The vast majority of teens and 20-somethings who have come to work with me to do neurofeedback training have enjoyed the experience, even when they’ve started out feeling skeptical or nervous. Here are a few of the reasons why:

Neurofeedback is not something done TO them. Sure, I set up the computer, make decisions about where and what to train, and attach and clean up the electrodes, but that to me is a little like setting up a Montessori environment—get the setting right, and the student will do the learning naturally.  

The teens know and understand that their body is doing the work of responding to feedback without coercion or force.  I am not doing anything to them. The computer is not doing anything to them. All that is happening is that pools of neurons in the brain get audio and visual rewards when they shift in a desired direction. Knowing your body is regulating itself, by itself, is pretty empowering.

My philosophy of neurofeedback is that people doing training are not broken people who need patched back together. Teens in Northern Virginia have enough stress in their lives without having to feel defective in some way, and I am told that they find it to be a relief to work with someone who gets that. 

It doesn’t matter to me in terms of providing training whether the person has a mental health diagnosis or deserves one if they don’t already have one. Neurofeedback is not treatment for diseases or disorders, and the Diagnostic Manual for Psychiatric Disorders (DSM-V) does not match up with the brain’s electrical patterns, making diagnoses an unreliable basis for brain training, anyhow.  What’s more important for training is to have a snapshot in time (called a Trainers’ qEEG) of the brain’s energy system.

When changes start to come, they feel good. Feeling calm again feels great, and it sets in motion a cascade of other things. A calmer person can perform better, sleep better, and feel happier than when they’re stressed and overwhelmed with the crazy things that life throws our teens and young adults these day. Who wouldn’t want to feel relaxed and calm?

Frankly, these benefits apply to everyone who comes for training. Who does not want to feel empowered, whole, and relaxed? But, I think it carries a special weight for young adults who are slowly growing in to having more autonomy over their bodies and their lives.