Neurofeedback Therapy in Katy, Texas & the Houston Area
Jason Drake, LCSW-S, BCN, is a BCIA Board Certified Neurofeedback therapist
Neurofeedback at Katy Teen & Family Counseling
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Have you tried talk therapy and you haven't found the results you were looking for?
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Have you been on medication after medication still not finding the relief you you were hoping to get?
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Are you an adult who struggles with emotional or behavioral challenges that block your path to happiness and success?
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Does your child get in trouble regularly at school and you're trying to find an effective way to help them?
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Are you a talented teen athlete, gifted student, young adult starting college, or a professional looking to take their neurocognitive abilities to the next level?
We all want to be able to function at peak and optimal levels. For some teenagers, teen ADHD, teen depression, teen anxiety, teen trauma, teen PTSD, autism spectrum disorder or being neurodiverse prevent this from happening. Often, teenagers take their emotional or behavioral challenges into their young adult years.
Younger children may be struggling with their behavior at school. As parents your anxiety may increase whenever you see the schools phone number calling or get an email from the school. It's not a matter of is your child willing to succeed, their brain is simply working against them.
As adults, we experience many life stressors. Work, financial, relationship, parenting all while striving to increase the happiness and success in our and our family's life. Emotional challenges such as depression, anxiety, panic attacks, social anxiety, ADHD/ADD, Autism Spectrum Disorders, sleep disturbance, can act as barriers to you achieving to your full potential.
You may be a talented teen athlete or a gifted student in Katy, Texas or in the Houston area. Competition is intense in our schools and on the field and court. Though you may not struggle with teen depression, teen anxiety, or teen trauma, you would like to further improve your performance. Peak performance training may help you get there and have a leg up on the competition.
Neurofeedback can be a great option to help you remove the obstacles that stand in your way of happiness and success. At Katy Teen & Family Counseling, our neurofeedback therapists can help.
Table of Contents
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Why We Use Neurofeedback at Katy Teen & Family Counseling
Prior to starting Katy Teen & family Counseling, the Jason Drake, LCSW-S, BCN, was overseeing 3 residential treatment centers (RTC) for teen girls here in Texas with one in Katy. He was trained in and provided neurofeedback to the Katy RTC. The girls in the RTCs were girls who had experienced complex trauma due to abuse, neglect, with some being trafficking survivors.
The girls also struggled with emotional challenges such as:
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Sleep disturbance
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Anger
Based on the research, we knew that neurofeedback could be effective for a wide range of challenges and ages (from ages 2 to 92). Once we started using neurofeedback, we were pleasantly surprised at just how effective it was.
The first client that participated in neurofeedback at the RTC struggled with PTSD, depression, and sleep disturbances due to nightmares related to being trafficked. After 25 sessions, she reported that she was sleeping well as she no longer had the nightmares. She also reported that she "wakes up happy".
This amazing young lady had been in talk therapy since she was a child. After neurofeedback, she was able to find relief from emotional challenges she had battelled for years.
When the practice owner started Katy Teen & Family Counseling, he brought neurofeedback into his practice as client after client, he was finding a high level of success with his clients seeing moderate to significant improvements. While neurofeedback may not work for everyone, the high rate of success we are seeing would put neurofeedback at the top of the list in our practice for effective, therapeutic, interventions.
Whether you are a parent of a small child, teenager, or young adult or an adult yourself looking for a way out of the emotional or behavioral challenges you face, neurofeedback can be a great option.
Neurofeedback: A Powerful Approach to Emotional and/or Behavioral Struggles
Neurofeedback targets the source of the teen, young adult, adult's struggle and resolves the struggle at the source. We identify the area of the brain that is over or under performing which underlies the emotional or behavioral challenges. These struggles are brain based and include but are not limited to the following :
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Sleep disturbance etc.
How Many Sessions Does Neurofeedback Take?
Neurofeedback is a safe, non-invasive, research supported, and fun approach to therapy. A typical course of neurofeedback for teens, young adults, and adults alike takes on average 40 sessions.
Depending on the severity and/or length of time the teen, young adult, or adult has been struggling with a particular challenge, neurofeedback may take a little longer than 40 sessions. Even in these situations, neurofeedback is often effective in less time than traditional talk therapy for the same challenges.
We have found and it seems consistent across the board that teens and young adults often respond quicker to neurofeedback compared to adults. While 40 sessions is the average, teens and young adults have found success in as little as 30 sessions.
Is Neurofeedback the Same as Talk Therapy?
Neurofeedback is not talk therapy. It does not require any other participation from the teen, young adult, or adult other than showing up each week and sitting in a comfortable chair with their feet up, playing a video game or watching a show (more on this below).
Neurofeedback is a therapeutic approach that can shorten the length of therapy as it eliminates typical roadblocks that can slow the course of talk therapy. In talk therapy, client motivation is a key factor in timely success in overcoming challenges.
The only motivation the neurofeedback therapist needs on the part of the client is simply to show up for each session, sit in a comfortable chair, feet up on an ottoman, either watching a show or playing a video game. The neurofeedback therapist does the rest.
Jason Drake, LCSW-S, BCN, is Board Certified in Neurofeedback. Jason is also a Certified Brain Health Professional through the Amen Clinics.
Together, they form a powerful and effective team in providing neurofeedback training!
Board Certified in Neurofeedback: Biofeedback Certification International Alliance (BCIA)
Jason Drake, LCSW-S, BCN with Katy Teen & Family Counseling, is Board Certified in Neurofeedback (BCN) through the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance (BCIA). BCIA is the main certifying organization for neurofeedback here in the United States as well as internationally.
BCIA is a rigorous neurofeedback certification organization ensuring that those certified through their organization have the training required to provide effective neurofeedback.
To become Board Certified in Neurofeedback through BCIA, a licensed therapist must:
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Successfully complete a neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, physiological psychology, or course(s). This provides a sound basis for the brain and how it functions and must be taken from a regionally accredited academic institution or a BCIA-approved provider.
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Take a 36-hour didactic education program specifically covering all topics as listed in the BCIA Blueprint of Knowledge taken from a BCIA-accredited training program.
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Spend 25 contact hours (2 must be face to face) with a BCIA-approved mentor to learn to apply the clinical neurofeedback skills through the review of:
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10 sessions of self-regulation where the clinician is the client in neurofeedback sessions.
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100 patient/client sessions where the therapist will prepare the client and run complete sessions.
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10 case study presentations which are full detailed patient/client stories from intake and protocol selection/adjustment through discharge.
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Have passed a certification exam consisting of 100 items, multiple choice, to demonstrate proficiency in their knowledge base pertaining to neurofeedback.
The training through BCIA is rigorous and prepares a licensed clinician to practice neurofeedback effectively. Jason Drake, LCSW-S, BCN, has successfully practiced neurofeedback with teens in both a residential treatment setting and with teens and young adults at Katy Teen & Family Counseling.
Some of the more common emotional or behavioral challenges Jason has worked with are:
Through neurofeedback, teens. young adults, and adults can get their lives back. Below, we will go into detail what neurofeedback is and further how neurofeedback can help you, your teen, or young adult.
What is Neurofeedback?
Neurofeedback has emerged in the last 50 years as a treatment modality for a variety of mood, emotion, and behavioral struggles. Neurofeedback has been a recent treatment of choice due to the recent advances in neuroscience.
Up until 2013, most of the research funding was provided to those researching treatment approaches based on treating symptoms. In 2013, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shifted their focus away from treating symptoms to researching the brain and where the symptoms originate from.
Neurofeedback treats where in the brain the symptoms originate from. Neurofeedback addresses teen ADHD, teen depression, teen anxiety, teen trauma, autism spectrum disorder and other struggles at the level of brain function and how the brain performs. While neurofeedback is effective for teens, it has shown equally effective for adults and young adults alike.
The way our brain communicates, or functions, is through electrical signals. These signals travel between cells in our brains called neurons. Through these electrical signals, the brain regulates heart rate, breathing, body temperature, and more.
These electrical signals also regulate mood, emotion, and behavior. The symptoms that we experience have their roots in how the brain performs. Teen depression, teen anxiety, teen trauma, teen ADHD, autism spectrum disorder and more can originate in the brain.
For many of us, the communication between the cells in our brain functions optimally. For others, there may be networks of the brain over performing or under performing.
This under or over performance is at the root of many emotional, mood, and behavioral struggles. Neurofeedback is able to pinpoint the precise network in brain regions that are at the root of the problem. Neurofeedback provides training to help optimize brain performance to these brain networks.
Neurofeedback is a non-invasive, comfortable, relaxing form of treatment. Teens, young adults, and adults alike, find neurofeedback a fun approach to treatment. While seated in a comfortable chair with your feet up, neurofeedback utilizes sophisticated software to train the way regions of your brain communicate with each other.
There are various methods to select from in neurofeedback. The two methods we use at Katy Teen & Family Counseling are Z-Score training and Amplitude Training.
Z-Score Training
For z-score neurofeedback training, we use 19 sensors integrated into a cap that the individual wears. These sensors record the electrical signals of the brain and maps how the brain performs.
By creating a brain map, we can compare how your brain performs to a database of how other individuals your same gender and age perform. This database is a normative database containing brain maps of individuals with optimal and high brain performance.
Once we have your brain map and we compare it to the normative database, we can identify what regions of your brain are under or over performing. We then create a training protocol specific and individualized for you to optimize your brain performance.
Through this training protocol, we optimize the brain performance for those regions, or network, of the brain that have been causing the distressing symptoms. Once optimized, the distressing symptoms can be significantly reduced or eliminated.
Below are examples of both 2D and 3D brain maps that are used to identify the regions of the brain which are over or underperforming. These brain maps then guide the training protocol needed to train those specific regions of the brain.
Amplitude Training
Our brain communicates through different waves or frequencies and the strength of those frequencies. These waves or frequencies vary in time and can be grouped into frequency bands as a result.
The different frequency bands have very unique characteristics and are linked to and influence our emotions and behaviors. The various frequency bands that are trained in amplitude trainings include:
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Delta
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Theta
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Alpha
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Beta
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High Beta
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Gamma
The neurofeedback therapist is trained on how the various frequencies in the brain are correlated with various emotional and/or behavioral struggles. The training protocol selected by the neurofeedback therapists is based on the following:
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Neurofeedback research on established training protocols that are effective for the unique struggle
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The unique symptoms presented by the teen, young adult, or adult
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The intensity, severity, and how long the emotional struggle has been occurring
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The teen, young adult, or adult's self-report
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Reports and information gained from parents, family members, etc.
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The region of the brain that is associated with the emotional and/or behavioral struggle
Amplitude training does not require you, your teen, or young adult to wear a cap like z-score training does. Many people prefer amplitude training over z-score training for this reason.
Once the amplitude training protocol has been selected, the neurofeedback therapist uses individual sensors placed over the region of the brain that is being trained. The sensors are placed using a paste that allows the sensor contact with the scalp. It is very unintrusive and easy to wash out.
There can be as little as one sensor used in amplitude training depending on the emotional or behavioral challenge being addressed. Usually, there is not a need to use more than 4-6 individual sensors at a time with amplitude training vs. z-score training where the cap includes 19 sensors embedded in the cap that a person wears.
These sensors measure the amplitude of various frequencies being trained. Based on the specific training protocol selected, the neurofeedback therapist using amplitude training will either increase and/or decrease various frequencies.
When certain frequencies are increased and/or other frequencies decreased, this can help equilibrium of the brain and the brain learns to perform in a more balanced manner. Once the brain learns to perform this way, the intensity of the symptoms decreases, at times can be eliminated, and the results are often long term.
How Does the Neurofeedback Therapist Train the Brain?
Now you know the types of neurofeedback we provide at Katy Teen & Family Counseling, let us now get into how neurofeedback works.
There are various training platforms that a neurofeedback therapist uses to train the brain. Our neurofeedback therapists have found success in software that allows the client to watch a T.V. show or movie. We also utilize neurofeedback video game software that functions in much the same way the software does when using a T.V. show or movie for training.
While wearing the cap or using individual sensors, we view your brains performance in real time. When your brain is performing based on the training protocol selected, you get to hear and see what is on the T.V. screen. When your brain returns to under/over performing, the screen and sound fade, flicker, or disappears for a brief moment.
This cycle of seeing and hearing the T.V. show or movie helps the brain to learn. Each time your brain performs in a way that optimizes brain performance, you get to see and hear the T.V. show or movie. This provides your brain consistent reward for optimal performing.
Your brain is a very efficient 'muscle' in your body. It is always seeking ways to balance and improve your body's way of functioning. Included in that functioning are the mood, emotions, and behavior we experience. Neurofeedback is a way to help exercise your brain and reward it for optimal performance.
For example, if you have a teen struggling with teen depression, neurofeedback will help to optimize the performance of the teenager's brain. The regions that were under or over performing causing the depression will perform at optimal performance.
Once you have trained your brain to perform at optimal levels, the symptoms related to depression go away or are largely reduced. The changes are long term.
Below is a screen shot from one of the video games that Jason Drake, LCSW-S, BCN, uses for neurofeedback training. This video game is designed specifically for neurofeedback.
The goal if for the avatar on the screen, in this case a dragon, to fly through the rings. The person earns points for the number of times they can fly through the rings. These points can be saved to buy other avatars.
Both z-score neurofeedback and amplitude neurofeedback train perform the same function of training the brain by rewarding optimal levels of brain functioning. The main difference between the two is the brain map.
Z-score neurofeedback will record the brain's performance and will visually identify areas of the brain that are over or under performing. This is produced by both a 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional map, or view of your, your teen, or young adult's brain and how the brain is performing.
While there are unique differences between z-score neurofeedback and amplitude training neurofeedback, research has shown both effective. While neurofeedback is not effective for everyone, both of our neurofeedback therapists have seen very high success rates based on client feedback for both z-score and amplitude neurofeedback.
Jason Drake, LCSW-S, BCN provides both amplitude neurofeedback and z-score neurofeedback and brain mapping.
Other Uses for Neurofeedback:
Brain Performance Optimization
Though neurofeedback helps those struggling with mood, emotion, or behavior struggles, it also is helpful for others. Optimizing brain performance can help reduce or eliminate emotional or behavioral struggles.
Optimizing brain performance has a variety of other uses as well. Doctors, CEO's, attorneys and other professionals have utilized neurofeedback for brain performance optimization. This utility has been helpful for others who seek to perform at peak levels no matter the setting.
Gifted Students & Brain Performance Optimization
Gifted students who are fortunate not to struggle with emotional, mood, or behavioral struggles can benefit from neurofeedback as well. Peak performance training can help optimize an already bright and capable mind.
Focus, concentration, memory, and other brain performance can be optimized to help get a leg up on the competition. Gifted students in the Katy, Texas and the Houston area are in stiff competition with other students. For gifted students in Katy, Texas and the Houston area, peak performance training may help them have the competitive edge.
Talented Teen Athletes & Brain Performance Optimization
For those talented teen athletes in Katy, Texas and the Houston area, neurofeedback can help. As with the academic competition in the Katy, Texas and Houston area, athletics are highly competitive in our area. There are those talented teen athletes who come with natural talent benefited from hard work and dedication. Neurofeedback can help with brain performance optimization to help with:
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Attention, focus, and clarity when fatigued
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Increase performance when "in the zone"
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Improves emotional control
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Execute plays faster and better
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Learning new training and tasks more quickly
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Acclimate better to stressful situations
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Improves sleep
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Can help overcome mental blocks
Katy and the Houston area boasts some of the best High School athletics in the country. There are families that move to Katy, Texas and the Houston area so their talented teen athlete can participate in the High School athletics. In this competitive arena on the field or on the court, neurofeedback can help give a leg up on the competition!
What Else Can Neurofeedback Help With?
Neurofeedback is effective in treating a variety of life struggles. It is also effective for those seeking to optimize their brain performance for academics and/or athletics. Neurofeedback can help you, your teen, or young adult with the following:
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Improving Sleep
Begin Neurofeedback Today in Katy, Texas & For Those in the Houston Area
If you, your teen, or young adult have been struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma, PTSD, autism spectrum disorders, or other struggles, neurofeedback can help. If you are a gifted student or a talented teen athlete looking for peak brain performance, neurofeedback can help.
Katy Teen & Family Counseling is conveniently located just off of I-10 and 99. It is very easy to get to for those who live in Katy. And for those in Houston and the surrounding area, it's only a short drive away. Our caring neurofeedback therapists who specialize in neurofeedback can help you.
Neurofeedback for those in the Katy, Texas and Houston area is here! To start your neurofeedback journey, follow these simple steps:
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Contact Katy Teen & Family Counseling today
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Meet with our experts in neurofeedback
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Start your journey toward recovering your happiness and hope for the future. You will be glad you did.
Other Services Offered at Katy Teen & Family Counseling:
Katy, Tx & Houston
While we provide neurofeedback therapy at Katy Teen & Family Counseling, we also specialize in other emotional and behavioral life struggles and provide the following counseling and therapy approaches such as:
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Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
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Teen Therapy for Self-harm
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Teen Therapy for Self-esteem and Self-worth
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Teen Anger Management Treatment
Effectiveness of Neurofeedback:
Research by Experts in the Field
Neurofeedback has undergone numerous testing through scientific research studies. For the past 50 years, experts in the field have been studying the effectiveness of neurofeedback training. They have researched neurofeedback relating to emotional struggles like depression, anxiety, ADHD/ADD, trauma, PTSD, autism spectrum disorders, substance abuse, peak performance and other emotional difficulties.
Below are a few references to those research studies and outcomes showing neurofeedback to be effective. At Katy Teen & Family Counseling, one of the approaches to neurofeedback we use is Z-score, 19 channel neurofeedback. This is a state of the art approach in treating teen emotional or behavioral challenges.
The researchers and experts in the filed have studied the effectiveness of Z-score, 19 channel, neurofeedback training along with other methods. Check out their findings below:
Neurofeedback Case Studies using Z-score Training
Summary
This article summarizes clinical results using a neurofeedback approach (z-score neurofeedback) that has been developed over the last several years and is seeing increasing clinical use. In individual cases, specific changes are observed, related to the initial conditions, and the brain's ability to respond with appropriate changes. Overall, LZT is found to be a relatively efficient form of neurofeedback that can be demonstrated to be effective in a variety of clinical scenarios.
19 Channel Neurofeedback for a Teen with Oppositional Behavior Due to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Summary
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), resulting from gestational exposure to ethanol alcohol, can result in a wide range of lifelong and severe challenging behaviors with a concomitant lowered quality of life. This article presents the results of neurofeedback treatment (80 sessions over 14 months) with an adolescent diagnosed with FASD and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and who had a significantly low social adaptive quotient (<1 percentile) and marginally low intelligence (13th percentile). Significant neural dysregulation, as measured by quantitative electroencephalography, resolved almost entirely. This occurred with a parallel improvement of his challenging behaviors as subjectively reported by his family and one of his workers.
Neurofeedback Case Studies using Z-score Training
Summary
A 23-year-old man presented for a neurological evaluation due to cognitive problems restricting him from college education. He graduated successfully from high school but had problems in college, which caused his subsequent withdrawal. He was interested in trying neurofeedback (NFB) for possible cognitive enhancement.
Fifteen sessions of 19-electrode Z-score NFB lead to marked improvement of the patient's subjective cognitive perception as well as GCS on computerized neurocognitive testing. This case report illustrates marked increase in cognitive performance achieved by Z-score 19-electrodes NFB training and justifies the initiation of larger studies to confirm these promising findings.
Why Neurofeedback is an Effective Means to Impact Behavior
Summary
Robert W. Thatcher, Ph.D., a preeminent scholar and researcher, undertakes an thorough analysis of z-score neurofeedback along with other approaches to neurofeedback therapy. Dr. Thatcher also addresses the critics of neurofeedback and demonstrates it's effectiveness in helping resolve a variety of physical and physiological struggles.