Eeg Neurotheraphy In The Treatment Of Alcoholism Aan Addictions

Introduction

Alcoholism is a disease that afflicts at least 12 million Americans. It leads to about 250,000 premature deaths a year, disrupts the lives of some 45 million family members and charges an estimated $120 billion a year in medical bills, property damage and lost time and productivity.

More than the past eight years, a key breakthrough in the treatment of alcoholism and chemical dependency has been consistently demonstrated by a number of researchers, such as (but not restricted to) Saxby and Peniston (1995 ), Anderson (1994 ), Sonder and Sonder (1994 ), White (1994 ), Cowan (1993 ), Patterson (1993 ), Peniston, Marrinan, Deming and Kulkosky (1993 ), Schneider, Elbert, Heimann, Welker, Stetter, Mattes, Birbaumer and Mann (1993 ), Byers (1992 ), Fahrion, Walters, Coyne and Allen (1992 ), and Peniston and Kulkosky (1990, 1989).

The essence of this therapy includes a non-invasive, non-pharmacological outpatient program combining EEG brain wave biofeedback (known as neurotherapy), hugely particular imagery of brain structures, neurotransmitters and brain wave patterns, optimistic personalized visualizations, cognitive re-scripting and intensive cognitive-behavior therapy. This program, frequently referred to as the Peniston Protocol, is administered 3-5 days per week over a 7-12 week period for a total of 35-40 sessions.

Results Prices and Cost-Effectiveness

In sharp contrast to conventional inpatient, outpatient and 12-step therapy programs, which yield maximum achievement rates of 30-40%, the lengthy-term (3 year) abstinence rates for extreme alcoholics receiving the Peniston Protocol regularly reach 80%. Furthermore, significant positive, measurable and sturdy character changes have consistently accompanied these startling final results.

Additional, these dramatic results appear to be deliverable at a very affordable cost (e.g., $4,000 - $six,000 total), specifically in comparison to the really higher cost of classic inpatient therapy applications (e.g., $2,500 - $9,000 per week, depending on complexity of diagnosis and no matter whether or not detoxification is integrated).

Background and Rationale

As it functions, the brain produces minute electrical signals on its surface named brain waves. Brain waves frequently transform as the brain handles the small business of dealing with itself and its atmosphere. For over fifty years, this electroencephalographic (EEG) activity has been employed for neuroanalysis (e.g., diagnosis of brain disease or injury). With the advent of rapidly computer systems, researchers are now able to quantitatively analyze the frequency and amplitude of brain waves (QEEG) to form complicated topographic "maps" of the EEG's power and frequency distribution for a lot more precise and powerful diagnoses. Stages Of Alcoholism found that abnormal behavior usually corresponded to abnormal brain wave patterns and distributions.

Conclusive research indicates that certain varieties of abnormal brain functioning can be corrected by finding out to operantly condition the brain's electrical activity. This conditioning is achieved by visual and/or audio feedback of the moment-to-moment activity of the EEG. This visual/audio EEG feedback is made use of by the patient to learn to improve or decrease the power and/or percentage of selected brain wave frequencies This conditioning or training is named neurotherapy.

Neurotherapy is proving to be medically powerful for the reason that it facilitates optimistic neurochemical, character and behavioral changes in reasonably brief periods of time (weeks vs. months or even years). Additionally, it is price- productive because it avoids the high expenditures linked with surgery, drugs or long- term inpatient or outpatient therapy.

It is also broadly accepted among researchers and clinicians that patterns of surface EEG activity reflect the activity of deeper brain structures and patterns of brain neurochemistry. For example, these brain neurotransmitters, opioids, neurohormones and neuropeptides linked with reward and internal feelings of nicely-getting are influenced directly (and thus fluctuate widely) according to changes in cortical EEG patterns. Equally significant, alcohol cravings and uncontrollable alcohol ingestion are now strongly associated with each deficiencies and/or abnormalities in specific brain neurochemicals (e.g., serotonin opioid peptides which includes beta endorphin and enkephalin norepinephrine dopamine and GABA) and poorly developed low frequency EEG rhythms (e.g., alpha and theta) (Blum, 1991).

Consequently, as 2O Good Grounds To Quit Drinking Alcohol Now and several other researchers have shown, the normalization of alpha and theta EEG rhythms via neurotherapy produces the similar normalization of brain chemistry that is produced by either alcohol ingestion or the external manipulation of the excitatory and inhibitory processes that handle these necessary neurochemicals. In other words, the enhanced feelings of reward and internal properly-getting that take place from alcohol ingestion or other external influences of brain neurochemistry are also produced by the normalization of alpha and theta rhythms by means of neurotherapy.

Thus, the complex interrelationships amongst these variables appear to be both at the root and the remedy for extreme alcohol cravings and uncontrollable alcohol ingestion. In addition, these interrelationships and the normalization of the deficient things within them via neurotherapy surely contribute to an understanding as to why the Peniston Protocol produces such impressive outcomes with this complicated clinical population.

Breakdown of the Peniston Protocol

While there is some variation amongst clinicians, the following is a step- by-step breakdown of the most frequently utilized clinical procedures within the Peniston Protocol:

( 1) Intake interview, evaluation and character/behavioral pre-testing (e.g., MMPI II, MCMI II, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Hopelessness Scale and/or Sixteen Character Issue Questionnaire).

( two) Short pre-therapy QEEG topographic brain map.

( Most Used Treatments Options for Alcohol Dependence? ) 5 preliminary non-EEG biofeedback sessions (e.g. temperature, EMG, and/or skin conductance).

( four) Twenty-five to thirty alpha/theta neurotherapy sessions.

( five) Brief post-therapy QEEG topographic brain map.

( 6) Discharge interview, evaluation and character/behavioral post-testing (e.g., MMPI II, MCMI II, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Hopelessness Scale and/or Sixteen Personality Element Questionnaire).

Character/Behavioral Improvements

In addition to lengthy-term (3 year) abstinence rates of 80%, the Peniston Protocol has consistently produced the following incredibly wholesome personality modifications:

( 1) Important decreases in scales labeled schizoid, avoidant, passive- aggressive, schizotypal, borderline, paranoid, anxiousness, somatoform, dysthymia, alcohol abuse, psychotic considering, depression, psychotic depression, hypochondriasis, hysteria, schizophrenia, social introversion and psychotic delusion.

( two) Substantial increases in warmth, abstract pondering, stability, conscientiousness, boldness, imaginativeness and self-control.

Hence, the Peniston Protocol consistently produces optimistic modifications in what lots of look at to be "challenging wired" elements of character. These dramatic personality modifications boost the patient's capacity to cope without substance abuse, drastically reducing the likelihood of relapse.

Summary and Conclusion

Alcoholism is a debilitating and expensive illness that has responded poorly to conventional inpatient, outpatient and 12-step therapy applications (e.g., maximum 30-40% sustained abstinence). Researchers Eugene Peniston and Paul Kulkosky, along with several other folks over the previous eight years, have regularly demonstrated that severe alcoholics treated with EEG neurotherapy, imagery/visualization and cognitive-behavior therapy (e.g., the Peniston Protocol) show startling long-term (3 year) abstinence rates of 80%. Furthermore, these very positive outcomes are regularly accompanied by dramatic, wholesome character/behavioral changes that clearly contribute to reductions in the likelihood of relapse.

The neurotherapeutic changes in alpha/theta EEG rhythms achieved by these sufferers with the Peniston Protocol produce low, sustained levels of the opioid peptide beta-endorphin, reflecting lower sustained levels of arousal and stress. In addition, the normalization of low frequency cortical EEG rhythms (e.g., alpha & theta) apparently also produce normalization of quite a few other brain neurochemicals whose imbalances are highly related with serious alcohol cravings and uncontrolled alcohol ingestion.

In What Are the Treatments for Alcohol Addiction? to its really high success rate for this tough clinical population, the Peniston Protocol seems to be extremely expense-efficient in comparison to traditional inpatient and outpatient therapy programs.

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2O Healthy Reasons To Stop Consuming Alcohol Immediately " src="http://www.thebluediamondgallery.com/pictures/addiction.jpg" alt="addiction" style='clear:both; float:left; padding:10px 10px 10px 0px;border:0px; max-width: 305px;'>White, N. E. (1994 ). Observations On Alcohol Consumption Socially as a multi-level intervention: Theories of results of alpha-theta coaching. Panel presentation at the Twenty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Association of Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback entitled Alpha-Theta Brainwave Biofeedback: The Many Explanations for its Clinical Effectiveness, Atlanta, Georgia, March 7, 1994.