Neurofeedback is a powerful new treatment for addiction.

Your brain runs the operating system for your entire life. Not just your memory, focus, and IQ, but every conscious and unconscious decision, craving, and impulse. Over time, drugs and alcohol can alter how the brain functions, disrupting the brain waves to the point that serious problems result. No amount of self-discipline, or conscious thought can rewire defective brain circuits. Neurofeedback restores the brainwaves back to their healthy natural pattern. Neurofeedback combined with more traditional addiction treatments can dramatically increase the success rate of treatment.

Addiction is a brain disorder.

Addiction is a disease, a chronic but treatable medical condition involving changes to neural pathways involved in reward, stress, and self-control. Drugs and alcohol hijack these circuits. Quite simply, addiction redirects our basic motivational system. Addiction is physiological, not psychological . It is a brain disorder, not a moral issue, or lack of self-discipline. The changes to our neural pathways as a result of addiction cause the distressing psychological symptoms experienced, like insomnia, depression, anxiety, and compulsions to use. It is a disease that effects thinking as well as emotions. Addictive drugs radically alter brain activity. Soon the brain adapts to the drugs and begins mistaking the medicated state for the natural resting state.

What is neurofeedback?

Sensors are attached to the scalp that have wires that are connected to a computer. These sensors record the electrical activity of the brain and give the information back to the brain to interpret. Due to the brain’s ability to change and adapt new patterns (called neuroplasticity), the brain is able to create new neural pathways that, with time, become permanent. In active addiction, the pathways that are created reinforce drug use. In recovery , we are trying to “rewire” these pathways. Neurofeedback treatments for addiction use EEG biofeedback as a means of training the brain to self-regulate. Ultimately the brain is a self-organizing system that simply needs a bit of prompting to find its own balance (Learn more about Neurofeedback).

How neurofeedback can help you treat addiction.

Neurofeedback treats the underlying brain disorder. Neurofeedback works to change the brain back to where it was before the addiction occurred by restoring the neural pathways back to their previous healthy functioning. Instead of fighting your brain to make healthier choices, your brain is now your support and ally in this process. This builds a strong foundation for recovery and relapse prevention. With neurofeedback new healthy brain patterns are learned and strengthened. By reestablishing a normal pattern, the risk of relapse is dramatically reduced. One of the benefits of neurofeedback for recovering alcoholics or addicts is that it produces the similar effect of their drug of choice (to a lessor degree), without side effects and negative consequences.

If you or someone you care about is struggling to overcome addiction, and live in the Richmond Virginia area, Richmond Neurofeedback can help. Please contact me today to learn how neurofeedback can restore your life to the peaceful, joyous state it was before your addiction took control.