Biofeedback Therapy For ADHD

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If you or your loved ones have ADHD, you should consider biofeedback therapy as an option for treatment. Let’s learn more.

Biofeedback is an alternative therapy some people adopt to treat the symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This treatment has been used since the late 1960s, but whether it can stimulate ADHD symptoms is yet mixed. 

When used for ADHD, a device examines a child’s brain wave activity and delivers feedback via a game-like challenge. Support lawsuit this process can train the brain to behave differently and curtail ADHD symptoms.

The idea of biofeedback therapy for ADHD is that some people with ADHD exhibit differences in brain activity, primarily in the frontal lobe. This portion of the brain influences concentration and organization.

What Is ADHD?

ADHD can be extremely challenging to live with since it can impact interpersonal relationships, academic and work performance, and daily functioning. For those who undergo distracting symptoms, they may encounter the following signs, amongst others:

- Absence of attention to detail results in errors during school, work, and daily activities

- Efforts to pay attention both during play and during necessary duties like tasks and communicating
- Challenges accomplishing tasks or obligations due to matters providing for focus
- Problems with meeting deadlines and timeliness
- Missing essential items like wallets, keys, and cell phones
- Avoiding activities that require attention and focus
- Easily preoccupied and distracted in necessary daily activities

Several may encounter hyperactivity-impulsivity, which can comprise the following:

- Incapacity to sit still when needed, for example, in the classroom or the workplace

- Consistent feelings of restlessness

- Undue talking, frequently without a filter

- Frequent intervals of others during conversations

- Inability to maintain enjoyable activities quietly

To obtain a diagnosis of ADHD, one doesn’t have to present both inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity, though it isn’t uncommon to struggle with each of these issues. However, the individual must suffer some of the above symptoms chronically, and they must be so severe that they affect their daily functioning. These symptoms cannot be otherwise clarified by any other physical or mental ailment. 

Children can start expressing symptoms as ahead as three years old. Adults may have dwelled with symptoms of ADHD their whole lives but may not receive a diagnosis until they are adults. Therefore, it is crucial to visit a mental health professional to obtain a full screening for ADHD.

Biofeedback therapy

Now, let's go to what is biofeedback therapy. A biofeedback device operates like a sixth sense that enables a patient to “see” or “hear” movement inside his body. Conventional equipment picks up electrical signals in the muscles. 

It translates these signals into a pattern the patient can grasp, such as a flashing light or a sound, every time muscles tense up. He attempts to calm down the flashing or beeping by becoming familiar with the tense muscle and figuring out how to relieve it.

During neurofeedback, electrodes (which look like flattened earbuds) are positioned on a child’s head or in a headband to control his brain activity. These electrodes are not unbearable.

Here’s how neurofeedback works:

The child watches a video and listens for a prompt to shift something he sees. For example, he might get inquired to make an onscreen dot stand still.

He focuses his mind on the task, which transmits a message through the electrodes on his scalp to the computer. He does this without utilizing a mouse, joystick, or keyboard.

As the computer deduces electrical activity in the child’s brain, it sends him feedback (the dot on the screen does or doesn’t stop moving, for example).

This feedback assists the child figure out how to “control” or alter how he’s concentrating or paying attention.

The idea is that over time, having a child alter his brain waves through practice and repetition will enable him to concentrate longer while playing the neurofeedback game.

Weekly sessions of an hour or less are usually approved. Being sure of how severe the ADHD symptoms are, treatment may take 10 to 20 sessions.

Who provides biofeedback?

A biofeedback therapist procures this therapy. Laws that rectify this therapy vary from state to state, and some biofeedback therapists get authorized in a certain approach.

Biofeedback therapists are usually experts in psychiatry, psychology, physical treatment, or nursing. Several provide biofeedback treatment under the supervision of a medical doctor.

Your child’s doctor or other specialists, such as psychologists, can frequently help you find a decent biofeedback therapist in your area.

Conclusion

Biofeedback is a feasible treatment for ADHD. Research recently verified that as little as 30 sessions of Biofeedback Therapy could be as beneficial as prominent impulses in reducing ADHD symptoms.

It isn’t unheard of for someone to no longer desire ADHD medication after many biofeedback treatments. If you’re interested in exploring neurofeedback as a treatment for ADHD, reaching out to Advantage health System is the first step in noticing if it is the right fit for you.