A therapist I saw some time ago has started working with a modality that he thought might help me called Brain State Technologies. So I checked out their site and watched the first video on this page:

http://www.brainstatetech.com/video.html

I remember people a while ago having this extremely strong interest in NeuroFeedback therapy, but none of them seemed to be able to get any real information on it. Well, this Brain State Tech stuff is (according to the video, anyway) based on Neurofeedback therapy, so you might find the video enlightening.

The clip is long (40 minutes), and in truth it doesn't directly talk very much about its applications towards brain injuries very much (if at all), but there is a REALLY interesting section of the video that shows how a mouse's brain reacts to a significant internal trauma. Basically, even after the actual trauma has subsided, the mouse's brain continues to hold onto its defense pattern that was created during that trauma, in essence leaving the brain in a state of degraded suspended animation (instead of just going back to working the way it was before the trauma occurred), at least that's how I interpreted it anyway.

I haven't watched the second video, so I can't comment on that, but I know a lot of us on here aren't working regularly, so at the very least... hey, decent way to kill 40 minutes, right?

To PCS Mc Gee

Thank you for the link. I watched the second video by Robert Scaer and need to watch this several more times to get a full understand of how trauma effects the brain.

Two very important keys for me in regards to TBI in this report that migraine headaches and asthma are related to the head trauma as I experience both of these symptoms. Dr. Scaer also explains that people who have experienced a TBI will continue to re injure themselves, that has been my experience over the last 4 years and it seems to be a common tread with others who post here. We continue to re injure ourselves and we don't know why.

For the last few days I've been asking myself where's the reset button. Dr Scaer explains that the brain can be healed but the trauma needs to be removed from the brain. The symptoms migraine headaches, asthma, chronic fatigue, chronic pain and the list goes on are warning signs that the brain is frozen in the traumic experience and continues to replay the trauma, creating the sypmtoms chronic fatigue / chronic pain ect.

I'm currently in the process of writing up a treatment program for myself and this information is one of the keys I was looking for in regards to the healing process.

Thank you I think I found part of the solution. Jeffn

Alright, I watched the second video, this one IS good.

There's a lot of fairly heavy psychiatric/neurological language, and the lack of visual aids (the ones he's referencing no less) is annoying, but what this guy is saying is RIGHT ON.

I was seeing a therapist for a long time who bore a striking resemblance to this man both in teams of appearance and philosophical leanings, and he actually showed me the polar bear video that this guy talks about at the beginning of his lecture. After seeing that, I can tell you with every degree of certainty that when an animal does let go of a trauma in the way this man describes, it is a frighteningly violent reaction.

That said, if I'd gone into a discharge seizure moments after I hit my head (instead of immediately getting up and trying to show everyone that I was okay) I'm absolutely certain that my injury would have healed over within a week (as is, we're at 4 and 1/2 years and counting). The impact itself wasn't at all dramatic, it was the recovery that proved to be bizarre. That's telling.

I'm trying a new hypnosis based therapy tomorrow which I'm hopeful will work for me, but if it doesn't I'm planning to try this brain state technology stuff in January, after I build up enough money to try it (it's not the cheapest therapy on the block... though I guess it costs about the same as a couple months of therapy, and people rarely get much accomplished in a couple months of therapy... I'm living proof ).

Great - this does make sense. I have often thought that why is it that those who have a horrifc accident and are unconcious for some time make quick full recoveries compared to me who had little bumps on their head and 6 and half years later are no better?? I have thought that while they are unconcious that their brain gets a chance to rest and repair. Like you I have always tried to act like there is nothing wrong after hitting my head - while the doctors tell you there is nothing wrong as well!! Lynlee

I am going to watch videos but wanted to touch on the coma topic. Alot of patients are actually heavily sedated and put in an induced coma initially to enhance healing in the ICU's, I have thought alot about how the less traumatic TBI's are not properly rested and thus have more healing problems. This seeems to be so so important and only makes sense. I know this seems extreme but I have often thought my son would have been better off if he was put into a general anesthesis state like you are in surgery for a few days and then gradually awakened and this would of prevented alot of our troubles. This is just a random thought!!

To PCS Mc Gee, Looks like there some brain power being applied to this research on NeuroFeedBack.

I order the book Getting Started with NEUROFEEDBACK by John N Demos ISBN number 0-393-7045-5. Barnes & Nobel and it should be in with in 3-4 business days. The Table of Contents seemed interesting as it deals with a wide scope of Nuerofeedback, from how it works, what equipmet to buy and the clinical assessment process and the patients experience/ therapy with the re balancing of the brain waves, make since.

I talk to my friend about this last night who is a hypnotherapies. Jack hold a Doctorate in this field of study and he seemed to think that rebalancing the brain waves was an important place to start and that a person needs both the visual & audio in this rebalancing in order for the brain to relearn what the correct brain waves are in balance. It seems that the 3 main brain waves get knocked out of balance during the truama to the head. Jack also seemed to think that once the brain waves are returned to there correct levels that that this will become part of the brains auto regulartory system and you will be able to do this rebalancing or maintaining of the correct brain wave levels on your own. In his opinion the brain needs both the visual and audio information/ stimuli in order to heal and relearn the correct brain wave levels


I'm a novice in this area of study, so I have a lot of question and research to do before I make a commitment to this type of therapy. I do think that this is part of the solution for me.

I did check out a few clinics on line and there seems to be a two part process. 1. The assessment and 2 The treatment. The bench mark seems to be that you will need 40 sessions at 50.00 125.00 per session plus a follow up every 3-6 mouths and of course your time and fuel cost to make the office visit.

Starting to run the numbers. It looks like I'll need to make a 1200.00 to 1700.00 investment in equipment, hardware and software and I'm not sure if there are any hidden cost at this time.

A friend of mine suggested going into a clinic and experiencing what a neurofeedback session is. Does it work ? How does it work ? and what are the results ? Try before you Buy.

Appealing Kaizen to neurofeedback therapy. Ask small question. Think small thoughts. Take small steps and solve small problems. Thanks for your help Mc Gee. Jeffn

Ps How the hypnotherapy session go. Is that helping ? *

This was a great video, and it's not too far from my house. I am going to contact them, hopefully my doctor can get me in there, and wouldn't it be awesome if my insurance somehow covered it too!

Thanks!
-Dave
Chandler, Arizona

I don't mean to be negative Lucy, but I think you're misinterpreting what the videos say.

People who are knocked unconscious by their head injuries don't just wake up refreshed and ready to run a 10k or anything, they experience the same post concussive symptoms that all of us have, and are just as likely to experience prolonged Post Concussion Syndrome as someone who sustains a head injury without losing consciousness. Being knocked out is not a "get out of PCS free card", if anything it's an indication that the actual DAMAGE that was sustained to the brain was more significant than the DAMAGE that was sustained to a person who didn't lose consciousness.

And that's where the real interesting part of this syndrome lies. Most of the people I've met on this site have had CT scans and MRIs that have all come back showing no signs of damage whatsoever, so why does this brain that appears perfectly fine not function that way? The answer, this video asserts, lies in the emotional/psychological trauma that occurs along with the physical impact, or has occurred prior to the physical impact.

When the human brain perceives itself to be in a state of mortal danger, meaning it feels as though it could die as a result of the threat that it's faced with, it enters a defensive stance. If it never surrenders that defensive stance, that moment in time that the threat occurred in essence gets LOCKED into their system. The body still gets up, moves around, goes through its day to day activities, and so on, but the brain remains tied into the moment in time that the injury occurred. In essence, the mind of the person who sustained the trauma is living in a different time than the body of that same person. Consequences including disassociation from friends and relatives, a sense of not being connected to their surroundings, fear, depression, and most importantly in cases of physical injuries, an inability within the body to heal itself, often resulting in chronic pain, mysterious illnesses, and in the case of brain injuries, prolonged post concussion syndrome. That is what the guy in the video was saying, it is not incontrovertible fact, but it is a very compelling argument (and from my personal experience, it is the "right" argument for the problems that I currently face, as the Post Traumatic Stress that my body is locked in has become more and more apparent as I have aged following my injury).

Now, in a lot of our cases, the trauma argument does not make a great deal of sense rationally. Take me for example, it was my birthday, I was drunk, I fell over and hit my head, and then I got back up. Not exactly the most traumatic experience that someone could imagine, BUT, the subconscious mind (where bodily reactions of life or death are resolved) is in no way a rational creature. This explains how some people see a non poisonous spider and think "big deal" while others see that same spider and immediately go into a terror reaction, their thought process at that time being "I'm going to die, and this spider is going to kill me". Same spider, same complete lack of threat, same situation, and yet two entirely different reactions. To use another example, two men sustain identical head injuries, one man's body recognizes his injury as nothing more than a mild concussion, and he heals within a week. The other man's body recognizes his injury as a threat to his very existence, so the body enters a freeze response. 5 years later he has yet to heal. This is the subconscious mind, it is in no way rational.

I would not be at all surprised to find that most everyone on this site either experienced a significant trauma at the time of their injury (such as a violent car accident), or had experienced a significant trauma BEFORE their injury (be it a difficult birth, child abuse, sexual abuse, seeing someone get killed, being attacked by a dog, or anything else you can think of that could leave a lasting psychological mark on the body). If a past trauma is never resolved, the body loses much or all of its resiliency.

In the video Dr. Scaer references a test that was done on a group of baby chicks. The chicks were broken up into 3 groups: one group would be traumatized, then left on its own to discharge the trauma. The second group would be traumatized persistantly until the chicks entered a clear freeze response to their trauma. The third group would not be traumatized at all, this group would be the control (please note that the "traumatizing" they did to these chicks was not violent, it was docile, like flipping them over on their backs or something like that... an action that for whatever reason physiologically causes chicks to enter a fight or flight response).

After the chicks were traumatized (or in the case of the last group, not traumatized), the chicks were placed in a bowl of water to judge their resiliancy to stress.

The chicks that had not been traumatized at all swam for a couple of minutes before running out of energy and sinking to the bottom.

The chicks that had been traumatized but allowed to discharge their trauma actually swam longer than the untraumatized group, before running out of energy and sinking to the bottom.

The chicks that were traumatized repeatedly and not allowed to discharge immediately sank to the bottom without swimming at all.

In the eyes of Dr. Scaer, we fall into the last group. If he's right, resolving the psychological trauma BENEATH the physical injury is the key to healing.

As I understand it (admittedly, I have a pretty rudimentary understanding of the stuff), brain wave technologies works along these same principles. When my therapist was going to get trained using the technology, he said that the therapy strives to get patients brain waves "to mimic those of buddhist monks". Don't know the science behind this though, outside of the stuff shown in the videos that you've already seen.

I have done auditory therapy in the past (designed to balance Alpha/Beta/WhateverTheThirdOneIs brain waves, and get the two hemispheres of the brain communicating better with eachother) but have experienced little success within this specific modality. In terms of your friend's philosophies... well, I've seen a lot of healers over the past 5 years, and the main thing I've learned is that every great healer (and I mean this in the most literal sense possible, defining a "healer" as someone who brings healing to his patients, regardless of the means) has their own theory on how the body heals, and none of them are wrong. What's important (not to mention mystifying, difficult, frustrating, and often depressing) is finding out what's right for you.

I know no other method to finding what's "right" than trail and error, though I've also learned to listen to my gut when considering a new therapy (or when considering stopping a therapy that doesn't seem to be reaping any more benefits). My most profound leaps in healing have occurred when I've shut my analytical brain down and followed my intuition.

I talked to my therapist guy a few months ago about doing the Brain State Tech stuff, and he told me it would cost about $1,000 (give or take $200, though I don't know if he was cutting me a deal since I've seen him for so long beforehand) to do the therapy. The assessment, if I remember correctly, was something like $150, though I like the assessment aspect of this particular therapy. At least with this you're objectively tested and can be told either "this therapy could reap GREAT benefits for you" or "this stuff's not a good fit for you, you should try something else", in which case you're only out a couple hundred instead of a full thousand. That's a bit more comfortable for me than the usual "well... let's see what we can do" leap of faith that comes with traditional therapy.

The guy I know that does this told me that patients usually do ALL of their sessions in a week to a week and a half, as they're more effective the closer they are to one another (since a damaged brain will gravitate towards its established degenerative cycles, you have to keep persistently reminding it of how it's supposed to act before it actually starts doing so on its own).

Why would you need to buy any equipment or software?

I've done hypnotherapy for a while now with varying levels of success. A short while back, I saw this same hypnotist every week for a month or so, and we pretty much tried every therapy in the book. It was interesting... after my sessions I could often feel the plates in my head moving around, and the chronic pain in my body would move this way and that, so the therapy was definitely doing something, that can't be denied.

At that time I was mixing the hypnotherapy with some cranio-sacral therapy, and this therapy cocktail produced a couple of big bangs (leaps) in improvement, but ultimately didn't "slay the beast". I still had my chronic pain, still had depression, still had vision problems, still had all of my other random PCS and PTSD baggage, they were all just lessened significantly. So the work did a lot of good, it just didn't do the whole shebang-a-bang.

We're trying one last therapy before we move our separate ways entirely, called "Cellular Release Therapy", which essentially involves getting the patient into a very relaxed state, then providing the body with commands to clear out all of its memories of pain and trauma on a cellular level. Sounds too simplistic to work, but occasionally people draw absolutely PROFOUND benefits from the work, so I'm taking an "eh, why not?" approach to it. I've been really thirsty since our appointment, and I've had some noticable headaches (not PCS type headaches, like the type of headaches I used to get as a kid at baskeball practice... "normal" headaches). I take both of these as good signs, but we'll see what happens.

If you're thinking of trying it, I'd ease into hypnotherapy carefully. The stuff really dives right into your subconscious mind, so you have to be careful in case there's something really explosive in there. The first time I tried hypnotherapy (well over a year ago now) I had a near nervous breakdown afterwards, so it can be a bit of a dicey proposition. Make sure you're good and stable before you go exploring your instability, you know?

PCS Mc GeeThanks for the heads up.