How Does Neurofeedback Work?

 A former attorney, L. Jay Mitchell is the founder, director, and principal owner of Greenbrier Academy for Girls in Lewisburg, West, Virginia. Since 2007, L. Jay Mitchell has guided the licensed, non-acute treatment center in providing college preparatory academics and therapeutic interventions such as equine therapy, music therapy, and neurofeedback.

A type of biofeedback, neurofeedback utilizes electronic devices to measure brainwave activity and detect stress in the body. Because brainwaves inform everything from emotions to sleep quality, understanding and manipulating them can help reduce symptoms of anxiety without medication. During a neurofeedback session, a technician records the brain’s electrical impulses, then compares these brainwaves with a normative database. This helps generate a map that indicates where brainwaves are too fast or too slow.

The subject might then watch a movie that fades as their brainwaves become unregulated and brightens when brainwaves are regulated. Over time, they learn to self-regulate brainwaves to keep them in a harmonic state.