My advise to young neurotherapists, neuroscientists, or interested laypersons, less profound than Rilke's, but also significantly shorter is this: do not overlook origins. If possible, trace whatever you are interested in back to its starting point. If not possible, trace it back as far as you can. As the Earl of Oxford put it, What is past is prologue. Our origins reveal our way and our destiny, the essence of what we are.
Following Hemingway's approach, my advice also includes a list of books, again significantly shorter in length, that every neurotherapist should read. And by neurotherapist I refer to anyone who looks toward the structure of the human mind and brain to resolve our problems today. I would make but three books required reading, none of them directly concerned with brainwaves:
Thus endeth the required reading. No William James, no Freud exactly, no Jung, no Luria, no Skinner (thank goodness!).
For an "undergraduate" introduction to the brain, I would recommend the following books:
http://solo17.abac.com/whatsnew/bookchap/members/dakaiser.htm
News & Reviews
NEW BOOKS
Paul Broca: Founder of French Anthropology, Explorer of the Brain
by Francis Schiller
The life of Paul Broca, pioneer in cerebral localization and lateralization. An interesting read into the origins of these approaches.
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195074963/top100
A Family's Guide to Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
by L. Eugene Arnold MD
Q&A format to help families understand terminology, diagnostic tests, and treatment options for ADHD.
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/193198140X/top100
Epilepsy as a Dynamic Disease
by P. Jung, et al
Explores possibility of implanting device in epileptics that detects and subverts seizures.
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/3540427627/top100
Poe's Heart and the Mountain Climber : Exploring the Effect of Anxiety...
by Richard Restak
Explores significant experiments in neuroscience on anxiety and other investigations into anxiety
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400048508/top100
Essentials of Clinical Neurophysiology
by Thomas C. Head
Outlines the theory and practice of such neurodiagnostic techniques as electroencephalography, electromyography with nerve conductions, evoked potentials, and polysomnography.
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0750674415/top100
Learning the Language of Addiction Counseling
by Geri Miller
Review of addiction counseling basics for clinicians and grad students.
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471696129/top100
JOURNAL PAPERS
Electroencephalographic biofeedback as a treatment for ADHD
:
Reviews rationale for EEG biofeedback and examines empirical support for treatment such as positive clinical responses 3/4ths of patients treated in controlled group studies.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15564052
Neurofeedback treatment of epilepsy.
:
Electroencephalographic biofeedback can eliminate seizures or reduce the amount of medication required to control them.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15564057
Neurofeedback with anxiety and affective disorders.
:
A more recent neuroscience technology, electroencephalographic biofeedback, holds promise as a methodology for retraining abnormal brain wave patterns.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15564054
Emerging brain-based interventions for children
:
Brief overview of emerging interventions as to their success via medical standard. Neurofeedback is effective for ADHD, seizure disorders, anxiety, depression, and traumatic brain injury.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15564050
Applicability of brain wave biofeedback to substance use disorder in adolescents.
:
Discusses medication-free, neurophysiologic, and self-actualizing treatment for a substance-based.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15564055
Mapping the brain in autism.
:
Abnormalities in neuroanatomy and connectivity of limbic-striatal 'social' brain systems may underlie autism.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15548557
Drug Abuse Trends among Youth in the United States.
:
Except for an increase usage of MDMA, illicit teen use of drugs such as tobacco, alcohol, inhalants, marijuana, LSD, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine has remained stable.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15542750
Evaluating the endophenotype model of ADHD neuropsychological deficit
:
According to the authors, a neurogenetic model of ADHD is supportable only for a subset of executive functions.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15535793
Functional architecture of human empathy.
:
Proposes a model of empathy involving neural representations of self-awareness, mental flexibility, and emotion regulation.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15537986
Hippocampal gray matter reduction in teens with history of prematurity.
:
Left hippocampal tissue loss may be responsible for memory impairments found in premature subjects.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15528087
Abnormal brain activity in prefrontal brain regions in abstinent marijuana users.
:
Marijuana users display persistent metabolic alterations in brain regions responsible for executive cognitive functioning and they may recruit alternative networks to compensate for this, possibly leading to maladaptive behaviors.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15528091
Albert Einstein and LD: an evaluation of the evidence.
:
Several organizations involved with learning disabilities claim that Einstein had one. There is no evidence to support this claim.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15505944
Theory of Mind and social beliefs in adolescents with traumatic brain injury.
:
Impaired social performance is common after TBI, yet the neuropsychology underlying this impairment is not well understood.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15502257
Neural changes following remediation in adult developmental dyslexia.
:
Tutored dyslexic adults produces increased activity in left-hemisphere regions engaged by normal readers and right perisylvian cortical activity.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15504323
Effects of marijuana on neurophysiological signals of working and episodic memory.
:
Marijuana decreases global theta power and responses in a working memory task were accompanied by reduced alpha band reactivity in response to increased task difficulty.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15502936
Events & Locations
Upcoming Courses
A Pathway to Brain Regulation -
Neurofeedback helps improve neuroregulation. It's used by health
care professionals for ADHD, depression, anxiety disorders, LD, mood
disorders, and behavioral problems. This 4-day course, Neurofeedback in a
Clinical Practice, provides the basis for using Neurofeedback clinically. - *28 CEs
4-Day Comprehensive Course Dates
- Orlando FL Feb 24-27
- Phoenix AZ Mar 10-13
- Boston MA Apr 7-10
Our course is a hands-on experience right from the start. Attendees consistently say this format is a very good way to learn Neurofeedback.
"Neurofeedback should be viewed as one of the three essential or primary forms of intervention -
psychotherapy, psychopharmacology, and Neurofeedback. In my experience, neurofeedback is every bit as important and powerful as the other two forms
of treatment." - Dr. Laurence Hirshberg of Brown University Medical School, a psychologist specializing in Developmental Disorders and Autism.
Contact Karie Kramer, our training coordinator, for more information 818-789-3456 ext 847 or see
www.eegspectrum.com/Training
*EEG Spectrum International, Inc. is approved by the APA to offer continuing
education to psychologists. ESII maintains responsibility for the program.
|
Conferences for Neurofeedback Clinicians & Researchers |
|---|
| CONFERENCE | LOCATION | DATES |
|---|
| AAPB - http://www.aapb.org | Austin TX | Mar31-Apr3 |
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Last Word
Vulnerable to Vocabulary
PubMed -- Public Medline -- organizes the entire realm of biomedical research including much of psychology and nearly all of psychiatry into a hierarchical linguistic scheme guided by what they call their "controlled vocabulary". Only certain keywords are allowed to exist in their database and all existing words have clear and well-defined relationships with all other words. Medline itself is one of the best source of information in the world, containing 40 years of biomedical research, constantly updated, with more than 12 million bibliographic citations and abstracts from nearly 5,000 journals in 70 countries. But the term "controlled vocabulary" gives me the willies. It sounds Orwellian. Too much of the world -- social and political -- has already been adulterated by controlled vocabulary. Must our science follow suit?
In George Orwell's novel "1984", those in power recast the words of their language so as to narrow the range of thinking among the populace, with the ultimate goal of eliminating politically undesirable thought. The idea behind Newspeak, as it was called, was that if people lack the terms to think for themselves, they won't. Wordless categories tend to die. In psychology, this is known as linguistic determinism or the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. To speeden their demise, some concepts had their labels hijacked and redefined so that the words now meant the exact opposite. Concentration camps were called "joycamps", the "Ministry of Plenty" was the rationing department, the "Clear Skies Initiative" was legislation used to weaken the Clean Air Act... oops, that wasn't part of the novel and doesn't belong in quotations. Truth is stranger than fiction.
Newspeak eliminates what's salient and concrete, whatever can be visualized. If de-visualization is not an option, sleight of hand always is: ignore the core and draw focus to a tiny aspect of the event in question.
The recent Gulf Wars have been a major source of Orwellian-speak. Civilian casualties are now called "collateral damage", first strike is now a more justifiable "preemptive counterattack." Military advisors, once called troops, put their rifles into nonretention mode in order to service a target. Let's hope none of us are ever that target. Such doublespeak is not new. During World War II there was the Pacification program of Japan and during the Vietnam Conflict (!) there was "air support" -- two terms for the same thing, the dropping of aerial ordnance, or "vertically deployed anti-personnel devices" as it's now called. Actually, I pulled my punch there; it's actually called, in the collective, effects-based operations, a term so unassailable to the mind's eye even the military cannot agree on its definition.
Psychology is not immune to Newspeak. The homeless, the mentally ill, and single-parent homes were once bums, crazy, and broken homes. PTSD was once concisely known as "shell shock." Environmental groups ask for money to save the swamps-- oops, "wetlands" as the world loses its jungle... umm, rainforest faster than it can be replenished. Spontaneous energetic disassembly doesn't sound so bad, except if you are working in a nuclear power plant when one happens. Corporate irregularities are no longer accounting fraud and "sound science" often isn't, and both serve corporate interests. The government avoids raising taxes but passes new revenue enhancements whenever possible. I would protest against such a perversion of English if I didn't have to do it within a free speech zone (which once extended from sea to shining sea).
Invasions are no more. They have been replaced by police actions, peacekeeping mission, interventions, or now simply liberations. When they fail, the military does not retreat but undergoes a phased departure as it did in Vietnam. Power is control and those who control our metaphors, our vocabulary, control our minds, or at least our communal ability to respond and organize. The battle is one of words, not ideas. We are all so vulnerable to words. We lose an argument the instant we adopt the words of our opponents. Addiction in America is either a disease or a war on drugs; it cannot be both.
So, after that tangent, I wondered whether I would find any Newspeak in a glossary named in Orwellian fashion "Controlled Vocabulary." (Actually, the proper Orwellian label would be something benign in tone like "Vocabulary Assistance" or "Universal Lexicon").
I love the Medline service and fortunately little Newspeak was found, just one item: Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity, introduced in 1984, was originally known as minimal brain dysfunction and even classified in the 1960s under chronic brain damage. Perhaps this rephrasing is helpful in that it focuses on the symptoms, or proximate psychological cause of the disorder. But perhaps not, because it obscures one possible cause. and allows diagnosis by non-medical professionals.
Neither neurofeedback nor neurotherapy are listed in the controlled vocabulary, but EEG and Biofeedback are. Biofeedback was introduced in 1977 and falls under (1) Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment Category, (2) Therapeutics, (3) Complementary Therapies, (4) Mind-Body and Relaxation Techniques, (5) Biofeedback (Psychology)
For fun, I keyed in a few common terms to see if they pass controlled-vocabulary muster.
"Love" has always been around, since the database's inception, but life is relatively new to the neighborhood (introduced in 1997). Sex is old, but safe sex is new (2001). Death was present from the beginning, but God has yet to make an appearance. Freedom was recognized in 1991, terrorism ten years later, and new terms are added every week. In fact the term "Gulf War" was added during the time it took me to write this brief article. I kid you not. See for yourself,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=mesh&list_uids=68047830
-DK
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
by Julian Jaynes. A historian of psychology and science at Princeton, Julian Jaynes died recently, although not before he identified the major transformation of our mental system in the historical record, the invention of (self-)consciousness. And although I wonder how much he understood the particulars of the process (the role of writing and right hemisphere propositional thought), he recognized how the development of humanity's newest tool, a communal metaphorization of mental experience, led to the rise of our present day world. Ironically, Jaynes was the second to recognize the fundamental psychical discontinuity in our species' mental history, the first being a classics professor 20 years before, Bruno Snell, in The Discovery of the Mind in Greek Philosophy and Literature.
An Anthropologist On Mars
The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal
The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence
Phantoms in the Brain