2 minute read
Biofeedback
Benefits of BIOFEEDBACK
Davidson clinic uses non-medical treatment options for enhanced well being
BY » Elizabeth Watson Chaney
Melanie Berry, founder of Carolinas Biofeedback Clinic, first became interested in the topic of biofeedback in a psychology course back in 1982. She later earned a master’s in psychology, board certification in both biofeedback and neurofeedback, and additional certifications in a variety of mind-body techniques.
Hoping to make biofeedback more accessible to clients, she opened a clinic in Pineville in 2008, then added an additional office in Davidson, serving as clinical director in both locations.
The clinic offers services in both biofeedback and neurofeedback. Berry says people seek out biofeedback and neurofeedback for a variety of reasons, and they are often interconnected. In Berry’s practice, however, 85 percent come because of something anxiety-related. Second most common are cognitive concerns
such as memory, attention, or executive functioning— followed by depression and sleep disturbances. Many of her clients have also experienced trauma of some kind. Calming the nervous system
“In essence,” Berry explains, “biofeedback involves teaching a person how to self-regulate, how to calm their own nervous system, and how to improve their own memory capacity by manipulating some real-time biological measure.” Options in skill-based biofeedback include thermal biofeedback (hand warming), respiration biofeedback, heart rate variability, galvanic skin response (sweating), muscle tension (electromyogram), and open focus synchrony (attention training). Each involves active learning and regular practice.
Neurofeedback is a type of biofeedback in which the learning is passive. Sensors are attached to the client’s scalp to detect activity in specific brain areas. A movie or other technology feeds audio-visual cues back to the person, rewarding the brain when it chooses healthy neural pathways. The learning is integrated during sleep over the next two days.
Neurofeedback protocols are designed based on information gathered through a quantitative EEG, also known an advanced brain map. Berry uses a sophisticated brain map called the Kaiser NeuroMap. This technology allows her to assess 55 functional brain areas and seven cortical networks to identify which ones are underactive, overactive, or unstable. It also reveals areas of the brain that are abnormally dominated by the limbic system (the system responsible for the acute stress response known as fight, flight, or freeze).
Capabilities of the brain
Berry has treated people as young as three and on into their eighties and says, “it’s never too late.” Thanks to something called neuroplasticity, she explains, the brain continues to make new neurons and create new neural networks until the day we die. There are several techniques she recommends specifically for people concerned with age-related cognitive decline: Synchrony, Vielight photo biomodulation, and white matter tracking.
Berry is not a physician, and biofeedback, she says, is not a medical treatment. However, things for which people typically seek out medical treatment for can often be made better by biofeedback. Generally speaking, biofeedback is well respected among medical professionals, but there is some lingering skepticism surrounding neurofeedback. This, she thinks, is due in part to the lack of consistency in training. For anyone contemplating biofeedback or neurofeedback, Berry advises, “board certification needs to be the hallmark that the consumer is looking for.”
To learn more, visit www.cbfclinic.com. ?
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