intensive neurofeedback

[kiwibird]

I wondered if anyone has tried an intensive neurofeedback program, where the sessions are packed into a few weeks. I am currently having neurofeedback locally, but I am finding the practitioner very difficult to deal with and he has become very hostile towards me. I'm not sure how much longer I will be able to continue there, and there aren't any other options locally. I know that travelling to a 'boot camp' is an expensive option, but I still wondered if anyone has tried it and can give feedback.

 

[EveHarrington]

Why not just do it at home? It would be so much cheaper overall, right? I found stuff about it when I looked into meditation as it’s hard for me to just meditate on my own. I just started using muse but not the neurofeedback add ons or anything as just the muse + year long subscription was $350+. I know there are other options, too. I’m just getting help with meditation and the biofeedback functions so that’s a bit different. I’m using it mainly to help calm my OCD symptoms. I know you can rent the neurofeedback systems but I don’t know much about it as I just saw people talking about it elsewhere.

 

[kiwibird]

I am considering that as an option, but it can be expensive too, and I would still need to travel for an initial assessment if it is a high-level treatment. A few years ago I purchased lifetime subscription (which I don't think is still available) for Myndlift, which is a basic home system using a Muse. I actually held (I don't know whether I still hold it) their record for the most time ever spent on their system, so I gave it a really good go but never made any progress in my metrics during actual sessions. They also conducted occasional remote assessments, but their results were totally erratic - one time I had apparently made huge progress and the next time I was worse than before I started. None of this reflected my own feelings. When I queried this, they just said 'don't worry about the assessments, but just look on it as general wellness'. The assessments were used for deciding my treatment settings, so I didn't feel I could not worry about it. I stopped using the system. The local practitioner I am seeing now as performed two QEEGs. (I have only had one session of neurofeedback so far, but I have been seeing him for a few months - we first tried electrical stimulation treatments, but they didn't work.) What he says I need is completely different from what Myndlift had programmed for me. I have got back to Myndlift in the last few days asking them to change my settings. I would then give it another go.

 

[EveHarrington]

From what I’ve seen you need to get a 19 channel scan locally and need to send that in to myndlift in order to have the best chance at success otherwise it’s just a crapshoot as their scans are inadequate in comparison. Again, this is just what I’ve seen people talk about, I don’t know much about it other than that as I haven’t done this myself. I don’t know the specifics about it as it’s just what I’ve seen in passing when I was researching the muse headband.

 

[kiwibird]

Thanks for your advice. I am waiting to hear back from two people at Myndlift, and I will see what we can do. Hopefully my local practitioner will help out with supplying any data they require. I remember the gist of my results but I don't actually have the scans myself.
I have been lucky enough to get funding for the local treatment, but at best (even if the practitioner doesn't make it impossible for me to continue) it will probably end at the end of the year. I like being able to put in extra effort myself, so hopefully I will get that sorted with Myndlift and take some control back. But I am still thinking I might give a neurofeedback brain camp/retreat/intensive program a go, probably next year. I can afford it, but I don't have money to burn and I only want to do it if it is worthwhile.
The problem I have had with the local therapist is that he doesn't listen when I talk and he only skim-reads emails - he responds to them as if he has read them and understood them, but when I next talk to him assuming he knows what I have told him I find he has understood nothing. I have been trying to explain the same things to him for several weeks, both in person and in email, and he seems to listen but then goes back to saying exactly the same things he was saying before, even though I had told him he had completely misunderstood everything and that I was finding it very frustrating. He wouldn't even just let that particular subject drop and not talk about it at all - he kept being the one to bring it up but getting everything completely wrong, until I got pretty direct with him (by email) about it. I was polite for weeks, but I felt it had gone beyond the point where it was actually right for me to be polite.
At my last session I said to him 'if you stress me again I will walk out', and he gave me a very cold look and said 'you are very welcome to walk out' - but I really want to try neurofeedback, so I stayed, but it obviously isn't very conducive to it working.

 

[kiwibird]

After writing that, I thought maybe it sounds as if I was imposing on his time by sending emails, but he had actually told me to email with feedback after every session, and I really did try to keep my emails short and concise.

 

[EveHarrington]

It doesn’t seem like he’s a good fit for you. A therapist needs to be able to listen to their clients!

 

[EveHarrington]

I love my muse S so far. I know it’s biofeedback and not neurofeedback but I’m optimistic that it will provide lots of benefits and hopefully I can reduce my medication. It’s already improving my sleep and every time I hear a bird I’m like oh good, the birds are here, I’ll continue doing what I’m doing.

 

[kiwibird]

Thanks Eve. You are right that the therapist is not a good fit. He has really been causing me a lot of stress and even loss of sleep, but I really want to give neurofeedback a try and he is my only option at the moment. I live in a small town in New Zealand. Even hiring high-level equipment isn't easy here.
Thanks so much so your support. I went a bit off my headline topic, but I obviously needed to vent a bit.
Good luck with the muse. Something I have been giving a bit of thought to recently is that there are three strands to feeling better - actions, thoughts and feelings. To give a few slightly random examples, actions might be getting a dog or tidying your room. Thoughts might be telling yourself that not everything is your fault or that what someone else thinks isn't that important. I think it is easy to overlook the third strand of feelings. We hope that the actions and thoughts will improve how we feel, but it's also possible to go there directly - learn how your brain feels when it is more comfortable and try to recreate that feeling. The muse should help you with that, and you can try to generate the same feelings from time to time even when you are not using it.