How Can Neurofeedback Therapy Help With ADHD?
ADHD hampers someone's ability to focus for long periods of time, and it can have severe negative consequences for someone's academic or professional life. While medication is often effective for ADHD, there's always the risk of side effects, and it's not a permanent solution — ADHD symptoms return when you stop taking medication. One new approach to treating ADHD without the need for medication is neurofeedback therapy, which helps you naturally shift your brain activity to a more focused state. To learn how it works and how it can help treat ADHD, read on.
How Does Neurofeedback Therapy Work?
Neurofeedback therapy records brain waves and uses reinforcement learning to teach people how to subconsciously modify their brain activity in positive ways. During a session, a therapist uses an electroencephalograph to measure your brain waves. An electroencephalograph uses electrodes placed on your head to record the electrical activity of your brain.
Neurofeedback therapy is primarily concerned about alpha, beta and delta brain waves. Beta waves are the fastest, and they're associated with concentrating on a single task. Delta waves are the slowest, and they're associated with relaxation. Alpha waves are between the other two, and they're associated with alertness.
The electroencephalograph is connected to a computer that constantly monitors the recorded brain waves. The therapist will select an activity for you to perform such as watching a movie or playing a video game, and they'll ask you to concentrate on it. Your concentration will be measured by the amount of beta waves being detected by the computer. If your concentration lapses and you aren't producing as many beta waves, the movie or the video game will stop, and you'll have to focus again in order to restart it.
Neurofeedback therapy attaches a reward to maintaining focus, since the movie or game will keep playing while you remain focused. This is a form of reinforcement learning, which your brain is naturally very good at — it will become better at maintaining concentration and focusing again if you lose concentration so that you continue receiving positive feedback from the movie or video game.
How Can Neurofeedback Therapy Help People With ADHD?
People with ADHD often have too little beta wave activity and too much delta wave activity, which can result in difficulty focusing on a task. Since neurofeedback therapy constantly measures brain waves, it's possible for people with ADHD to learn how to subconsciously learn how to ramp up their beta wave activity and lower their delta wave activity, which aids in concentration.
Reinforcement learning slowly teaches the brain how to do this on its own, without the need for the external stimulus of watching a movie or playing a video game that's connected to an electroencephalograph. While the process of reinforcement learning is slow, it doesn't require you to consciously change the way that you think — your brain automatically picks up on the positive reinforcement provided by therapy and improves its ability to shift into a state with a high amount of beta wave activity.
Overall, neurofeedback therapy helps people with ADHD improve their concentration by allowing them to slowly retrain the way that their brain operates. Providing positive reinforcement for remaining focused on a task associates intense focus with positive feelings, which can help people with ADHD naturally focus better in their day-to-day lives. If you have ADHD and are having difficulty concentrating, find a therapist near you that offers neurofeedback therapy — while it can take a while to see results, it's a nearly effortless way to help teach your brain to concentrate better.