[Event] Asia Pacific Neuro-biofeedback Association Conference 2017 - Autonomic Nervous Dysfunction Part

My presentation topic in APNA 2017 Conference:
Autonomic Nervous System Disorders

Abstract of My Presentation

Human brain can be trained at any age and new neurons are produced throughout our life. The term of neuroplasticity is well accepted nowadays. EEG biofeedback or neurofeedback is based on the concept of neuroplasticity that trains the brain like a muscle. Clinical Neurofeedback is the clinical application of EEG Biofeedback method. Meanwhile, Clinical Hypnosis is a therapeutic technique in which clinicians make suggestions to individuals to improve a wide range of conditions including physical and mental aspect. Both are safe, non-invasive and painless procedure. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, autonomic nervous system (ANS) disorders can occur alone or as the result of another disease. When something goes wrong in our autonomic nervous system, it can cause serious problems including Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), blood pressure and heart problems etc. Often, there is no cure for autonomic nervous system disorders but it is possible to improve those symptoms. Thus, a case study will be discussed on how Neuro-hypnotherapy method helps a client who suffered for ANS disorder symptoms. At last, we will also discuss about how to integrate Clinical Neurofeedback and Clinical Hypmosis to improve other ANS disorder symptoms.

ADHD is a disorder of the brain? Yes according to research

Several subcortical brain structures are smaller in children and adults diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a study recently published in The Lancet.

ADHD is a neurological condition that is often diagnosed in childhood, but around two-thirds of patients continue to display symptoms into adulthood. Key symptoms of ADHD include hyperactivity, inability to sustain attention and impulsive behaviour

Previous imaging studies report structural and functional brain abnormalities in patients with ADHD compared to healthy individuals. For example, studies have consistently found reduced basal ganglia volume in ADHD patients. But the number of participants in each of these studies has been too small to generalize the results to the population as a whole. Identifying brain differences in people with ADHD is crucial for increasing our understanding about the underlying mechanisms that cause the disorder and how to effectively treat it.

In the largest study of its kind to date, a team of scientists led by Martine Hoogman (Radbound University Medical Centre, The Netherlands) combined the results from multiple imaging studies in a meta-analysis consisting of 1,713 patients with ADHD and 1,529 healthy controls. The results revealed dramatic differences in the brain volume of patients with ADHD and healthy controls.

Areas of reduced brain volume included the amygdala, accumbens and hippocampus, which had not been identified in previous studies. The results also revealed similar findings to previous studies including reduced caudate and putamen volume.

ADHD is often treated with stimulants. The results of this study found that brain volume differences in ADHD patients were the same whether they had taken stimulant medication or not. The largest difference in brain volume was found in the amygdala which is important because it provides an explanation for the disruption of emotional regulation that is often seen in ADHD but is not listed in current diagnostic criteria. Hippocampus volume was reduced in ADHD patients which is interesting because there is little evidence of long-term memory deficits in ADHD. However, some studies suggest that the hippocampus plays a role in regulating emotion and motivation, which is compromised in ADHD.

Overall, the study confirms that patients with ADHD do have structural and functional brain alterations, and ADHD is therefore a disorder of the brain. The strongest differences in brain volume were found in childhood which supports current thinking that ADHD is produced by a delay in brain maturation. The results of this study will be important for improving our understanding and reducing the stigma of ADHD.

Clinical Neurofeedback Training in Malaysia
Neurofeedback is a scientifically-based treatment for a variety of problems that result from a dysregulated nervous system. There have been hundreds (or more) of research studies to prove the effectiveness of Neurofeedback in the last 45 years. Recent meta analyses document the effectiveness of Neurofeedback in the treatment of ADHD (Arns, de Ridder, Strehl, Breteler, and Coenen, 2009). In 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics rated Neurofeedback/ Biofeedback is rated as a Level 1 intervention for ADHD – the same as medication. Contact us if you need help in Malaysia.

Source:

http://www.psypost.org/2017/08/large-study-identifies-differences-brains-people-diagnosed-adhd-49450

Review( Therapy for Tourette Syndrome Symptoms) - Mr Soo Son Case

 

Client Name: Mr S's Son

Age: Around 13 years old

Most of the time, some sounds like throat cleaning sound, sniffing, or grunting sound will come
out involuntarily by my son's mouth. He is a patient who suffered from Tics disorder (Tourette Syndrome and ADHD). 
People around my son felt annoyed with his noisy sound. It affected his daily life and he feels ashamed of it. He even get bullied by his friends in school.

To get rid of it, my son visited neurologists and ate medicines. However, it only can be controlled at the very beginning and it seems that his body started to resist it with some side effects. I even went to temples and visited monk before. He lived with this condition and suffered for 2 years until I follow Hiro Koo's brain training, finally I saw hope. 

After following the training session with Hiro Koo, his vocal tics reduced significantly, he have better self-control even without finding any distraction. Besides, My son regained his confidence and he have better mood every day. I was amazed by this technique as it is a very effective training to control my son's vocal tics. 

The advantage of this brain training technique is that this is a natural approach without any pain and side effect. I definitely will recommend to people who suffered for similar issues.

Remark: Our client's information will be kept strictly confidential all the time. All reviews and photos have been acknowledged and provided by past and current clients of Hypnosis Integrative Hub (Clinical Hypnotherapist Hiro Koo). Clients names have been changed to protect their identity.

How scientists are trying to unlock the mysteries of hypnosis

Nevertheless, Patterson and research partner Jensen have made considerable strides by examining the neural underpinnings of a hypnotic trance. To study hypnosis, Jensen uses electroencephalography, or EEG, which measures electricity in the brain. Our individual neurons are constantly generating electrical pulses as they transmit information from the body to the brain and around the brain itself. Occasionally, large groups of neurons will coordinate these pulses into a sort of rhythmic pattern. Picture the brain as a giant football stadium, and the pulses are like the fans doing a wave. Using sensors attached to the skull, scientists can listen for broad electrical rhythms — called oscillations — caused by wide swaths of neurons working in concert.

Keep in mind, though, that the brain isn’t a single stadium, but rather 1.2 million interlocking stadiums at once. So the EEG may pick up many different interlocking elements, and to make matters more complicated, because the sensors are on the outside of your head, only the outer parts of the brain can be measured. That makes the stadium even harder to hear. “The Rolling Stones are in town, but you don’t have a ticket,” Patterson says. “So you are standing outside the stadium. It’s very loose. You don’t know what, exactly, you’re hearing, but you can tell if they are singing a ballad or a rock song.”

Amazingly, even with all these barriers, when scientists listen to multiple places in the brain, a neurological picture of hypnosis begins to emerge. During meditation, the “stadium chant” that many parts of your brain participate is measurably slower than in daily life; during hypnosis, the chant becomes even slower — about the only way to get the brain rhythms slower than those during hypnosis would be to fall into a coma.

In the human brain, alpha waves — electric waves that pulse 8 to 12 hertz, or 8 to 12 times per second — prevail when we are relaxed or closing our eyes. Theta — 4 to 8 hertz — commonly arise when we are drowsy or lost in thought, and delta waves — 0 to 4 hertz — happen when we are asleep or in a coma. Jensen’s work suggests that theta and alpha waves may be key to pain relief. When going about our daily activities, the brain generally uses the much faster beta and gamma waves (up to 100 pulses per second). This is especially true when we’re in pain, which usually goes hand in hand with anxiety and stress. Thus, if hypnosis can trigger slower brain waves, those waves may replace the faster patterns and thus replace the perception of pain.

The implications for helping the millions of people in chronic pain might be enormous. This idea led Jensen to a fascinating study. He looked at the brains of 20 patients before and after they experienced some relief from pain through both hypnosis and meditation. He found that people who naturally had high levels of theta waves — in other words, people with naturally relaxed, slower electrical activity — experienced a great deal of pain relief from hypnosis. Meanwhile, people with busy, overactive minds benefited the most from meditation, which slowed their buzzing brains down to a crawl.

“Meditation takes care of a problem that you have. Hypnosis builds on a skill,” Jensen says animatedly. “It’s capitalization or compensation. Are you capitalizing on a strength or are you compensating for a weakness? It looks like meditation is compensating for a weakness, and hypnosis capitalizes on a strength.” Imagine pain management as a skill, like running or weight lifting. According to Jensen, hypnosis is a little like taking an already strong sprinter to the gym and pushing her to a whole new level.

If Patterson and Jensen are right, their research could back up much of what scientists have suspected for many years: Hypnosis may be an exotic brain state that directly accesses expectation and perception — a little bit like turning off all the software in your computer and accessing its basic coding (although that is a huge simplification). And while a placebo says, “Take this amazing thing and it will make you feel better” and giving you a promise for the future, a hypnotic suggestion says, “Floating along this stream, you suddenly feel better,” which is a promise for right now. Which one is better? Which one taps into your expectation more effectively and permanently? That is a question that will take much more time and experimentation to unravel.

Source:

http://ideas.ted.com/how-scientists-are-trying-to-unlock-the-mysteries-of-hypnosis/

都会佳人Citta Bella | Life Magazines 生活杂志 - 2017年4月刊Bella Soul 之《别让压力影响你》

在现今社会，我们时常被压力压得喘不了气。除了静坐，心理咨询或临床催眠疗法等服务都是解压的好方法。然而鲜少人会主动寻找心理科专业人士解压，这泰半和大众对心理专科的误解有关。其实根据不同的问题，也会有不同的选择供你去决定；这一次就让大家了解什么是脑电波反馈训练法。

疑问（一）我目前在半工半读着，时常因为课业和工作问题，导致压力颇大。真的读得很累，成绩业绩也大受影响。

建议：基本上，除了可以咨询非使用药物的心理从业员如临床催眠师、临床心理师或者心理辅导员疏解压力；你也可以考虑脑波反馈疗法训练，这是一种直接性的训练大脑的脑科学科技。当我们的大脑进入压力状态时，脑电波很容易进入Hibeta快频脑电波状态。当你意识层面进入这类脑电波频率时，你特别容易感到疲累与焦虑。这就好比说你在高速公路疯狂加油奔驰一样；长期让你的大脑呈现在Hibeta快频脑电波状态，你将会非常快速的消耗头脑里的能量波，这可能引致你的抗压力与专注力变差，严重会引起害怕焦虑等相关问题。

疑问（二）如果我的脑电波真的长期运用Hibeta快频脑电波来运作，这真的只有负面的作用吗？车子跑得快不是好事吗？大脑转得快怎么会是件坏事呢？

建议：大脑运用Hibeta快频脑电波来运作并不完全是坏事，然而前提是你有能力把这快频波给减速下来。通常脑电波反馈疗法训练可以将过激的脑电波给“减速”并把能让身心平稳的Alpha电波给训练上来。然而过多的Alpha波处于左脑前额叶也会产生情绪低落等负面效果，所以治疗师的临床判断也起着举足轻重的角色。一旦一个人学会了如何控制自己的脑电波，他的抗压力也会因此得到改善。通过改善脑电波，一个人的专注力也得以提升，可以借此改善专注力与学习能力。科学研究显示，脑波反馈疗法对专注力缺失问题有非常显著的帮助呢！

疑问（三）我听说左右脑的强度差异也会影响一个人的抗压能力，这是真的吗？右脑活跃的人比较有创意力？这是真的吗？

建议：近期的科学研究发现，创意力佳的人并不只是依靠右脑来工作。实际上，创意力好的人也会充分运用左脑和右脑的功能。科学家也发现，右脑前额叶较活跃的人，也比较容易有害怕焦虑与没有安全感等问题缠身，所以当一个人大脑长期处于不安害怕的焦虑状态里，这确确实实会引起情绪上的相关问题。当你的情绪不平稳，自然而然的也会影响自己的抗压力；这其实和大脑里的化学反应也有着直接的关系。

疑问（四）请问脑电波反馈训练真的那么神奇？或要如何知道我也适合做脑电波训练呢？

建议：脑电波反馈训练法不属于传统的心理咨询等服务，它更像是一种大脑运动技术。就好比说你去瘦身或健身前，你需要去测量体重计。你的体重计并不会评断你是否超重，而是由你的个人教练去给你意见该如何进行训练。同样的道理，脑电波反馈训练教练EEG biofeedback practitioner会为你进行脑波检测服务。你的脑波反馈教练会根据你的状况量身订造适合你的训练模式。科学研究发现，通常经过20次的训练，脑电波才会有显著的改善。这就如运动一般的道理，脑波训练也当然是做越多越有效。当你在选择你的脑电波反馈教练时，记得查询他的专业背景（如可有心理学或医学相关背景）与临床经验，一个临床经验越丰富的教练将会更有效地助你达到绝佳训练效果，脑电波训练绝对是安全、无痛以及无副作用的。

source:

http://www.cittabella.my/post/2017/May/Soul/BiofeedbackPratitioner

You May Be Able To Train Your Brain To Be Fearless - Neurofeedback Malaysia

A developing treatment called neurofeedback may help people suffering from anxiety and PTSD.

All your fears, stresses and anxieties have one thing in common. They are sensed by a pair of pea-sized patches of neurons, called the amygdala, sitting deep inside your brain. So what if you could control your amygdala? What if you could change your brain and become calmer and braver?

That idea has a particular appeal for people suffering from depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. But it’s easier said than done. The amygdala is an old part of the brain that does its job automatically, without much care for commands from more conscious parts of the mind. You can’t just tell an oversensitive amygdala to quiet down.

But a brain training technique known as neurofeedback might help people find a way to change such involuntary and automatic brain processes. In recent years, the technique is being developed and refined to address mental health issues. The treatment involves monitoring a person’s brain activity in real time using electroencephalography (EEG) or functional MRI brain scans, and showing those patterns of activity to the person so they can try to boost or reduce them ― basically, changing how their brain functions.

In a new study published last month in Biological Psychiatry, researchers set up a series of experiments to use neurofeedback to teach several dozen people how to regulate their amygdala activity.

“People were able to use this new EEG model to learn how to control their brain activity in a deeply located brain area, the amygdala,” said Dr. Talma Hendler, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist at the Tel Aviv Center for Brain Functions in Israel. 

Reading brain signals from deep parts of the brain is difficult, especially with a cheap and accessible method. Functional MRI, or fMRI, can access these areas, but the device is a complex, gigantic magnet that you can’t just set up at home, even if you could afford it.

EEG, on the other hand, is cheaper and simpler. It mainly involves a few electrodes placed on the scalp. The downside of EEG is that it can’t accurately zoom in on structures deep in the brain.

So, the researchers combined the two methods. They used the detail provided by fMRI to tease out the amygdala’s signal from the electrical activity picked up by the EEG.

“[This method] enables home-based imaging that [targets] brain regions relevant for our mental health,” Hendler said. “It opens a wide horizon of treatment possibilities for the mentally ill, but also for everyone on a daily basis as an empowering tool for mental activity and well being.”

For the experiments, Hendler and her colleagues asked the volunteers to listen to a sound. They were then instructed to lower the volume of the sound by “exercising mental strategies.”

It sounds like a vague instruction. What are the mental strategies that can, seemingly telepathically, control the volume of a sound? No one really knows, and that’s sort of the point. People have to try many different ways of thinking ― thereby changing their brain activity ― until they stumble upon a desired activity pattern.

What the participants didn’t know was that the volume of the sound was programmed to change based on the electrical activity of their own amygdala, and it would lower if the participants managed to dial down that activity. In other words, they were listening to their own amygdala’s firing, disguised in a sound.

A series of tests afterward showed that this game seemed to help participants become more capable of regulating the activity of their amygdala. In response to viewing a series of images, for example, the participants’ amygdalas seemed less sensitive compared to those of people in another group given a fake neurofeedback treatment.

The participants in this study were healthy. But Hendler believes that people with mental health problems, too, would respond to training with neurofeedback.

“We already have indication for this (unpublished yet) that people suffering from depression, chronic pain and post traumatic disorders are able to learn and greatly benefit from such training,” Hendler said.

If the method proves useful in treating mental health conditions in the future, this low-cost, personalized treatment could be used at home to complement and sometimes substitute medications, Hendler said. 

Source:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/neurofeedback-mental-health_us_57fbee6fe4b0b6a43034b431

【原创文章】从脑电波与4种大自然元素相连并的关系

从脑电波与4种大自然元素相连并的关系，来更清晰地了解你的人格特性：

Delta波对应【湖泊元素】：当你的大脑被Delta主导时，你非常容易受外界影响。你的同理心也颇强，容易感同身受，是个感性慈悲之人。为此，任何风吹草动都可以在你【脑湖】里造成涟漪。此外，你也特别容易因为湖泊过度的平静导致你特别想入睡。你或许会因为不想那么快入睡而一直马不停蹄地找事情来做。

Theta波对应【海浪元素】：你非常容易感到不安，因为海浪极容易激起你潜意识里的回忆与想法。常常出现发白日梦的状态与无法专心平静下来做事。简单而言，你心境就如海浪般不稳定。你的【脑海】就如海浪般难以放松，抗压力较弱，人际关系也可能因此受到影响。

Alpha波对应【龙卷风元素】：你的思绪就如风一般多变与无法掌控方向。经常会出现许多创意点子与想法，但不一定可以执行。个人生性不喜欢受到限制，好奇心重并喜爱玩乐。喜欢自由地做出决定，想法特别创新并拒绝以传统方式过活。注意力容易不集中，个人兴趣太多易导致三分钟热度反应。对此，你也变得容易因为自己的想法而感到不安。

Beta对应【火山元素】：你是充满能量与积极的人。重视个人效率，善于解决问题与做出决策。个人逻辑与行动能力强，是个具备执行能力的人。然而当你的火山过于强烈时，它将变成蓄势待发准备爆发的【活火山】对应HiBeta脑波状态。脑海中若是长时间在活火山状态中，你会较为冲动行事。不安的状态导致你无法好好的表现，影响了执行稳定性。因为过度担忧，亦较容易激发害怕等不安反应。

原创文章，转载时请注名文章来源：

Hiro Koo临床催眠师

First Master Trainer on EEG biofeedback for SBCIA in Asia Region

It is my honor and pleasure to be one of the first Master Trainers on EEG biofeedback for SBCIA in Asia region. It is one of the highest levels of qualification in Asia EEG biofeedback/Neurofeedback field. Thanks my mentor Dr Kang who has supported and guided me throughout the journey since long time ago:) Thanks Dr Kang and Prof Dato Dr Susie See for trusting me. I believe that 2017 will be a good year for all of us. We will do our best in offering the neurofeedback training to make sure that the services you enjoy are of the very best quality.

Sleep disorder-Insomnia therapy in Malaysia (Neurofeedback method)

Sleep Difficulties Have a Variety of Contributors 
Many complex factors contribute to sleeplessness and insomnia including stress, anxiety, trauma, and habitual over-thinking resulting in abnormal brain wave function.

Why am I Tired All of the Time? 
Until recently, insomnia was studied from a behavioral perspective, but as this problem grows, new research and insights have been discovered. Recent studies suggest that in cases of insomnia, the brain is unable to process information properly due to cortical hyperarousal. This creates abnormal brainwave function.

Restore Sleep Naturally
By retraining the brain and improving brainwave function in those key areas affected by insomnia, the brain is rewarded through neurofeedback for creating healthier patterns. As the brain learns new responses, new patterns and pathways develop improving brainwave function as you begin to sleep better, longer.

Does Neurofeedback Work? 
Clinical studies have shown neurofeedback to be an effective, drugless, natural approach to insomnia, especially for people who have struggled for years. If you are ready to be able to fall asleep and stay asleep, for improved energy, health and wellbeing, then it’s time to relax and reward your brain.


Why Does Neurofeedback Work? 
Neurofeedback takes advantage of the brain’s ability to change itself through a process known as Neuroplasticity. It utilizes the same learning process that occurs whenever we acquire a new skill. The brain learns by forming connections between nerve cells and utilizing important pathways that connect different locations in the brain. The more frequently you utilize these pathways the better the brain becomes at performing the associated task. In psychology, this type of leaning is called “Operant Conditioning”. It is a type of learning in which responses come to be controlled by their consequences. Quite simply, Neurofeedback offers the perfect learning conditions, since it facilitates awareness of when the brain is producing healthier brainwave patterns, provides reinforcement for the positive change and multiple opportunities to provide practice during a training session.

How do I start with neurofeedback?
A comprehensive assessment is where neurofeedback therapy begins. The assessment allows me to determine whether a client’s brainwave patterns are different from normal. Based on your brainwaves analysis results, we then create a restorative plan of care. Each assessment provides me with neurofeedback training protocols. These protocols are designed to retrain the brainwave patterns towards better pattern. The result of rebalancing these brain waves improve health, healing and functionality for lasting results.


Contact us if you would like to do a brainwaves analysis assessment. 
Kindly note that this is not a medical diagnostic but merely provides additional information for your brain to run more efficiently and sleep better. 
The price of this assessment is RM190 (Report will be provided).



Source:
https://braincoretherapy.com/brainwaves/

EEG biofeedback training in Malaysia

Can you retrain your brain?

YES! EEG biofeedback training is the answer.

EEG biofeedback/Neurofeedback training (Brain entrainment) is a safe, painless and non-invasive training method to improve your brain function. Brain entrainment falls under the jurisdiction of the Association of Hypnotherapy Practitioners, Malaysia (AHPM) - clause 3(b). EEG biofeedback method is not a medical diag­nos­tic tool but a training device. It is designed to give the client’s subconscious mind a voice, and allow the Clinical Hypnotherapist to reveal the various underlying factors that shape the client’s cognitive abilities, emotional responses, and automatic behavior. 

It is based on operant conditioning concept, a reward system for the brain, to change the amplitude of brainwaves within a given frequency. There is no input of energy or drugs in the EEG biofeedback that we provide. What is the purpose of that? It can change the way you function... for example if you are too anxious we reward reduction of high-frequency waves which relate to tension and anxiety. This will train your brain to calm itself, and after repeated training, the calm state becomes more of a trait. EEG biofeedback training can be used to improve concentration, calmness, focus, stability of mood and to address many symptoms. Many patients with ADHD or anxiety or depression find neurofeedback to be a very useful alternative to drug treatments. Many people struggle to cope with cravings due to addictions... EEG biofeedback training can assist with the process of recovering from addictions. We train children, adolescents, and adults. Many people use neurofeedback training to reduce or terminate reliance on medications (with medical doctor supervision). Most people find meaningful changes in the short term in a few sessions and longer term changes in 20-40 sessions.

More info:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxHR7InSQ1c

Disclaimer: Brain Entrainment method (Neurofeedback/EEG biofeedback) is not a diagnosis tool or a cure for any diagnosed conditions. It works by resolving the underlying imbalances and brain dysregulation. It is clearer viewed as personal training rather than a treatment.

Source:

http://www.eeginfo.com/what-is-neurofeedback.jsp

http://www.neurofeedbackandtherapy.com/menu/