Trauma-Informed Neurofeedback Therapy

Hope Roots offers trauma-informed Neurofeedback Therapy in Colorado. In-person QEEG-guided Neurofeedback is available at our office in Fort Collins, CO. Remote Neurofeedback Therapy is available anywhere within the state of Colorado. Most services are covered by Medicaid.

QEEG-Guided Neurofeedback

QEEG (Brain Mapping) & 2x/week in-person Neurofeedback Therapy sessions

Neurofeedback is a powerful non-invasive technology to help brain function, alleviate certain psychological symptoms, and enhance cognitive performance. It has been around for more than 50 years, with hundreds of neurofeedback research studies supporting its efficacy.

Many mental health professionals use it as a stand-alone therapy or as a complementary approach to counseling as a way to provide comprehensive care. According to neurofeedback studies, due to its usability advantages, anyone can benefit from it, including clients with severe symptoms of mental health disorders and resistance to other treatments.

Neurofeedback enables clients with trauma to recognize the signs of stress and anxiety and alter their brainwave functioning to a healthier state in order to achieve symptom reduction.

At Hope Roots, our trauma-informed approach to Neurofeedback means that we:

  • Use the client’s goals and intuitive sense to guide treatment decisions

  • We thoroughly explain the process, the technology, and the psychology behind what is happening and not happening during NFT

  • We understand dissociation symptoms and proceed with caution when training low frequencies to minimize side-effects

  • We do not train each client to the same database norms, but use the client’s stated goals to guide treatment decisions

  • We do use QEEG data to help the client understand more about their brain, minimize guess-work around protocol decisions, and show the client what changes occurred in their brain.

Costs: Trauma-informed Neurofeedback Therapy at Hope Roots is covered by Medicaid in CO ($0 out-if-pocket if you have current Medicaid behavioral health benefits). Private Pay rates are on a sliding scale and range from $90-120 per 45 minute session (usually 2x/week for 20 sessions). The initial QEEG assessment and consultation is $300-400, and is repeated after 20 sessions to gauge progress. We only provide QEEG assessments to clients who are completing Neurofeedback at this practice, not as a stand alone service. Most clients will only need 20-40 sessions total of Neurofeedback training. Once your brain has really learned a new skill, it retains that ability!

Myndlift - Remote Professionally-guided Neurofeedback

To make Neurofeedback Therapy more accessible and more affordable, Hope Roots uses Myndlift to offer remote Neurofeedback Therapy. Clients who are unable to come frequently to our office in Fort Collins, CO can do Neurofeedback using the Myndlift app, a headset, and 1 electrode placed on their head. Neurofeedback protocols are still selected through the same QEEG-guided process as our in-office Neurofeedback, but clients use their own phone or tablet to do training sessions. Clients are able to do short daily neurofeedback sessions at their convenience and use the app to track progress. Psychotherapy is still a key part of the process and weekly sessions (which can be done via telehealth or in-person) allow the clinician to track progress and provide the adjunct psychotherapy that is key for trauma-informed Neurofeedback.

Costs: Remote neurofeedback with Myndlift may be partially covered by Medicaid in CO. Insurance will cover the psychotherapy and office visits involved, but not the equipment. The equipment will cost $250-$300 out of pocket (HSAs can be used). Hope Roots takes no profit from the sale of the devices or software usage, only for our setup time, QEEG database and consultation fees, and psychotherapy rates.

Myndlift 12-week Package (for clients without CO Medicaid): $1,800-2,500 sliding scale - including the QEEG assessment and intake session, weekly 45 minute therapy sessions (can be telehealth or in-person), daily use of the Myndlift neurofeedback app, and the Muse 2 Headset and any accessories (to own outright and keep when you’re finished with Myndlift). The Muse 2 device can be used by multiple people and has it’s own app with services separate from Myndlift. Only active clients at Hope Roots will be able to access the neurofeedback features in the Myndlift app, but the Muse 2 can continue to be used with it’s own free app features (and an optional $12.99/month premium subscription is also available).

FAQs about Trauma-Informed Neurofeedback:

How does it work? What do the electrodes do to my brain?

Neurofeedback is essentially training for your brain. The electrodes and other devices used do not put any signal onto or into your brain - they can only read the frequencies on your scalp and no signal or electricity moves from the system to your brain. It works because the information about your brain frequencies picked up by the electrodes and amplifier is then shown to you through feedback (hence the name) through audio or visual data - usually the dimming or lightening of a video being played, movement of game-like graphics on a screen, or changes in audio volume. Since our brains are so amazing at learning and constantly trying to optimize, your brain will notice the dimming of the screen and begin to optimize the frequencies it is producing to keep the screen brighter, or make the graphic move forward, et cetera. Similar to weight training, if you train your brain to optimize to certain frequencies regularly, the brain will learn this skill and training becomes easier. If the new skill is causing helpful effects in your nervous system, the brain will adjust to these changes for more default functioning and your Neurofeedback training will be complete. For example, for clients who have nervous systems that have adapted to be more anxious or on high alert by default (likely due to early life stressors), Neurofeedback software can be set to show the brain feedback that encourages the brain to try reducing those higher frequencies. As the brain tries out using less power at these frequencies during sessions and the rest of the client’s nervous system responds with calmer, clearer thinking, the brain will begin to use less power at these frequencies by default and the client will experience a change in anxiety symptoms. These changes are new tools that the brain has learned - not something that the software can program or add to the brain. If the brain doesn’t find the training helpful, it will reject the training (much like learning math that you then never use in your daily life). Lowering frequencies associated with anxiety does not mean that your brain will lose any of the skills and adaptations learned from stress or trauma (your resiliency is always yours to keep).

Are there side-effects when doing Neurofeedback?

Typically any side effects with Neurofeedback are mild. In trauma-informed neurofeedback, we never see a negative side effect as just part of the process, but as communication from the client’s system that something needs to be adjusted. We gather as much information about how the client is feeling during their training, and at home between sessions and adjust the protocols to eliminate side effects. If a client reports anything negative during training (or after a session upon follow-up) we immediately pause and make changes to how we are training. Most side effects are not directly due to the Neurofeedback training itself, but usually indirect effects of the clients nervous system trying to find equilibrium while learning a new skill (i.e.. “Is it okay to be less hypervigilant?”). This is why psychotherapy is always done alongside neurofeedback training. We trust your nervous system’s intuitive sense about what is helpful or not, and in doing so help you learn to trust your own intuition again also.

Does it Hurt? What will you put on my head?

Neurofeedback should never hurt. Small gold electrodes will be applied to your scalp with conductive paste (Ten20 Conductive Electrode Paste). This paste is about the consistency of a glue stick and it both keeps the electrode in place on your scalp and conducts any frequency from your scalp into the amplifier. Two ear clips will also be placed on your ears (these are used as a reference, so the software can subtract the electric frequencies in the environment from those specifically coming from your brain. We also use a skin prep gel (Nuprep) to remove extra oil or skin care products from the application sites. The therapist will always explain and show you these items and get your clear consent before touching your head to apply the prep gel or paste. The therapist will also clean their hands, and all of the equipment before getting started. Cotton balls and pads and alcohol are also used for clean up afterwards. For the QEEG recordings, the process is a bit more involved and uses a snug-fitting cap and gel (in place of the paste). A syringe with a dull tip is used to apply the gel to the scalp through the cap. The QEEG recordings require sitting mostly still for 5-6 minutes with both eyes opened and eyes closed, while we make an EEG recording of your brain waves. A warm wash cloth can also be provided to help you remove excess gel from your scalp when we are finished.

Can Neurofeedback effectively treat Trauma & PTSD?

A recent systematic review and meta-analysis pooled data across four randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in PTSD and revealed a very large effect size for improvement in PTSD symptoms. The studies consistently favored neurofeedback in terms of symptom severity and the number of patients achieving remission (Steingrimsson et al., 2020).

Specifically, PTSD symptoms were reduced by 34-66% in the neurofeedback group but ranged from a reduction of 15% to an increase of 13% in the control groups.

Another study reported a 46% symptom reduction posttreatment and 51% symptom reduction at the one-month follow-up (compared with reductions of 13% posttreatment and 14% at one-month follow-up in control). At 1-month follow-up, 58% (11/19) of neurofeedback patients achieved remission as compared with only 11% (2/19) of controls (Van der Kolk et al., 2016).

A study, published in 1991, had one of the best outcomes ever recorded for PTSD. The neurofeedback group had a significant decrease in their PTSD symptoms, as well as in physical complaints, depression, anxiety, and paranoia (Peniston & Kulkosky, 1991).

Read more about Neurofeedback’s efficacy here: https://www.myndlift.com/post/neurofeedback-studies-summary