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Comment by TheLegace | Hacker News Reader

Take a look at this new treatment(neurofeedback)[1]. It changed my life. Instead of changing brain chemically you can change the structure of your brain. It's not ADHD that's the problem, its the focus networks in the brain not being trained properly.

ADHD becomes a gift when you can focus and the brain just naturally learns, and memorizes very well. I went from being incapable of anything to being really great at anything I wanted to be (just late to the party). [1] http://addcentre.com/

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The evidence currently suggest that Neurofeedback does not outperform a placebo. There's a nice round up of the research at the bottom of this article: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-myths/201302/r....

I am very interested in this but am currently located in Scandinavia. What does the training practically entail?

Is it some kind of device on the head that you then learn to use with an on-screen app where you can get feedback on your "state" like meditation but with an interface?

I remember reading about this years ago and wondering when the tech would be available for use in-home.

Do you need to go to a professional clinic?

There can be a lot to understand depending on how much change your actually looking for (so much I could write a book). But its just putting EEG electrodes on the skull to record frequency ranges in the brain. These frequencies(Delta, Gamma and Alpha) relate to the "focus", "relaxation"(related to meditation) and "cross-talk" functions of the brain that primarily are controlled by the Sensory-Motor Cortex.

There are many different programs all with different goals, some try to optimize the relax range, some focus and some try to minimize cross talk. Imagine looking at a screen and it shows your POV from inside a roller coaster car. On the sides you can see a bar chart going up and down and a threshold level you want to attain. Eventually you learn to control it so you bring that bar to the threshold and hold it (Holding it is key). If your really motivated you can tell the technicians to bring the threshold down so far that you are able to focus greater than the average person.

It begins by controlling muscles in your eyes effectively, once movements of the eyes have stabilized(this is the hyperactivity part that negatively effects focus) light can effectively move into the visual cortex. Then tying the other senses(sound and touch) together probably switches on the focus networks in the brain. This leads to experiencing reality at much higher "resolution".

I would advise having professionals around(like I did) they can spot problems/anomalies and can aid in training. It can be dangerous to mess with your brain without professionals around.

Thank you! Do you have any leads book wise, a certain methodology or a though leader in the field?

I think i will try to find a place similar to yours in Scandinavia but want the quality to be right.

Alternatively i am thinking if consumer EEG electrodes are good enough at this time to create a personal setup.

Yes the doctor who oversaw my treatment pioneered the treatment and is the thought leader in the field.

You can read her various papers[1]. I've read many things about ADHD and functioning mechanics of the brain. This is by far the most substantive and practical resource of info that I managed to put to go use when I trained my brain.

http://addcentre.com/page-29/page-31/

This is really fascinating. I just sent them an email to see if I could participate (diagnosed with ADHD 6 months ago at age 33, feeling pretty depressed that all the years of struggling/setbacks were to some degree unnecessary).

May I ask how long have you been participating in the training?

The training is about 1-2 hour sessions. You need about 20 sessions. They can completed once a week. But if your serious you would do 2-3 times the first 4-6 weeks to change things with greater momentum. After it is complete you never need to think about it again.

I don't know anything about those folks but my son (inattentive type) got a lot of value from neurofeedback about 10 years ago under a psychologist using the full EEG skull cap. He went once a week for 18 months then less often for another year or two. Wish I'd done it...

I’m just starting neurofeedback, curious what your experience was like. May I email you at the address you have on profile ?

Feel free to email me. You will probably get much more complete response through that medium. Good luck!

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