, the kindness that doesn’t wait for bells to ring to acknowledge a job well done but celebrates daily effort. Internalized kindness has made it easier to review, catalogue and archive experiences, available if needed but otherwise comfortably stored. I had wanted to enhance gamma to make me a better therapist. I wasn’t expecting so much personal benefit. Silly I know, but I did have a Grande Canyon deep groove of expectations geared to care of others at all costs.

I will have done 40 hours of gamma training by November 2015. I hope that the speeding up of mental processing and perception develops a whole lot more! The first piece that I wrote for the blog was relatively easy to write as it was well remembered historical information and well used resources. Writing about the unfamiliar path  that gamma has taken me on, linking and reworking memories, emotions and information has been much more of a process than simply reporting the events. I feel differently about many things. I am not sure yet if I am expressing myself in a way that does justice to the altered perceptions.  Finding that voice has been curious and a little unclear.

A good friend made an observation about the first piece and gave me some advice for this post. She said,” The only thing I would say is missing is the answer to the question - - Why?  Why would they want to know your story and why would this help them?” It is a good question and a valued observation as I have not written anything for anyone else before these posts. Certainly my clinical practise in manual therapies is centred around what will help someone else. Writing is a whole other world and use of the brain. Perhaps that then is part of the answer to “why”,  the chance to use your brain in ways that you hadn’t contemplated before.

For myself, I would say that the experience of having more of one’s brain available more of the time is pretty heady stuff.  I would definitely have to say that using the brain’s capacity, freer of constraints or injuries  is inspiring. Personal sovereignty is a good goal. Compassion is a good foundation. A finely tuned instinct creates certainty and  security. And not least, but very refreshing, sleep is sweet and deep.

Biofeedback at the APA Convention - August 6-9, 2015

Biofeedback at the APA Convention in Toronto

 The Biofeedback Federation of Europe provides professionals worldwide with a greater understanding of biofeedback. We're continually inspired by work that is being done in the field. But for every health professional using biofeedback in practice, hundreds are not. We were pleased to see that the upcoming APA Convention will feature a symposium on biofeedback with speakers covering topics such as ADHD, anxiety, depression, chronic pain, stress and peak performance.

Biofeedback and Neurofeedback

Biofeedback is a learning process in which people are taught to improve their health and performance by observing signals generated by their own bodies such as heart rate, temperature and skin conductance.  This information is fed back to the person in real time, allowing them to learn to control their response to different stressors.

One of the presenters taking part in the symposium on "The Evolution of Psychotherapy---Can Biofeedback Advance the Practice of Psychotherapy?" at the APA Convention is Dr. Lynda Thompson. Dr. Thompson is best known for her work in the field of neurofeedback, a type of biofeedback that measures brain activity. Together with her husband, Dr. Michael Thompson, she runs the ADD Centre at the Biofeedback Institute of Toronto. Dr. Michael Thompson describes neurofeedback as, "a non-invasive learning procedure that allows the client to train their own brain, practicing healthy patterns and normalizing functions. This learning is vastly accelerated because we are able to specifically target the learning to the area(s) and the neural networks of the brain that are not functioning appropriately. It is always combined with Heart Rate Variability (plus other peripheral biofeedback measures as necessary for a particular patient).

"Some of the symptoms that can be worked on in training include: anxiety and depression; ADHD; learning difficulties such as dyslexia and math problems; migraine; memory difficulties;  sleep disorders; anger control; and difficulties interpreting social cues such as is found in Asperger’s syndrome and autism."

APA Convention - Toronto, ON - August 6-9, 2015

If you're planning to attend the APA Convention in Toronto, we encourage you to take a moment to see how you can incorporate biofeedback into your practice. In addition to Lynda Thompson, the presenters in the symposium include: Carol S. Austad, Cosima Hoetger, Paul Lehrer, Donald Moss, and Patrick Steffan.

Session Title: 2316

The Evolution of Psychotherapy---Can Biofeedback Advance the Practice of Psychotherapy?

Session Type: Symposium

Date: Fri 08/07 4:00PM - 5:50PM

Division/Sponsor: 42-Psychologists in Independent Practice

Building/Room: Convention Centre/Room 206D North Building-Level 200

Read the full abstracts here:

http://www.apa.org/convention/program-search.aspx?title=biofeedback

More About Dr. Lynda Thompson and the ADD Centre

Over the last 23 years Dr. Lynda Thompson with her staff at this Centre have carried out over 150 invited workshops and lectures in 23 countries on 5 continents and have professional publications that include: 8 book chapters, 25 journal articles, and 4 books including the basic textbook in the Neurofeedback field, The Neurofeedback Book:  An Introduction to Basic Concepts in Applied Psychophysiology (2003, 2015), and Functional Neuroanatomy Organized with Reference to Networks, Lobes of the Brain, 10-20 Sites, and Brodmann Areas (2015).

Drs. Lynda and Michael Thompson teach two annual neurofeedback workshops at the Viamede Resort, Stoney Lake, Ontario near Peterborough and 1 3/4 hour coach ride from Pearson International Airport Toronto. The upcoming workshop dates are:

September 21 to 25, 2015 or

May 30  to  June 4, 2016

More information is available from www.addcentre.com or by a telephone call to the ADD Centre, Biofeedback Institute of Toronto (905-803-8066).

_________________________________________________________________________________

The Biofeedback Federation of Europe is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Biofeedback Federation of Europe maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Gamma Brainwave Training Part 1

Part 1: A brief history of what came before Gamma Training 

(for this training Gamma is defined as 38 to 42Hz)

Part 2: To come later, Description of Gamma Training Sessions

Ten years ago  I found myself  in the   Emergency  Room at Toronto General Hospital  with an appendix that had perforated about three weeks  earlier. I have a strong immune system . I was not experiencing any pain or nausea. It was only the possibility of  having contracted a stomach virus that sent me to a walk-in clinic just to check it out.  It took a CT scan to verify that I was well on the way to not surviving the infection. While I was waiting for the antibiotics to get me in good enough condition for surgery I contracted a Clostridium Dificil infection as well. In the normal way of things C.Dificil  stays in the digestive system but with about a third of the peritoneum filled with everything that had nowhere else to go when the appendix perforated the C.Dificil  affected many other cells. I was on intravenous and oral antibiotics for several weeks. I also used a probiotic that is very useful for C.Dificil (Saccharomyces Boulardii) and Shakya Dorje a Tibetan Medicine Emchi (Doctor) here in Toronto brought me three herbal preparations to help mend a very injured digestive system. All of this worked well enough to heal my appendix which I still have to this day.

The next ten years were not without problems though. I was exhausted, food did not give me any energy. My memory was deteriorating. Words got lost when I was trying to carry on a conversation. I could not focus my attention. Sleep was not restorative.  As if  all that wasn’t enough I had a radial head fracture 3 months after getting out of hospital. This happened on a Tuesday and I went back to work on Friday of the same week, again, with the aid of Tibetan Medicine. Financial stress was a big factor. My father also died quite unexpectedly just as I thought that nothing else could possibly happen.

I was increasingly frustrated and frightened by the loss of mental capacity, creeping weight gain and rapid bone loss. I’ve come to understand that these things are in-fact very inter-related. I decided to tackle the brain function first by getting an assessment at Arrowsmith School. I did a part-time program, 2 hours, twice a week  at Arrowsmith for 2 years until the exhaustion became so intense I would fall asleep 20 minutes into working on the Clock Exercise. The exercises that Barbara Arrowsmith has designed strengthen 19 different cognitive functions. I just did not have the health or stamina to manage the demands of class and work. It was at Barbara’s book launch (The Woman Who Changed Her Brain) that I had a conversation with Norman Doidge, author of The Brain that Changes Itself and How the Brain Heals, about Neurobiofeedback. It sounded like this might be the next step for me. I went for an assessment at the ADD Centre and started the single channel training the next week. Here was something that could also repair the brain.  Each training session was one hour, once a week, on my day off, which seemed much more do-able. The foundational repair work addresses the function and relationships of Alpha, Theta, Beta and Delta brainwaves. I can tell you I had a  fair amount of emotional relief when sleep became restorative. I started remembering dreams. Many of them were invaluable in letting me know that my brain was once again sorting through the leftovers of the day with more purpose and efficiency. I was refreshed by sleep in a way that I had not been for years. Memory for simple things like a grocery list  became easy.  I didn’t have to stumble around in my mind for words or explain about Acquired Brain Injury part way through a conversation. The insidious slide into ADD was reversed.

 Lynda Thompson, at the 40 hour re-assessment, was delighted to tell me that I had improved to the point where I could end the training or set up a maintenance schedule.      I had other ideas.

I had noticed that the Gamma brainwaves were not included in the training. Lena, my Neurobiofeedback trainer, told me that only one other person had done any work with gamma. I told Lynda and Lena that I wanted to be the second person. I had read that gamma was well developed by Tibetan Buddhist Meditators. Richard Davidson has done research with Tibetan monks and brain imaging. I had also seen a demonstration of Tibetan healing chants, practices and instruction at Massey Hall many years before I was in the hospital. I met with Lho Thul Tenzin Nimya Rinpoche who is both a monk and Emchi. He gave me some instruction and assistance that was very useful. I was  working with several cancer patients at that time. The gift of practical tools, the generosity he showed me, his deep calmness and acceptance has not faded in my memory. It continues to inspire me. I also knew that gamma increases conscious attention, compassion, calmness, instinct, REM sleep and neural synchrony.

 I am an Osteopath and a Massage Therapist. I’ve been in practice for 25 years so far. I’ve always had a hope, a wish to be in practice for 50 years just to see what my hands would know after that many years of people, their bodies, their unspoken expression of life communicating to my hands. Compassion, for me, is expressed in my hands. I said to Lynda in that conversation that while I could add techniques to my therapeutic tool kit it was the expression of well developed gamma/compassion that I really wanted to experience  over the next 25 years.

What is LORETA Neurofeedback?

LORETA NEUROFEEDBACK TRAINING

LORETA neurofeedback is an advanced form of neurofeedback training. It involves wearing a cap that measures 19 sites on the head. With this approach we can see what is happening at 47 Brodmann areas in your brain. In addition, the complex mathematics involved in LORETA allow us to train amplitudes, coherence and phase at 47 Brodmann areas. Communication between sites deep in the cortex can also be influenced.  This is why some call it Deep Brain Neurofeedback. This program also allows us to train networks in the brain.  Networks are areas of the brain that work together to perform a function.  There are networks associated with executive function, attention, mood, anxiety, and pain. As we are able to target many locations at once, we are able to see the effects of the training more quickly than traditional neurofeedback. 

The training itself involves receiving feedback in the form of a DVD movie or animation. When the client is able to move their brainwave patterns in the right direction (direction toward resolving symptoms) then the DVD movie/animation will play. The client learns what it feels like to be in the desired mental state (often a state of calm, relaxed focus and concentration). They can also learn to regulate brainwave patterns in order to normalize brain functioning in areas where they are having difficulty. A simple example of this would be a person who has difficulty reading. After practice they are able to achieve this state more easily and their brain begins to function in a more optimal way.

 We began using LORETA neurofeedback in our centre several years ago. Our preliminary results with clients experiencing head injury, anxiety, depression, learning difficulties, and ADHD have been impressive and we are hoping to publish research in the near future. 

Our LORETA neurofeedback training program is based on a complete assessment of the brain (brain map) and is tailored to the client.  We collaborate with the client to decide what the best training program will be for them and then we update it after every 10 training sessions.

Some of the symptoms  and areas of concern that can be worked on in training include the following -

Anxiety

Attention Deficits

Balance Problems

Blurred Vision

Chronic Pain

Depression

Dyslexia

Executive function

Face recognition

Hyperactivity

Impulsivity

Mood Swings

Migraines

Short Term Memory

Slow reader

Sleep Problems

Anger management

Difficulties interpreting nuance, innuendo and emotions

UNDERSTANDING  A.D.D.

Lynda Thompson, Ph.D., C.Psych., BCN

Parents and schools are increasingly recognizing Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.) as a major difficulty which produces academic underachievement.   With at least 5% of school age children affected, you can expect almost every class to have someone with A.D.D. or A.D.H.D. (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).   Their problems may include short attention span, distractibility, and difficulties organizing and completing  their assignments. Many also have an impulsive style; they start work without checking directions, blurt out answers, and have trouble awaiting their turn. 

ADD is not an illness and it is not a disorder in the usual sense. It is a constellation of temperamental traits, and a style of thinking.  The task of the individual who has these traits is to harness them  and use them to advantage.  Harnessing requires learning how to learn efficiently and effectively.

The brain of the child with ADD can be likened to a "flickering light".  Everyone’s brain produce electricity and the different frequencies of the brain waves are associated with different mental states.   People with A.D.D. produce an abundance of slow waves and show less fast wave activity.  A sudden burst of slow wave activity - Alpha or Theta -  in the middle of a complex task is equivalent to the individual being tuned out,  for  that moment in time.  People with ADD can attest to the frustration of continually finding that, despite the best of intent and even despite major interest in a topic,  they miss key points and sections of a lecture only minutes after it has begun.  Although most people occasionally experience getting to the end of a page of reading only to realize that their mind has been somewhere else, persons with ADD who have not developed specific counter strategies do this most of the time.  With ADD one may be thinking very intently and creatively internally while ignoring what is being said by a teacher.  In addition, even when the individual has not been thinking about something else internally, their mind has not, so to speak, gone into gear and become actively involved in the passage.  Being actively involved requires a state associated with faster brain waves - Beta activity.

What may be very confusing to parents is that often the individual with ADD may exhibit superb concentration and focus in specific situations.  This may even, at times, be superior to their peers! Children with ADD may, for example, become totally absorbed in games of Nintendo,  certain T.V. programs,  building with materials such as Lego or Playmobile and so on.  Only some of these activities are exceptionally fast changing therefore this is certainly not the only factor which might account for their intense concentration.  In the 1970's, while doing data collection for her thesis on the effects of Ritalin in hyperactive children, Lynda Thompson (now Director of the ADD Centre in Mississauga) noted that a disproportionate number of the ADHD boys who were hockey players `played goalie. This is a position which makes the most of inborn characteristics of many ADHD children.  The goalie receives individual instructions and does not therefore have to pay attention during strategy sessions in the dressing room.  When on the ice, their attention can wander when the puck is at the other end of the arena without adversely affecting their performance.  However,  when the puck is in play close to them, they appear to become mentally "locked on" to  it and virtually nothing distracts them, including screaming fans.

The mental state of hyper-focus which ADD people are capable of is very adaptive in a goal-tending situation. It can, on the other hand, irritate a parent whose repeated calls are ignored because the child is in hyper-focus in front of the T.V. or Nintendo!  Many scholars and senior business persons who have ADD note that they can "lock in" to focus on documents that they are creating, or plans they are developing and virtually nothing can distract them when they are in this type of activity.   In our experience, most of these individuals attribute their success to the development of metacognitive strategies to deal with their difficulties in concentrating.  (These strategies are taught at the ADD Centre in Mississauga.)  This in turn may have made them better students than persons who had never had to work at learning how to learn! One example of such a person is a brilliant physicist who became an expert in test-taking strategies and has published 18 books on that subject. Yet he still has trouble sitting through a lecture without impulsively calling out a question or comment!

The life history of many creative geniuses, from Mozart to Edison and Einstein, suggest that they were A.D.D. individuals. What makes the difference in whether a person with attentional problems is a success or not?  It depends on whether they learn to harness their abilities and use them to advantage.  Fortunately there is a new approach to helping both children and adults learn to self-regulate their brain waves to improve their concentration.  This educational approach is called Neurofeedback or computerized EEG feedback.  Within 40 to 60 sessions people can acquire the skill of producing brain wave patterns which are associated with focusing and concentrating. 

Unlike stimulants, Neurofeedback training appears to have a direct long term effect on increasing the child's ability to remain focused (decreased slow wave activity) and spend extended periods of time concentrating in a problem solving manner  (increased fast wave activity). There is a significant decrease in the phenomenon of tuning out (associated with Alpha and/or Theta activity) when the child is expected to be carrying out an assignment or listening intently in class.

In addition, Neurofeedback appears to have a similar effect to stimulants in that it increases the child's "natural guards" to inhibit or avoid  impulsive actions. Children already taking medication can continue while training, however, most find that they can gradually reduce the dosage as self regulation is mastered.

This training first became available in Canada at the University of Alberta in Edmonton in 1991. It has been available in Ontario at the ADD Centre in Mississauga since January 1993. The ADD Centre has a Toronto Training Centre on Yonge St. above Lawrence.

Neurofeedback training is virtually the opposite of therapy or  treatment by means of medication.  In Neurofeedback training children quickly recognize that no one is doing "it" to them.  They are totally in control, responsible, empowered and working it  out for themselves.  The feedback is nothing more or less than a useful tool which allows them to learn self-regulation.

See Also:  THE A.D.D. BOOK:   New Understandings, New Approaches to Parenting Your Child

William Sears, M.D. & Lynda Thompson, Ph.D.