What's New in Neurofeedback

• What's New in Neurofeedback enters its 6th year! (WNIN is one of the earliest online newsletter still in publication, perhaps the oldest dedicated to health issues.)

• Neurofeedback improves cognitive performance in healthy individuals.
• Exercise Keeps the Brain Sharp
• Forgetfulness Can Run in the Family
• Our Brain Sees Screen Flickers, Even if We Don't
• Molecules Show Early Promise for Brain Diseases
• Tots Tune Into TV

  All links at: http://news.yahoo.com/fc?tmpl=fc&cid=34&in=science&cat=brain_research

"Realizing the importance of the case, my men are rounding up twice the usual number of suspects," so says Capt Renault in the film Casablanca (1942). Earlier, in response to a shooting, he commanded his subordinates to "Round up the usual suspects." Well, most of the usual suspects in neurotherapy were to be found in Palm Springs last week, at the 11th Annual Winter Brain.

Rob Kall opened the conference with a brief and moving talk entitled "If you don't kill your client, you haven't done your job." Rob conceives therapy in terms of transformation: Killing may be a nasty metaphor but perhaps effective; its totality. A few practitioners I talked to disagreed with this metaphor; for them, neurotherapy removes a hinderance, a disease, so you can be more yourself. It is a return to one's true identity, not a reformation or rebirth.

Joel Lubar presented his latest research using Low Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (LORETA). He noted alpha asymmetries in chronic depressive disorder frontally, as would be expected from Davidson and Henriques work, but also posteriorly (right sided, if I recall correctly, lower frequencies).

Ken Blum presented genetic and behavioral commonalities between addictions, be they substance-based or behavioral. The Reward Deficiency Syndrome is a very helpful model in understanding such patients.

David Kaiser (myself) revised the ontological security model created by psychotherapist R.D. Laing in the 1950s to describe schizophrenia. Laing, who appropriated the ontological security terminology from a theologian, argued in his classic work, The Divided Self, that a schizophrenic's mental world revolves around the question of whether he or she exists. Individuals secure in their identity gratify themselves through life; those who are not face constant peril and act to preserve their identities. Kaiser argued that the question over existence is only half of the fundamental mystery we face in life. Besides the existence of oneself, as infants/toddlers we are also faced with the mystery of having a world to exist in, a thing apart from our agency, our "I-ness". Young minds all question to what extent the world exists, as well as to what extent do they exist. Most resolve the ontological tension, between I and world (not-I) readily and quickly, but not in autism. Kaiser posits that autistic individuals fail to resolve (or balance) these mysteries. The autistic child fails to recognize the reality of a world outside themselves: there is only "I"; there is no (larger) rule system outside their immediate existence/agency. (Catatonia is on the other extreme of this ontological resolution. The catatonic believes only in "not-I", all is world. Any sense of I or agency would be minimal.)

Thom Hartmann's talk, "How ADHD Changed the World" was a highlight of the conference. Besides warning that civilization depends tenuously on oceanic currents and temperatures, he argued for the adaptive aspects of ADHD. According to genetists, ADHD is being positively selected in our genome, meaning that it is not a disorder but a better form of mental organization (at least until agrarian/industrial lifestyles emerged). According to recent research, a gene central to ADHD's emergence (a D2 receptor, I think) appeared in the human genome 40,000 years ago, around the same time of the human cultural explosion (i.e., invention of art and other evidence of symbolic thought). Thom argued how the attentive strategies diagnostic of ADHD (impulsivity, distractability, stimulation seeking) are not weaknesses but strengths; they lead to inventiveness and this new form of thought may be responsible for our recent success as a species, and our continued success.

A panel on using neurofeedback with autistic spectrum clients was enlightening because of the variety of views as we all deal with the heterogeneity inherent in this intractable condition.

Karl Pribram presented recent thoughts from his lifelong exploration of emotion. He related a story of H.M., the now well-known epileptic patient who had both hippocampi surgically removed in an attempt to treat his seizures. Pribram was interested in whether H.M.'s emotional life suffered in response to the surgery (perhaps because at this time, mid-20th century, the functions of the amygdala and hippocampus were smeared, even reversed, in most minds, with many conceiving the hippocampus as central to emotional processing -- Pribram didn't mention this). Well, H.M. appeared to be emotionally intact during normal conversations with Karl. Karl decided to formally study his emotions so he began a series of tests with H.M., some on emotions, others on language and memory. Dr. Pribram was called away during some of the testing, and when he returned he asked H.M. whether H.M. recalled whether they had been interrupted during the emotional testing or during the language testing. To Karl's surprise, H.M. asked him a most-unexpected question, "Doctor, have you been here before?" And thus the link between the hippocampus and anterograde amnesia (the inability to form new memories) erupted on the scene.

Pribram also served on a panel discussing Free Will with Sebern Fisher, Sig Othmer, and David Kaiser. Kaiser discussed catatonia and autism. In catatonia, a patient presents what seems to be an extreme loss of free will. Autism lies on the other extreme, possibly an unmitigated abundance of free will. In other words, according to Kaiser, healthy action requires moderation of one's free will to environmental "will" or constraints, to rule systems outside of one's agency. Sebern and Siegfried disagreed with this conception of autism and continued along other lines. A recent news item about a teenaged killer had prompted this panel. Was the teenager responsible for his action, or was he unable to exercise free will due to a compromised CNS? Siegfried also discussed free will in terms of the determinism and indeterminancy of physics, the classical and quantum realms: (some) determinancy is a prerequisite for free will. Pribram discussed how the inventiveness of others (e.g., invention of airplane) enriches all of our free will.

Near the end of the conference, Barry Sterman presented his recent epilepsy and head injury cases. Neurotherapy protocol development must be guided by QEEG assessment, he argued, taking a special interest in comodulation patterns. After some years of initial resistance, it finally appears that an increasing majority in the field have accepted and adopted QEEG assessment. They recognize the necessity of evaluating a client's EEG prior to conditioning it. Why work blind?

Many more talks were given, more than anyone could attend. Here are a selection: Tom Collura spoke about practical means of providing remote neurotherapy. Bob Gurnee spoke about how alpha-theta training may often be counterindicated. Sue and Sig Othmer spoke about their recent protocol updates and models behind them. Bill Hudspeth addressed connectivity issues in the QEEG David Siever spoke about audio-visual entrainment. Cory Hammond presented an update on treating depression. Sebern Fisher talked about attachment disorder and in particular the "fear protocol." Lynda & Michael Thompson spoke on ADD, autism, and training executives. Rae Tattenbaum discussed optimal performance training. And finally, Steve Sideroff reminded us how a client-clinician relationship develops even when a machine appears to be the focus of therapeutic interaction.

For more information, check in on http://www.brainmeeting.com/ for complete information, audio & video tapes orders, and more.

-DK

News & Reviews NEW BOOKS

Women with Epilepsy: A Handbook of Health and Treatment Issues
by Martha Morrell

Reviews the special problems faced by women with epilepsy, such as effects on fertility and pregnancy complications and birth defects. -www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521655412/top100

Handbook of Mind-Body Medicine for Primary Care
by Donald Moss, Angele McGrady, Terence Davies, Nelson Phillips

Summarizes current mind-body practice and provides an overview of the basic techniques, including biofeedback, neurofeedback, relaxation therapies, hypnotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapies, acupuncture, and spiritual therapies. -www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0761923233/top100

Jonathan Lerman: The Drawings of a Boy with Autism
by Jonathan Lerman

Fifty drawings presents the full range and astonishing growth of this young autistic artist's extraordinary talent. Scarcely able to communicate, Jonathan began drawing at age 10; by 12 his drawings were exhibited in NYC. -www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0807615137/top100

Introduction to Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Principles and Techniques
by Richard B. Buxton

Basic principles of fMRI as well as underlying physics and physiology, newer techniques, and how this technique compares to other imaging techniques. -www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521581133/top100

Treatment-Resistant Mood Disorders
by Jay D. Amsterdam, Mady Hornig, Andrew A. Nierenberg

The clinical problem of treatment-resistant mood disorders, followed by discussion of the biological basis, including psychoneuroendocrine aspects, role of estrogen for women, sleep abnormalities, brain imaging, and immunologic factors. -www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521593417/top100

The Handbook of Cognitive Neuropsychology: What Deficits Reveal About the Human Mind
by Brenda Rapp

Reviews cognitive domains that have benefited from the study of deficits, including language, memory, attention, and various cognition. -www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841690449/top100

Psychobiology of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (Annals of NY Academy of Sci)
by Rachel Yehuda, Alexander C. McFarlane