Learn From the Best: Drs. Lynda and Michael Thompson

The BFE ventured into the world of specialized biofeedback and neurofeedback software packages almost 10 years ago. We moved slowly and cautiously, to create custom-built  sessions in order to share methods of experts in the field of bio and neurofeedback. The BFE will forever be grateful to Dr. Michael and Lynda Thompson, for their collaboration.  As well-known names in our field, their willingness to share the collective insight of their ADD Centre in Toronto, Canada, gave the BFE its first opportunity to build a software suite that gives a helping-hand to any therapist looking to advance client care with bio/neurofeedback.  From their knowledge was born the "Setting Up For Clinical Success" suite and "Specialized Application Scripts" suite, now often referred to as simply the "Thompsons' Suites".

Training display for calming the brain, while monitoring the individual's physiology - 

suitable for performance enhancement with athletes and over thinkers.

Many clinicians swear by the Thompsons' Suites as being the best and most in-depth collection of screens and scripts available, for such a wide spectrum of client disorders and needs.  The Thompsons' design and methods extend to ADD/ADHD, Aspergers,  autism, anxiety , depression , optimal performance training, seizures, stress and more.  Each display arranges different relevant physiology and EEG bandwidth statistics, such that every individual possible requirement for clinical treatment is covered within the whole suite. The "Setting Up For Clinical Success" suite provides all the display screens for independent training, while the "Specialized Application Scripts" suite provides pre-defined 20-to-30 minute long  protocols for training ADD/ADHD, seizures, Aspergers, dyslexia, depression and optimal performance. 

Training display for focusing the mind and minimizing distractibility, typically used with 

ADD/ADHD children - point counters included for gauging success and challenging the subject.

The guidance and patience the Thompsons provided the BFE can also be found at the workshops they host. Whether you're a novice clinician that wants to improve your basic knowledge of the clinical EEG biofeedback field, or an experienced practitioner that desires to broach advanced material, their Neurofeedback Fundamentals workshop is the opportunity to learn from these world leaders of the field. We strongly encourage any professional that is interested in neurofeedback to consider the Thompsons' workshop. Past workshops have welcomed participants from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, United States, and Canada.

 

Neurofeedback Fundamentals Workshops    

Date:  June 2-6, 2014 and Sept 29 - Oct 3, 2014

Location:  Stoney Lake, ON  Canada

Contact:  ADDCentre@gmail.com or www.addcentre.com

For more information on the next Neurofeedback Fundamentals Workshop hosted by Michael and Lynda Thompson, just outside of Toronto, Canada, contact the ADD Centre directly at: ADDCentre@gmail.com.

Interested in learning more about the Thompsons' Suites? Click on the titles below for a full description:

Setting Up For Clinical Success Suite

Specialized Applications Scripts Suite

Recently, Dr. Lynda Thompson spoke about neurofeedback on The Agenda with Steve Paikin.  Click on the image below to view the interview.

Internet Addiction

Technology is the primary driver of change in our modern society. The invention of the personal computer and the internet have pushed how we acquire, process and share information in ways beyond imaginable 30 years ago. Do you think the original creators of the so-called "super computers" of the 1970s ever thought that the average person would be sending silly emails to loved ones, continents apart? By extension, could they have believed that I am writing this sentence from a device that fits in the palm of my hand, as compared to the first computers that took up a million times the space, with only one millionth (1/1,000,000) the processing power?  

As a child in the 90s, my grandmother let us play with the 

very first Pong console. Compare those graphics versus a 

modern day neurofeedback training screen. Don't even try to

 compare the instantaneous processing power between these two devices.

With all big leaps come unforeseen changes. It took decades to fully understand the impact of the television's contributions to health and society, by promoting sedentary and closed-in lifestyles.  We are only now learning about the impact that the computer, internet, and by extension tablets and smart phones, are having on the way we interact with others. The devices give us access to an endless stream of diversions, but at what potential cost? When we are focused on our screens, are we missing out on what is going on around us?

"Look Up", a spoken word film by Gary Turk explores this phenomenon.
It has received over 37 million views to date.

Internet addiction, and by extension digital addiction (smart phones, tablets), is the name given to a new condition for overuse of internet and digital devices, to the point where the individual feels distress. Whether this is truly a disorder, or simply a new outlet for those with depression, anxiety and social isolation is unsure, it evidently shares many commonalities with substance abuse issues. The DSM-V does not include internet as a behavioural addiction however it is recognized in other parts of the world such as South Korea and China. Dr. Jerald J. Block, M.D. explores the topic in a recent article on Issues for DSM-V: Internet Addiction in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

The BFE has invited Dr. Paul Swingle to give a 1-hour webinar presentation on Internet Addiction, where he will share his experience assessing and treating this behavioral issue. Using his simple ClinicalQ neurofeedback assessment method, he will describe underlying causes and susceptibilities of those he deems to be internet addicts. Dr. Swingle will also review the neurofeedback intervention to pursue with such cases.

Dr. Swingle's Internet Addiction Webinar
Date: May 27, 2014
Time: 3:00-4:00 PM Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Any clinician looking to enter the field of neurotherapy would greatly benefit from Dr. Swingle's ClinicalQ & BrainDryvr method, which gives a simple, easy to interpret roadmap for neurofeedback assessment and training. Visit the BFE website to learn more. 

For further reading on this topic:
Should DSM-V Designate “Internet Addiction” a Mental Disorder?

In the latest issue of our online journal Psychophysiology Today, Dr. Erik Peper touches on the subject of device use in his article Support Healthy Brain Development: Implications for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. It also contains abstracts from the Scientific Day at the BFE Annual Meeting in Venice where Mari K. Swingle, Ph.D. spoke about Addiction in the 21st Century: EEG Profiling of Internet/Digital Addiction.

Click here to download the latest issue from our website.

Biofeedback for Mental Health

We are "blogging for mental health" to talk about an adjunctive treatment that clinicians around the world use in their practice's every day, but is not widely known. Special thanks to the American Psychological Association for organizing this event and to everyone who has chosen to take part and share their voice. 

There are a variety of approaches used by mental health practitioners to treat mental illnesses. They include: pharmacological, psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral and interpersonal. There are also a number of therapy formats: individual therapy, group therapy, couple's therapy and family therapy. The variety of approaches and formats allow clinicians to tailor their approach to suit the clients' needs. 

One technique that we don't hear much about is biofeedback. Biofeedback is a process by which an individual can learn how to change physiological activity in order to improve their health and performance.

"If you can't measure it, you can't improve it."

William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (yup, he's the guy they named the unit of measure after) once said, "If you can't measure it, you can't improve it." Well, biofeedback allows one to do precisely that. During a biofeedback session, physiological activity such as skin temperature, heart rate, respiration, muscle tension and brainwaves are monitored and the information is fed back to the therapist and user. 

As a counsellor, one employs a variety of cognitive strategies with their clients because some respond better certain techniques over others. Adding biofeedback to the toolbox can enhance the efficacy of other therapeutic techniques. For example, monitoring a person's stress response during breath training, an autogenic session or guided imagery can confirm whether they are actually relaxing or if they are gaining no benefit. In the biofeedback image example below, the anxious subject is coached to relax in order to make the tree grow. As they activating their parasympathetic nervous system, their finger temperature rises, and the animated tree grows.

There are many applications for biofeedback and mental health. This past February at our annual meeting in Venice, Italy, presenters discussed the use of biofeedback for ADHD, OCD, Aspergers and Autism, Stress, Addictions, Anxiety and Depression among other topics. Whether you are a clinician, someone with a mental health challenge or someone who wants to learn ways to keep stress at bay and maintain good mental health, we invite you to learn more about biofeedback!

A great introduction to the subject can be found on YouTube at: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a53LA7aL2Og

We invite you to view a recent webinar presented by Linda Walker, MHR, LPC, BCN, BCB on How Biofeedback Benefits Your Clients and Your Practice.
https://vimeo.com/94453638

Call for Webinar Submissions

As most of you know, the BFE hosts a variety of online sessions throughout the year, with the aim of giving therapists, psychologists, doctors and clinicians access to new knowledge regarding biofeedback and neurofeedback evaluation, training and measurement techniques, as well as new applications in the field. HRV and Hypnosis, by Maggie Minsk and Sue Intemann, Art and the Brain, by Dr. Paul G. Swingle, Tactical Breathing, by Dr. Henk Kraaijenhof and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) & Biofeedback by Dr. Richard Gevirtz are examples of previous webinars we hosted with the goal of giving attendees a new perspective on treatment and/or a new application for their practice.

Currently, we are searching for clinicians that are interested in presenting a 1-hour educational webinar on a particular facet of the biofeedback and neurofeedback field, to which they are currently making use. The idea is that webinar participants would come out of the presentation knowing a little more than when they came in, either in technical knowledge or direct application they can put to use in their practice.

Here is an example of potential webinars the BFE is interested in hosting:
· Applications of heart rate variability in particular therapies
· Synopsis on the subtypes of ADHD as assessed with EEG
· Skin conductance/GSR training to minimize the frequency of seizures in epileptics
· Muscle relaxation exercises for peak performance training with athletes.

Do you use bio/neurofeedback in your practice, but not in any way we have listed above? 
We would be very happy to hear about your idea for a presentation. Similarly, if you have any suggestions on what types of webinars you would like to see BFE present, please let us know.

Contact Us For More Information
All interested presenters should contact Jon Bale at research@bfe.org with a description of their presentation. We will respond to all reasonable applications, and no material will be shared with any outside parties without strict approval. All webinar presenters are paid for their time.

Please note: The BFE is interested in presentations which educate clinicians about a specific application in biofeedback/neurofeedback or a new method that clinicians can integrate into their current practice using the equipment they already own. Suggested presentations that are commercial in nature will not be accepted.

Introduction to Slow Cortical Potentials (SCPs)

Among the many questions I fielded at the BFE Meeting in Venice, a large number came from individuals looking to know more about slow cortical potentials. Much of this was due to Dr. Ute Strehl's 2-day workshop on slow cortical potentials. If anyone ever has the chance to sit in on a talk by Dr. Strehl, I would highly recommend them to do so.

Slow cortical potentials (SCPs) are not particularly a topic for novice clinicians.  Making sense of the underlying source of SCPs can be a little difficult. In terms of their functional measurement, it's an additional hurdle to overcome for collecting a clean signal and timing the training with the client correctly. We at the BFE have had several clinicians new to neurofeedback embark on the journey of SCPs for research at their university or clinical application in their private practice. I'm happy to report that each group that has reached out to us for guidance through our online class has attained their goals for using SCPs.

We thought it might be useful to review the basic concepts related to the nature of SCPs, for anyone that might be considering adding this EEG technique to their clinic. For those that are looking for more in-debt explanations, feel free to look up articles by Dr. Ute Strehl and Dr. Niels Birbaumer. Recommended articles have been added to the end of this post. 

What are slow cortical potentials?

Slow cortical potentials are slow event-related, direct-current shifts in the EEG, originating from the large cell assemblies in the upper cortical layer. Let's break that previous, information-dense sentence down. SCPS are:

• Slow. In terms of speed, they can occur from 300 milliseconds to over several seconds. Compared to most EEG activity that is monitored for neurofeedback, that is a very long time. Equipment for measurement of SCPs must be specialized to collect these longer changes, and needs to average the activity from many trials to gain an overall trend of the EEG activity. 

Example of SCP average of activation and inhibition. Note - this image is generated by a subject that is not yet used to SCP training.

• Event-related potentials. This means there are changes in EEG activity based on responses to events. If an image or sound is presented to an individual, the presentation of the stimulus will cause  a change in the brain's potential, as a reaction to the stimuli. Interestingly, this change in potential can be of exogenous origins (reaction to a presented external stimulus) or endogenous origins (reaction to expectation of stimuli). The brain reacting to the expectation of a stimulus, without actually being presented the stimulus, means the change in event related potential can be consciously generated at will. If it can be generated at will, it can be trained.
• Direct current shifts in EEG. SCPS are general measures of electrical activity. The vast majority of neurofeedback is based on measuring subsets of the EEG activity, divided into bandwidth frequencies (such as Theta, Alpha, Beta). The SCP signal however is general electrical activity in amplitude. These changes are weak shifts so it is necessary to run many trials to get an overall trend in activity.
• Originate from large cell assemblies in the upper cortical layers. The thalamo-cortical system acting as a "neuronal pacemaker" triggers the general activation of these cell assemblies, which then expands outward via cortico-cortical connections of inhibition and excitation. The degree of activation/depolarization of these cell assemblies is the focus of SCP training.

Studies show that changes in SCPs leading to increased negativity reflect greater depolarization of the large cell assemblies, which in turn lowers the threshold of excitement of neurons in the brain, leading to increased neuronal activity. 

Inversely, changes in SCPs leading to increased positivity reflect less depolarization of the cell assemblies, which in turn increases the threshold of excitement of neurons in the brain (greater inhibition making it more difficult for neurons to activate), leading to less neuronal activity.

The clinical implications of slow cortical potentials and their training are reflected in epileptics, individuals with ADD and those suffering from migraines. 

• Increased SCP negativity is observed in epileptics a few seconds before a seizure. Increased SCP positivity occur immediately after a seizure is finished. Training for increased positivity (less activity/greater inhibition) with SCPs has shown to decrease the frequency of seizures.
• Training for increased negativity with SCPs, reflecting greater activation of the cortical networks, has been shown to improve attention in individuals with ADHD.
• Migraine sufferers that pursue similar training as epileptics have shown decreases in the frequency of episodes and other headache parameters.

Slow Cortical Potentials Software Suite

Following Dr. Strehl and Dr. Birbaurmer's protocol, initial training starts with the subject taking turns practicing both to activate/excite and deactivate/inhibit their brain activity. Whether the subject is correctly activating or inhibiting their brain activity, the BFE's SCP Suite displays feedback to either show success in terms of each 0.5-second period of the 8-second trial or as a continuous single feedback output for the trial, depending on what the clinician and subject prefer. After training progresses past the first transfer trial session (training without feedback to see if the subject can generalize the training), the protocol then increases the focus on activating/exciting or deactivating/inhibiting brain activity, depending on the client's circumstance. For example, an ADHD child would now train to activate/excite their brain, such that they would focus on an activation to inhibition trial ratio of 2-to-1 (twice as many attempts to activate the brain than to inhibit the brain).

Example of activation trial with feedback from 0.5-second periods. Subject had initial difficulty activating, but then persevered through the trial.

Recommended reading:  

Self-regulation of Slow Cortical Potentials: Strehl, U., Birbaumer, N. A New Treatment for Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Pediatrics November 1, 2006 118: e1530-e1540.

Thought Technology Slow Cortical Potentials Software Suite

Slow Cortical Potentials Online Class - Linda Walker, MHR, LPC

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Adding Neurotherapy to Your Practice - The Swingle Method

On March 4th, Dr. Paul G. Swingle joined us online to present a webinar on "Adding Neurotherapy to Your Practice". He provided information on using his ClinicalQ and Braindriving methods as a great way to get started in the field.

Health professionals looking to "dip their toes" into proverbial pool that is neurofeedback are often quite overwhelmed by the field. Even with its expanding user-base, information can still be just as difficult to sift through, in search of tangible applications.

Popular questions that come up are always where do you start: Should it be with the theory of EEG utility, or basic clinical applications? Invest in biofeedback equipment and learn as-we-go, or collect volumes of literature for hours of analysis, before any commitment? Depending on the individual, there really is no clear answer and there are many approaches one can take.

Dr. Paul Swingle, a clinical leader in the field of neurotherapy, has helped introduce many therapists to the world of electrodes, brain waves and feedback training. His clinic in Vancouver, Canada, hosts several workshops every year to bring individual up to the level of neurofeedback practitioners.

The ClinicalQ & BrainDryvr method, as designed by Dr. Swingle over the last 40 years, provides an excellent introduction for professionals that desire to add neurofeedback into their practices. The method uses specific, quantified measurements of brain activity, compares them against recorded norms, and outlines how to go about shaping those brain waves to more desirable EEG patterns.

Seeing this need for professionals that want to learn about how neurotherapy can beneficial to their practice, Dr. Swingle presented a 1-hour webinar on that exact topic. Please feel free to watch the below presentation. We at the BFE hope it will give you an introduction to Dr. Swingle's methods and how they can be used to help you and your clients.




If would would like a PDF copy of the "Adding Neurotherapy to Your Practice" powerpoint used in the above video, please follow this link.

Wishing You All the Best in 2014!

We want to take a moment to express thanks for all the support we have received this past year. We wish our colleagues and friends all the best in 2014 and continued success in this exciting field! It has been a busy year for us. In 2013 we launched a new website, offered a number of live online events and numerous new product releases. A great way to keep on top of what we are doing is to join our mailing list. If you are not on our mailing list, click here to sign up.

New Website
This year we launched a new website and are continuing to build and update the content so that it stays fresh and remains a good source of information on biofeedback and neurofeedback, especially for those just entering the field.

New Meeting Website
We also created a dedicated meeting website where we provide information about our annual meeting - this year it is Venice, Italy from February 11-15, 2014 with 5-day BCIA workshops starting on the 10th. You can register here.

Improved Online Shop
We continue to improve our online shop and this year added tech sheets for all BFE software suites. These information sheets provide a comprehensive list of everything needed to use the software. You will see a button to download the tech sheets included in the descriptions of each suite.

Live Webinars
Dr. Paul G. Swingle joined us again to present a series of webinars on his ClinicalQ and BrainDryvr methods covering topics such as PTSD, Attention Problems, Sleep Disorders and a presentation on Art and the Brain. We also hosted webinars on Integrative Medicine (Dr. Robert McCarthy), Tennis - Optimizing Performance (Stephanie Nihon, MSc, BCIA, BCN), HRV and Hypnosis for Trauma (Sue Intemann, LPC and Maggie Minsk, LPC), Mental Conditioning for Intense Focus in Baseball (Dr. Wes Sime & Dr. Ben Strack). 
If you missed any of these events, recordings are available in our online shop.

New Software Suites
The year 2013 saw the release of three new software suites: Tennis Performance by Stephanie Nihon, MSc, BCIA, BCN, Integrative Medicine by Dr. Robert McCarthy and Sternman Operant Conditioning by Dr. Barry Sternman, with more planned for 2014! 
View our complete catalogue of software suites.

Online Classes
Classes offered in 2014 included a wide variety of topics that included Reaction Time, Optimizing Performance & Health, ClinicalQ and BrainDryvr, Hemoencephalography, Z-Scores, ADHD Assessment and a Voice Master Class.We will be scheduling classes throughout 2014 and can also offer them on demand. Feel free to contact us at shop@bfe.org with questions. 
View a listing of classes here.

Expanded Social Media Presence
Our mission statement includes the goal of educating communities around the world in the field of biofeedback. What better way to do this than through social media? We have tried to reach out and we are not alone in this effort. This past year we have noticed many more of you out there doing an amazing job spreading the word about bio/neurofeedback via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and various other platforms. These efforts help our field and we encourage those of you who have not yet "jumped in" to do so!

And finally, we would like to acknowledge the involvement of the many professionals who have donated their time to help create the educational materials we offer in the BFE Shop as part of our Learn From the Best Program, as well as all of our sponsors. It is truly an honor to work with such an outstanding group of professionals.

We look forward to seeing you in 2014!


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