What can someone expect if they’re going in for a qEEG? Why is this important? Why would you want to do it, and what benefits does it have over other types of neurofeedback? What are the different types of neurofeedback?

A qEEG is getting an EEG with eyes open and eyes closed. It is then sent into a database, where it is compared to the statistical norm, and we can see what is outside the norm and if that correlates with their symptoms. If someone has ADHD, the theta to beta ratio is off by more than two standard deviations. Interesting, then yeah theta to beta ratio training was likely going to help that person with their ADHD.

The qEEG does two things, 1) we can tell if someone is a good candidate for neurofeedback based off their brain waves, if everything is inside the norm that might not really be the source of an issue. Could neurofeedback still help? Yeah, it could but it might not be clinical, at that point you’re just kind of peak performance training. You’re just trying to help just a little bit. Whereas if something comes back and it’s really statistically outside the norm it’s more likely that neurofeedback is going to create more of a noticeable change. Causing the client to start feeling better.

2) It is used for screening, but also for tailoring specific protocols to an individual. If we do a recording we get brainwaves back, about 400 pages of data we comb through. This allows us to see what’s going on, we then know what to treat. We know what areas of the brain are outside the norm, and what areas of the brain are correlating with their symptoms. We can target that. How they target it? There are standardized protocols that have been created, which sometimes is done without a qEEG.

Why is a qEEG important? Let’s say someone goes in they express “I have addiction problems” and the therapist decides “oh we’re going to do alpha theta training”. That person has too much alpha and they have too much theta already because they have ADHD. If you’re training that up, you might not get the desired results. You actually want to know what’s going on before you head off in a certain direction.

If someone has too much theta and you train that up, that might not be a good thing. If someone has too much alpha and you train that up, that might not be a good thing. The standardized protocols in some instances may not be a good idea. Thus, doing qEEG even if someone is doing a standardized protocol is smart, because then we know if some of the standardized protocol is even going to help.

There are also specific protocols for that individual, so and say instead of going with the standardized protocol of beta SMR for example, maybe the problem is more in the frontal lobe. Maybe it’s theta to beta ratio training, and that can be observed in a qEEG.

Specific protocols can be used and even with specific protocols there’s different types of protocols. For example, there’s classical neurofeedback when you train the theta wave down or bring trader theta wave down and the beta wave up so you’re less distracted and more alert. There’s a bipolar montage where we’re going do a couple spots but treat it as one. Or we could do a monopolar montage, then there’s even different things to go in there, that’s one type.

There’re things like z-score training, which is taking a bunch of brain waves and saying everything we’re going to bring everything within this window. Z-score tells your brain if you get a bunch of waves within this window, we’re giving you a reward. So, it’s measuring multiple things at once and let’s say that 65% get within this range, oh again a reward. So, it’s training multiple things, so people learn to regulate the brain waves with lots of things all at once, not just something in one direction.

Next, there’s how one part of the brain is communicating with another part of the brain. Increasing or decreasing that communication, or the timing of that communication so there’s coherence there’s relative power. There’s a phase which is timing coherence, deciding if that communication is relative? Typically, it’s not done on its own, to be honest you want to kind of avoid doing relative z-score training on its own.

Most of the z-score training is just absolute power but you can also include all these other things. That’s all still within the umbrella of z-score training. Then there’s even 19 channels z-score training. The full cap, there is not just 19 channels but there’s sLORETA. sLORETA is used for targeting what’s happening on the inside of the brain the limbic lobe, and you can do z-score training with a specific area. Or you can take that specific area and you can do directional training with it. For example, you can say okay the limbic lobe we’re going to train this brainwave in this direction.

There’s app training with absolute power, coherence, theta, or ratio training such as theta to beta ratio. There are many different types of neurofeedback. It is really fascinating to see what can be done. Let’s take an example where someone has too much theta wave, but the right and left hemisphere aren’t really communicating that well. You could actually do sLORETA communication from one part of the brain to another. You can do secularistic coherence directional training and train the brain to be communicating between the two hemispheres more, while training the theta wave down.

Asymmetry training is also something that can be done with z-score training there’s quite a bit that you can do with neurofeedback. Going back to the beginning that qEEG, that lets us know what’s going on. That lets us know what protocols are available despite whatever approach is being used, whether it’s sLORETA, z score, classical, standardized protocols, or specific protocols. qEEG based protocols lets you know if you’re a good candidate for neurofeedback. If you have a certain symptom and you get this map back, but everything associated with your symptoms is in this normal range your symptoms may likely be caused by something else.

This could be sleep apnea which can contribute to symptoms that feedback wouldn’t do anything for. A huge part in mental health neurofeedback in general is finding the source of an issue finding the source of a symptom. If someone has had symptoms their entire life nerve feedback may be a really good option, if there was a sudden onset of symptoms maybe something like EMDR may work better. Then again sometimes neurofeedback can help for that, depending what type of symptom it was, and what those symptoms are.

Finally, there’s a lot of different options, a lot of different types of biofeedback, there’s even biofeedback that’s integrated with neurofeedback. Light therapy can be used to kind of encourage brainwaves to go in certain directions, it’s a lot to learn. I’m still skipping out on so much information, I will put more out there that’ll explain each of these steps in more detail thank you for your time.

If you would like to watch this video visit Preston Walker’s Guide to Everything Neurofeedback | Neuro Science | Mental Health – YouTube