Neural Feedback Training as Therapy for ADHD?

jamesh asks: "I asked Slashdot (anonymously) a while back about my daughter, who has been diagnosed with ADHD. The Ritalin has made a lot of difference but things are still not quite right, and she has developed various vocal tics (grunting, odd little noises, words and so forth... think Tourette's Syndrome, only not nearly as bad), which is one of the side effects of stimulant medication. She's now a lot less of an outcast and appears able to better interact with other kids, but we're still looking at alternate treatments. It may be the trendy new thing, but we've now started down the road of neural feedback therapy. Does anyone out there have any experience in this treatment? First hand 'I've tried it once and it changed/ruined my life' anecdotes would be great, but if you have a child, friend or acquaintance who has been through this treatment, it would be really useful to hear about their experiences." We also discussed ADHD treatments in another related Ask Slashdot but I don't see any mention of such a therapy in that discussion. Has anyone heard of studies or reports on patients of Neural Feedback Therapy?

"If you haven't heard of it, the idea is that by attaching sensors to the head, brainwaves can be measured, and by providing visual feedback, you can actually train your brain to regulate its activity. An ADHD person supposedly has a brain which isn't very good at keeping itself in 'concentration' mode. In a child, the feedback takes the form of a game or in the case of an infant, a pleasing pattern on the screen (an infant would probably be treated for sleep disorders, not ADHD, in case you were wondering). When the brainwaves are in the 'right' state, the game proceeds or the patterns get prettier. When the brainwaves are erratic, it all slows down.

Because it is a trendy new thing, it's been put forward as a possible treatment for many other things including sleeplessness, epilepsy and other disorders, but one of the better successes has been in the treatment of ADHD.

The whole thing sounds quite plausible, but it is also quite expensive. All of the stuff I've read has been either from the suppliers of the treatment, or from people trying to discredit it."

Comments

Re:Not a disease

[shamilton]

You sound like a misdiagnosis. For those of us that are genuinely affected, stimulants make the difference between utter misery and mental health. Maybe this guy should do what his daughter thinks is best, instead of some guy preaching "fuck the system" on slashdot.

Re:Not a disease

[iron_weasel]

Your right about the sugar. Here is what I have seen far too often, even in my own family.

The child(5 or 6) is up and bright eyed and normal. Says she is hungry. The lazy mom grabs a regular coke out of the frig and gives it to her along with some cookies because she is too fscking lazy to cook or fix something nutrious.

The child takes the energy straiht in a becomes very very active as a normal result. From there she can only go down, to overweight in the near future, to early onset of diabetes and to misbehaviour and then a whacking or ignored.

The above is repeated daily. What does any normal person assume the outcome to be? Hytension and hyperactivity become the normal. Can't focus due to high levels of carbohydrates and energy. The diet is nonexistant. The mother blames anything but her sloppy method of rearing and laziness.

The father left long ago. He was a bum maybe. He had mental problems It was a marriage of consequences and the result will be foreordained.

This must be happening in unbelievable numbers since I see it so often and I live in a rural area where its just as bad almost.

Look into the kids eyes hanging out at the local mall. You don't see interest or the future. You see lots of metal, lots of skin and lots of waste and dead eyes and little 'real' intelligence.

Oh yeah they can play Nintendo like a wiz. Get a job then playing Nintendo. It doesn't work like that. Then they say...oh I got ADHD. I got a poor broken wing...oh help me please...oh.

They should instead go back and kick the ass of the one who did it to them but they really don't think that far ahead. When they do its too late.