Neurofeedback may be your secret weapon against phobias
Anxiety manifests in a variety of different disorders, including phobia, defined as unreasonable yet overwhelming fear of something. Typically, the trigger for someone who experiences phobia should pose very little or no threat to a person. However, phobia causes serious physical and emotional reactions of distress.
Naturally, some fears are not uncommon in a person’s life, however if particular fears suddenly begin interfering with a person’s day-to-day life, treatment is required to reduce and/or eliminate the trigger.
Phobias are distinguished with three main categories:
Agoraphobia, or fear of open spaces, is a type of phobia that occurs when a person fears being in spaces that provoke feelings of being trapped, helpless or overwhelmed. Previous panic attacks regarding these situations cause the phobia. People with agoraphobia can have anticipatory fear of a situation where they have no escape, a feeling experienced during previous panic attacks. Agoraphobia makes it difficult for sufferers to feel safe in any given place, which can deter people from engaging in any social situations, and, worst case, leaving their home at all.
Social phobia involves excessive self-consciousness while interacting with others and fear of humiliation. People affected by social phobia may come off as very shy, however the phobia is much deeper. Those with social phobia are consumed by fears about being rejected, heavily judged, or causing offense to others.
Specific phobias involve a specific thing or situation to which a person feels irrational levels of fear despite the low risk of actual threat. There are many different specific phobias ranging everything from fear of enclosed spaces to fearing particular animals to fearing loud noises. Additionally, it is not terribly unusual for a person suffering with phobia to fear more than one trigger.
Symptoms of phobia include uncontrollable feelings of panic and fear when exposed to the trigger. The body will have physiological reactions to these triggers as well as psychological reactions, leading to symptoms like sweating, racing heartbeat, difficulty breathing, and more. This eventually leads to withdrawal from every day life. Children who experience phobia are prone to tantrums and clinging to parental figures.
Your Secret Weapon To Tame Phobias
Neurofeedback has the ability to train the brain to react calmly to phobia triggers in order to live a healthy and normal life. Safe for children and adults, the initial brain map locates where in the brain the disruption exists, and neurofeedback sessions help to correct the person’s brainwaves to decrease the frequency and duration of panic episodes.
An EEG brain map is a simple, non-invasive, pain-free way to objectively measure regions of the brain that are stuck in high-alert (over-activation). At rest your brain’s electrical activity should shift down to a resting state (like when your car engine idles when you come to a stop). This is also similar to how your heart rate is reduced to a normal resting state when you are at rest. If a region of your brain stays in a fully active state when you are at rest, that region has been conditioned to stay on high-alert and has lost its ability to down regulate. When a phobia develops - the brain loses its ability to shift and adapt and ends up stuck in a hyper-vigilant, over-active state. When a brain region is conditioned to stay in a high-alert state, it can significantly impair your response to specific triggers.
At the brain Performance Center we use EEG brain mapping to objectively measure brainwave function. An EEG brain map can identify regions of the brain stuck in high-alert. Once we know what physiology is causing the functional issue, we can personalize nutritional, behavioral and neurofeedback interventions to return the brain activity to a normal state.
Neurofeedback brain training is a non-invasive, highly effective, non-pharmaceutical way to reset the brain activity at the root of many behavioral and emotional symptoms. It is a powerful form of biofeedback, using EEG sensors on your scalp connected to sophisticated audio/visual feedback exercises. Your brain actually controls the exercises on a video screen. Neurofeedback can accurately target a specific brain region and retrain brainwave dysfunction back to its normal state. It’s like physical therapy for the brain.
Contact the Brain Performance Center for more information about EEG brain mapping and Neurofeedback brain training. Training can be done at one of our three centers in Southern California or in your home with our state-of-the-art remote neurofeedback equipment rental program. For more information, please visit us at www.BrainPerformance.com. Email us at Info@BrainPerformance.com or call us at 800-385-0710.
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