Re-Training ADD and ADHD Brain Waves into Normal Patterns of Brain Functioning

Although estimates vary, ADD and ADHD are generally believed to afflict 4-6% of all children. In either adults or children, it is characterized by inappropriate degrees of inattention, hyperactivity, excess energy, and impulsiveness.

There are typically problems with concentration, mood, sleep, learning, memory, poor grades, difficulty listening or completing tasks, excessive talking, fidgeting, and difficulty paying attention to tasks at hand.

Long-term results of untreated ADD/ADHD can include diminished academic performance, increased personal problems (e.g., divorce, work problems, psychiatric problems, difficulties with the law), and reduced income-earning potential.

Learning disabilities (LD) often involve problems with auditory/visual processing and problems with reading, math, speech, and other areas.

Traditional Treatment for ADD/ADHD

Several types of medication are helpful with ADD/ADHD symptoms, but one study showed that 69% of children on stimulants suffered one or more side effects. Sadly, the average Ritalin study only follows effects for 3 weeks and the longest follow-up ever done on stimulants was about 6 months long.

A massive recent literature review found that medication did absolutely nothing for 25-40% of children with ADD/ADHD.

A thorough review of research found that stimulants provide “temporary improvement,” but “on the other hand, changes that point toward longer-term improvement (e.g., in academic outcome, antisocial behavior, or arrest rate) were not found, and only small effects were observed on learning and achievement.”

In 1998, a Council on Scientific Affairs report from the American Medical Association concluded that pharmacotherapy alone, while effective in short-term symptomatic improvement, “has not yet been shown to improve the long-term outcome for any domain of functioning (classroom behavior, learning, impulsivity, etc.).”

Monastra's (2002) recent research found neurofeedback to be significantly more effective than Ritalin in changing ADD/ADHD, without having to remain on drugs.

Brain Function is Evaluated by Mapping the Brain

We must first do a quantitative EEG brain map (qEEG) to assess brain wave function and determine where the abnormal areas of the brain are malfunctioning. Twenty small electrodes are placed on the scalp that measure and record the electrical activity in different parts of the brain.

This is a non-invasive procedure that measures the brain wave activity, just like a physician listens to your heart from the surface of your skin. This is painless and noninvasive. All of this is done while the patient is resting quietly with his or her eyes closed, and sometimes doing a cognitive task.

A highly skilled specialist takes the brain wave data and processes it through a normative database that analyzes the brainwave patterns. This results in a brain map that shows the areas that are malfunctioning within the brain.

It also shows the various interactions between different parts of the brain, and the inefficiency of communication within the brain of information that is taken in by the normal auditor and visual processes of the brain.

The brain may be blocked from achieving normal function by the many slow waves that are in the brain and causing it to be overwhelmed with under activity. The qEEG allows us to see what is happening in the brain.

In looking at the chart above, you see the theta waves in the second row up from the bottom. In the normal size, theta waves are very beneficial. However, when theta waves are tool large, as shown in the middle area of the chart, shown in red, theta is know to cause many problems, including ADD.

The brain maps and charts are then analyzed and a plan is made that will enable a neurofeedback technician to be able to re-train the brain and reduce the large amounts of slow waves.

Thus, the brain map serves as a guide to be able to know what needs to be changed and how to do it to obtain better brain function.

Analyzing the Brain Waves for ADD/ADHD

Children or adults with ADD or ADHD usually have quite different brainwave patterns than we see in learning disability.

In ADD/ADHD there tends to be a slowing of brain activity in the frontal and central regions of the brain, most often in the slow theta or alpha frequency bands. Scientific research has identified several different subtypes of ADD/ADHD, the most common being the theta subtype as seen in the next picture.

The map below is of a boy with ADHD. It shows very excessive theta activity, especially frontally, and a deficiency of healthy beta brainwaves. There is also an alpha subtype that is often seen in adults or teenagers, and a beta subtype which is uncommon. There are also many individuals who display a combination of the different subtypes.

Therefore, a careful assessment of brain function is essential for diagnosing the brain map patterns of ADD and ADHD and deciding a plan for training the brain into correct patterns of functional behavior to reduce the ADD and ADHD problems.

In people who have the slow waves of theta or alpha in the front, essentially the frontal lobes are lazy and under active. The brain’s frontal lobes are the executive control centers that control attention, emotion, and behavior.

When there is slowed brainwave activity frontally, the brain lacks the proper inhibitory capacity. The result is a problem controlling attention and poor intellectual efficiency, problems controlling emotions, and problems controlling behavior.

Thus, the person tends to be impulsive, lacks good judgment, and acts on the emotion and impulse of the moment without adequately considering consequences. Because the brain is not functioning properly, the inhibitory processes of the frontal lobes are not adequately putting on “the brakes” to create self-control, and irrational impulsivity is often the result.

Neurofeedback is the Method Set Up for Re-Training the Brain Into Better Patters of Functioning

Neurofeedback research began in the 1970s, first proving successful in reducing seizures in uncontrolled epilepsy. Neurofeedback is a powerful form of biofeedback–, but EEG neurofeedback is exclusively for improving the brain.

Ordinarily we cannot control our brainwave activity. However, when can see our brainwaves on a computer screen almost instantaneously, it gives us the ability to influence our brain’s activity. Neurofeedback training is done with an electroencephalograph (EEG) that measures the brain’s electrical activity and sends the information to a computer. The person is given visual and auditory feedback and coached to learn to suppress slow brainwave activity while increasing healthy activity.

Gradually, the brain becomes conditioned and these patterns become enduring. Unlike the very short (often just 3 weeks) follow-ups in medication studies, neurofeedback research has found that in 10 year follow-ups about 80% of the cases will have reduced the ADD symptoms or will have eliminated them form their lives, usually allowing the patient to go off medication.

Monastra’s (2002) research found neurofeedback to be significantly more effective than Ritalin in changing ADD/ADHD, without having to remain on drugs following the sessions to re-train the brain.

Increases in IQ scores of 8 to 23 points have also been found in research.

The chart below shows the difference in !Q scores before neurofeedback and after neurofeedback.

Frank H. Duffy, M.D., a Professor and Pediatric Neurologist at Harvard Medical School, stated in an editorial in the January 2000 issue of the journal Clinical Electroencephalography that scholarly literature suggests that neurofeedback “should play a major therapeutic role in many difficult areas. In my opinion, if any medication had demonstrated such a wide spectrum of efficacy it would be universally accepted and widely used” (p. v) “It is a field to be taken seriously by all” (p. vii) as a method of improving brain wave function and behavior.

(Click on the Image to Play Video) Caden Sanchez in Rio Rancho, New Mexico (ADD/Hyperactivity)

There is a full chapter about Neurofeedback in The ADD Book: Neurofeedback by William Sears and Lynda Thompson. To read more Articles on the ADD, click on one of the article links below:

The ADD Book: Neurofeedback  

A Modern Miracle 

Brain Train ADHD Facts 

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