Like other parts of the body, our brains can become dysregulated over time or because of trauma or injury. This can lead to troubling disorders like anxiety, depression, ADHD, PTSD, insomnia, brain fog, mood disorders, and memory loss. Although prescription medications can offer some relief, they're often accompanied by unwanted side effects like nausea, headache, insomnia, weight gain, loss of appetite, and fatigue. In minors, these side effects become especially unwanted, as does the prospect of remaining on lifelong medications. Patients living with organic neurological disorders like autism, Parkinson's, dystonia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, Tourette Syndrome, tics, refractory pain, epilepsy, and migraines seek help to meaningfully manage their conditions and improve their quality of life. Big Life Neurotherapy provides two non-invasive, non-medicated, pain-free treatment options known as Neurostimulation and Neurofeedback to correct brainwave imbalances and offer lasting relief. These therapies are also used by elite athletes to reach top performance and business executives to optimize reasoning, moving from reaction to action.
What Happens to Our Brains Over Time?
The truth is brain dysregulation is a problem for all of us at some level. Over time, we learn to accept our limitations, perhaps even to laugh about them, but we don't have to. Neurotherapy allows us to realize the true functional competence of our own brains through the application of electrical stimuli (Neurostimulation) or the discipline of neural self-regulation training (Neurofeedback). We were made to think well.
What is the State of Modern Mental Health Care?
Although medicine has changed significantly in the last 100 years, much medical school curricula has remained stagnant, with providers often left unaware and untrained in exciting new therapies. When it comes to advances in mental health care, this gap is especially troubling, as Americans wrestle with an escalating mental health crisis and suicides on the rise, Quite simply, if conventional therapies were adequate, we wouldn't be facing an epidemic. As a practice committed to the restoration of patients' minds, bodies, and souls, we’ve invest in transformative mental health care, bringing advanced Neurotherapy technologies to Big Life in the form of Neurofeedback and Neurostimulation. These therapies offer painless, non-invasive, non-medicated treatment options that offer significant results and substantial new hope for those suffering with mental illness or cognitive impair.
What is Neurostimulation and Neurofeedback?
Researchers have long known the connection between abnormal brain waves and unwanted neurological conditions. Brain waves are evidence of the electrical activity of the neurons in your brain. Brain waves reveal important information about your overall neural health, including suboptimal thought patterns, emotions, and stress levels. Neurofeedback (also called EEG Feedback) and Neurostimulation (also called Neuromodulation) are among the only treatment modules that directly correct irregular brain waves and restore healthy patterns. More importantly, Big Life is one of the only Neurotherapy centers in Colorado to boast both treatment modules in one center, maximizing our patients' chances for a quicker and lasting recovery. You can feel better, often significantly so, in just a few sessions.
How Does Neurotherpay Work?
All Neurotherapy at Big Life starts with our patients receiving a qEEG, or a quantitative electroencephalogram, which measures electrical activity in the brain. Known as “brain mapping," qEEGs compare individual patient's results against neurotypical brains. They reveal dysregulated brain wave patterns associated with impulsivity, cognitive inflexibility, anxiety, and other wanted symptoms. The qEEG provides your Big Life neurotherapist with a definitive treatment direction and a quantitative measure to compare progress over time. qEEGs will often be repeated at important segments during your neurotherapy journey to chart progress.
Tell Me More About Neurostimulation
Neurostimulation is the first and most frequent treatment modality. Neurostimulation is the direct application of electrical stimulation to the brain, triggering neural repair and restoring optimal function. It works by sending low-level electrical currents to the brain via electrodes placed on top of the scalp. The electrodes are connected to a stimulator device which acts very much like a heart pacemaker, regulating activity and showing the brain what we'd like it to do on its own. Although many patients experience noticeable, positive improvements after only a few sessions, therapy is often a series of bi-weekly sessions for an extended period of time, depending on the patient's specific neuroplasticity, age, and severity of symptoms. Consistency is essential to positive outcomes and long-term healing.
Benefits of neurostimulation include increased flow of blood and oxygen to the brain, positively altered neurotransmitter levels, more efficient cognitive processing, the reduction or complete elimination of pain, elevated mood, improved attention and concentration, faster learning (both motor and lingual), more grounded, centered reasoning, and better sleep.
Tell Me More About Neurofeedback
Neurofeedback is used to reinforce and cement positive results. Unlike Neurostimulation, Neurofeedback does not involve external stimulation of the brain. In fact, rather than outside instruments doing most of the neural repair "work," Neurofeedback invites the brain to "exercise" on its own, increasing neuroplasticity. During sessions, specialized instruments "mirror" (or feed back) the brain's own patterns to itself via electrode sensors on the head. Although technically more "work" for the brain, the combined therapies help the brain better learn to perform its core responsibility: constructive self-regulation as evidenced by optimal brain wave activity.
But how does Neurofeedback work practically? During development, the brain learns self-regulation through feedback gained during interactions with the world. During Neurofeedback, we replicate that process by inviting the brain to see itself in action through its own brainwave activity. Through the electrode sensors, the brain watches its dance of self-regulation in real time.
During Neurofeedback sessions, patients will watch a movie, listen to music, or play a video game. Meanwhile, our instruments will monitor the brain's activity, moment-to-moment. We will measure current activity against preset, desired brain wave goals. When optimal waves consistently register, the brain is rewarded. When undesired activity persistently occurs, it's penalized. The reward system is simpler than you might think. For instance, while watching the movie, if most of the brain's activity stays within desired thresholds, the film might zoom in and the audio might get louder, creating a reward. Conversely, if the brain's activity strays consistently outside of desired targets, the movie might zoom out and the sound might drop, "penalizing" the brain. The neuroplasticity of the brain will prompt it to learn what it must do to keep the movie playing, producing more of the desired brain activity over time. The more the brain "practices," the stronger the new connections will become, and the more permanent the results.
Who Are Big Life’s Neurotherapists?
Neurotherapy at Big Life is practiced by licensed, Board Certified neural health professionals. We regularly update and fine tune our instruments and invest in the latest equipment.
Is Neurotherapy Covered by Insurance?
Neurotherapy at Big Life is not covered by insurance. It is a cash pay service. Although some plans do allow HSA or FSA contributions to count toward therapy. Patients do not have to belong to Big Life's Direct Primary Care group to participate in Neurotherapy in our facility, although DPC patients do enjoy significant savings.
What Should I Expect During Treatment?
Neurotherapy is a non-invasive, non-medicated, and pain-free treatment method. A conductive gel is used to help fasten the electrodes on your head (under a sanitized skull cap that will be provided). It is important that patients come to qEEG, Neurostimulation, and Neurofeedback appointments with hairstyles that allow us direct access to the scalp. For example, some of our African American patients will put their hair in braids so that their hair can fit into the cap and the sensors can attach. The important thing is to get accurate readings so that therapies do not have to be repeated.
DPC Patients Enjoy 15% Savings
