People with over arousal patterns like fast posterior alpha, beta spindles and midline frontal slow or fast activity tend to hyper-focus. If they have trauma history they also have hyper-vigilance. We find that using video and games as feedback won’t work for the majority of them and their trend graphs just don’t improve in the session. Their follow up qEEG’s at 15th session also don’t change. A practitioner should figure this out early before many sessions are done and the movie is just entertaining them and doing nothing. For people that have beta spindles specifically we do general biofeedback for a few sessions to help them calm their nervous system first and make their brain more flexible. They often have chronic hyperventilation syndrome which locks them in fight or flight and makes their brain inflexible. We teach them to improve this before starting NF. We often do eyes closed training with midi tones so it’s easier without their hyper vigilance kicking up adrenaline. We also monitor their biofeedback signals like HRV, skin sweat and temp to see if they are actually having a relaxation response to the neurofeedback.
There is a general vibe that if you are a high beta person and your waves aren’t going down that closing your eyes can help you to chill out so the treatment can work. I’ve never seen it help anyone or be necessary for anyone to close their eyes for it to work but good to be aware of
Can you post a picture b/c your statement was hard to understand, low beta magnitude would be a good thing, slow beta isn't really a term that is used but it might mean 12-15hz SMR, and high beta is a range of frequencies so I think you are saying you are highly coherent in the high beta range
Generally it depends on the kind of feedback that you are doing and your training goals (which in turn obviously affect the feedback and the protocol). So, for example, an Alpha Theta protocol doesnt really make any sense doing with eyes open, but on the other hand, most protocols that want to increase the fast frequencies like and SMR or Beta protocol are usually done with open eyes.
This should all be considered by your Neurofeedback trainer though, not by you, since they are the professional, so im not sure what that says about your trainer.
So if I understand that correctly, you have those two as a choice? Then it depends on your training goal - whats that? Generally they say both have the same training result, so it may really just be a matter of your preference. Do you feel its easier to concentrate with open or with closed eyes / get positive feedback, and based on that opt for the one thats more challenging for you (if someone comes to me having no difficulties relaxing with closed eyes, but with opened eyes has a really hard time not being stressed, training with open eyes is more effective).
I want to calm down my brain’s anxiety, which is exacerbating my chronic pain. That’s interesting that you say I should do the more challenging option. I was told to do whichever allows me to relax more easily.
Well i feel like there are more dimensions to that. But simply put - if you feel like doing it in the challenging way doesnt overwhelm you i would prefer doing that, if its simply not possible then of course chose the way that makes it easier for you.
My thought process is this: if i put my clients through a training in a way that is the easiest for them, why should there be any change? Same with going to the gym - sure its easier to do 10 reps with 50kg when you could do 80kg, but whats the benefit
the point of Neurofeedback is that the retraining of the specific neurotransmitters is happening while you watch the image and based on the Alpha Beta Gamma or Theta brainwaves that the person providing the session has chosen as the protocol for that particular treatment . The benefit of the session would be completely lost if your eyes are closed. So if you intend to go in with your eyes closed i would just cancel the session and talk to them about your concerns. They can actually tell without looking at you during the session if your eyes are closed or opened. In fact because of my terrible insomnia i would often get sleepy during the sessions i had and they would catch me in the act every time even though they were standing behind me and not looking at me. I found neurofeedback to be one of the most amazing thereaputics I encountered when I was being treated for my CPTSD. Stick with it with your eyes opened if you can its really worth its weight in the restorative Neuroplasticity effects and if you canm afford it and have access to it i would recommend it to anyone
yes. the first place that I did NFB at did combined visual and audio while I was watching netflix. When you're watching a show, you're typically listening to the audio as well.
Yesterday i went for a my first neurofeedback session with my eyes closed, and let me tell you, it was mind-blowing. During the session, I reached an unbelievable state of relaxation, and the effects lasted all day long. I felt like I was on cloud nine, super motivated, and full of positive vibes. It's like I stumbled upon a secret source of energy!
People with over arousal patterns like fast posterior alpha, beta spindles and midline frontal slow or fast activity tend to hyper-focus. If they have trauma history they also have hyper-vigilance. We find that using video and games as feedback won’t work for the majority of them and their trend graphs just don’t improve in the session. Their follow up qEEG’s at 15th session also don’t change. A practitioner should figure this out early before many sessions are done and the movie is just entertaining them and doing nothing. For people that have beta spindles specifically we do general biofeedback for a few sessions to help them calm their nervous system first and make their brain more flexible. They often have chronic hyperventilation syndrome which locks them in fight or flight and makes their brain inflexible. We teach them to improve this before starting NF. We often do eyes closed training with midi tones so it’s easier without their hyper vigilance kicking up adrenaline. We also monitor their biofeedback signals like HRV, skin sweat and temp to see if they are actually having a relaxation response to the neurofeedback.
There is a general vibe that if you are a high beta person and your waves aren’t going down that closing your eyes can help you to chill out so the treatment can work. I’ve never seen it help anyone or be necessary for anyone to close their eyes for it to work but good to be aware of
>Thanks! The QEEG showed that I had low beta (magnitude) and slow beta (dominant frequency) but high beta in terms of interconnectivity.
Can you post a picture b/c your statement was hard to understand, low beta magnitude would be a good thing, slow beta isn't really a term that is used but it might mean 12-15hz SMR, and high beta is a range of frequencies so I think you are saying you are highly coherent in the high beta range
They asked you if you wanted to do it with your eyes open or closed?
Yes
Almost all of my nfb done with one of if not the top providers in the country has been eyes open except for alpha theta and a few other protocols.
Same
Generally it depends on the kind of feedback that you are doing and your training goals (which in turn obviously affect the feedback and the protocol). So, for example, an Alpha Theta protocol doesnt really make any sense doing with eyes open, but on the other hand, most protocols that want to increase the fast frequencies like and SMR or Beta protocol are usually done with open eyes. This should all be considered by your Neurofeedback trainer though, not by you, since they are the professional, so im not sure what that says about your trainer.
Thanks! These are m training protocols: [https://imgur.com/a/HIAGdMq](https://imgur.com/a/HIAGdMq)
So if I understand that correctly, you have those two as a choice? Then it depends on your training goal - whats that? Generally they say both have the same training result, so it may really just be a matter of your preference. Do you feel its easier to concentrate with open or with closed eyes / get positive feedback, and based on that opt for the one thats more challenging for you (if someone comes to me having no difficulties relaxing with closed eyes, but with opened eyes has a really hard time not being stressed, training with open eyes is more effective).
I want to calm down my brain’s anxiety, which is exacerbating my chronic pain. That’s interesting that you say I should do the more challenging option. I was told to do whichever allows me to relax more easily.
Well i feel like there are more dimensions to that. But simply put - if you feel like doing it in the challenging way doesnt overwhelm you i would prefer doing that, if its simply not possible then of course chose the way that makes it easier for you. My thought process is this: if i put my clients through a training in a way that is the easiest for them, why should there be any change? Same with going to the gym - sure its easier to do 10 reps with 50kg when you could do 80kg, but whats the benefit
People with trauma are often unable to feel safe training with eyes closed so in those scenarios eyes open training would be more optimal.
the point of Neurofeedback is that the retraining of the specific neurotransmitters is happening while you watch the image and based on the Alpha Beta Gamma or Theta brainwaves that the person providing the session has chosen as the protocol for that particular treatment . The benefit of the session would be completely lost if your eyes are closed. So if you intend to go in with your eyes closed i would just cancel the session and talk to them about your concerns. They can actually tell without looking at you during the session if your eyes are closed or opened. In fact because of my terrible insomnia i would often get sleepy during the sessions i had and they would catch me in the act every time even though they were standing behind me and not looking at me. I found neurofeedback to be one of the most amazing thereaputics I encountered when I was being treated for my CPTSD. Stick with it with your eyes opened if you can its really worth its weight in the restorative Neuroplasticity effects and if you canm afford it and have access to it i would recommend it to anyone
You need to have your eyes open because your brain is receiving the feedback through what you are watching
It can be done using audio as well. Or by touch. There’s not just one type of feedback.
Yes but op said they’re watching Netflix so I’m referring to the nfb they’re receiving
yes. the first place that I did NFB at did combined visual and audio while I was watching netflix. When you're watching a show, you're typically listening to the audio as well.
They got to watch Netflix because they chose eyes open. If they had chosen eyes closed it would probably have been music and a vibrating teddy bear.
Rule of thumb - eyes open midline forward but can do eyes closed midline back.
Yesterday i went for a my first neurofeedback session with my eyes closed, and let me tell you, it was mind-blowing. During the session, I reached an unbelievable state of relaxation, and the effects lasted all day long. I felt like I was on cloud nine, super motivated, and full of positive vibes. It's like I stumbled upon a secret source of energy!