Neurofeedback Brainwave Training
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Neurofeedback brainwave training is a therapeutic game-changer for anyone who struggles with body image and disordered eating, especially when combined with health-focused psychotherapy. In Alison's upcoming book, she explains that pressure to conform to unrealistic body ideals can be a chronic stressor that disrupts the healthy development and functioning of the nervous system.
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Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find barriers within yourself that you have built against it." |
For many, this pressure occurs in their formative years and is compounded by other stressors at home and in their communities such as being bullied, teased, alienated, abused, violated or experiencing family dysfunction, traumatic loss, financial distress, or exposure to important others with addiction or mental illness.
In the 1990s, a landmark study at Kaiser Permanente found that the more adversity a young person experiences before the age of 18, the more detrimental the effect it is likely to have on her physical and psychological health throughout her life.[46] Other studies correlate childhood adversity with disordered eating, obesity and problematic weight management behaviors like yo-yo dieting.[47]
What makes the pressure to conform to a trending body and other adversities experienced in tandem so damaging to a child’s future health is that toxic stress disrupts healthy nervous system development and function. It can effect a person's appetite and the brain circuits responsible for managing emotion, thought, behavior and eating. It can trigger the psychological suffering and dysfunctional behavior associated with yo-yo dieting and disordered eating including obsessive thoughts, impulsivity with food and other substances, emotional reactivity, mood imbalances, disordered appetite, and a distorted body image. These effects can last a lifetime if they are not remedied.
Many people judge themselves harshly because they struggle with healthy eating and weight. But it’s important to realize that disordered eating patterns and/or weight struggles are not character flaws. They are predictable responses to an overwhelming amount of pressure and stress when a person lives in an environment full of addictive modern food and unrealistic body ideals. And it’s also important to know that psychotherapy combined with neurofeedback brainwave training sessions can foster a healthy nervous system and improved emotion- and self-regulation abilities. Together they can help you achieve healthy eating patterns, a positive body image and a sustainable, healthy weight.
In the 1990s, a landmark study at Kaiser Permanente found that the more adversity a young person experiences before the age of 18, the more detrimental the effect it is likely to have on her physical and psychological health throughout her life.[46] Other studies correlate childhood adversity with disordered eating, obesity and problematic weight management behaviors like yo-yo dieting.[47]
What makes the pressure to conform to a trending body and other adversities experienced in tandem so damaging to a child’s future health is that toxic stress disrupts healthy nervous system development and function. It can effect a person's appetite and the brain circuits responsible for managing emotion, thought, behavior and eating. It can trigger the psychological suffering and dysfunctional behavior associated with yo-yo dieting and disordered eating including obsessive thoughts, impulsivity with food and other substances, emotional reactivity, mood imbalances, disordered appetite, and a distorted body image. These effects can last a lifetime if they are not remedied.
Many people judge themselves harshly because they struggle with healthy eating and weight. But it’s important to realize that disordered eating patterns and/or weight struggles are not character flaws. They are predictable responses to an overwhelming amount of pressure and stress when a person lives in an environment full of addictive modern food and unrealistic body ideals. And it’s also important to know that psychotherapy combined with neurofeedback brainwave training sessions can foster a healthy nervous system and improved emotion- and self-regulation abilities. Together they can help you achieve healthy eating patterns, a positive body image and a sustainable, healthy weight.
When Alison became a psychotherapist, she realized she couldn’t just talk her clients out of eating and body image struggles. To help them recover, she needed to calm their activated nervous systems. She became a neurofeedback provider working in the Othmer Method. And she quickly recognized that neurofeedback had been the missing therapeutic piece.
Neurofeedback training sessions make healthy eating easier and more sustainable while helping her clients feel more comfortable in their bodies. Weekly training sessions strengthen emotion- and self-regulation abilities. This means that training increases your ability to moderate eating impulses and other destructive behaviors while reducing bad body feelings and normalizing your appetite and mood. Sessions help to quiet the mind and create an abiding sense of inner peace and contentment. A healthy nervous system supports you to take charge of food and feelings, to befriend your body, and to build resilience against the modern food environment and body-shaming messages.
How does neurofeedback training work?
Neurofeedback training involves sitting in a comfy chair for about thirty minutes at a time while watching a pleasant scene like a rainforest hike or a moving mandala on the monitor in front of you. Your neurofeedback practitioner will place electrodes on your head in formations that correspond to the therapeutic effects being targeted. The electrodes do not put anything into your head. This is not electroshock therapy! Instead, they gather information about brainwave activity and feed it into the computer. The computer uses the data to render the scene you are watching. As your brainwave activity changes, so does the image in front of you. Changes in the scene such as volume, color, clarity, and speed gently redirect brainwave activity into more functional patterns. Over time with regular training, you develop a healthy new normal that includes a quiet mind, inner peace, and a sense that you are in charge of food and your feelings.
Neurofeedback training sessions make healthy eating easier and more sustainable while helping her clients feel more comfortable in their bodies. Weekly training sessions strengthen emotion- and self-regulation abilities. This means that training increases your ability to moderate eating impulses and other destructive behaviors while reducing bad body feelings and normalizing your appetite and mood. Sessions help to quiet the mind and create an abiding sense of inner peace and contentment. A healthy nervous system supports you to take charge of food and feelings, to befriend your body, and to build resilience against the modern food environment and body-shaming messages.
How does neurofeedback training work?
Neurofeedback training involves sitting in a comfy chair for about thirty minutes at a time while watching a pleasant scene like a rainforest hike or a moving mandala on the monitor in front of you. Your neurofeedback practitioner will place electrodes on your head in formations that correspond to the therapeutic effects being targeted. The electrodes do not put anything into your head. This is not electroshock therapy! Instead, they gather information about brainwave activity and feed it into the computer. The computer uses the data to render the scene you are watching. As your brainwave activity changes, so does the image in front of you. Changes in the scene such as volume, color, clarity, and speed gently redirect brainwave activity into more functional patterns. Over time with regular training, you develop a healthy new normal that includes a quiet mind, inner peace, and a sense that you are in charge of food and your feelings.
[46] https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/acestudy/index.html
[47] Fuemmeler BF, Dedert E, McClernon FJ, Beckham JC. Adverse childhood events are associated with obesity and disordered eating: results from a U.S. population-based survey of young adults. J Trauma Stress. 2009;22(4):329–333. doi:10.1002/jts.20421
[47] Fuemmeler BF, Dedert E, McClernon FJ, Beckham JC. Adverse childhood events are associated with obesity and disordered eating: results from a U.S. population-based survey of young adults. J Trauma Stress. 2009;22(4):329–333. doi:10.1002/jts.20421
