Posted by medlib on December 1, 2000, at 23:39:01
In reply to neuofeedback and depression - comments/insights???, posted by dj on December 1, 2000, at 2:22:46
dj---
I have owed you more than one post for quite awhile, so please bear with me as I try to cover everything in one loooong post. (Unreasonable, I know, but I'm afraid I won't get up the nerve to say these things otherwise.)
FIRST, my impressions of biofeedback. (I've never done it, but observed/learned about it during my UCLA psych degree, and just now did a quick/dirty search on PubMed and Google.) I think that:
--Biofeedback-induced changes of all kinds are easier to maintain the way they are attained--with a feedback mechanism. Without it, awareness of appropriate body cues and ability to generate and focus the intense concentration needed tend to wane over time, sort of like speed reading.
--The feedback mechanism appropriate to depression is the EEG, a very expensive, messy and cumbersome technology. (You definitely need a post-session shampoo.) I know of no home or self-applicable EEG apparatus.
--IMHO, there is a reason autonomic body functions are not normally under conscious control; they would take way too much of one's available conscious energy to get much else done.
--Biofeedback seems to work best on single-action body functions. Depression is a multifactorial syndrome. Available research seems to suggest that biofeedback for depression works best on coexisting disorders such as anxiety, alcoholism, headache or GI distress, or as an adjunct to meds. (One study involving asymmetrical alpha waves sounded intriguing--might be worth replicating with a larger N.)
--There aren't many recent citations on EEG BFB; most of those listed don't have abstracts; and the principal journal cited doesn't have an online link. Most authors seem to be affiliated with one for-profit company. These are not signs of a widely accepted therapy; therefore, caveat emptor. A search on Google ("biofeedback depression") turned up the aforementioned company, and you might be interested in the 1st, 4th, and last hits on the first page of results.SECOND, re overdue congratulations. I found PB a little over a year ago (from Google). Your posts from that time often seemed to me to be polemical, argumentative and abrasive. Since you've been back, your posts have been empathetic, supportive, often informative and thought-provoking. I presume that this reflects remarkable personal growth representing a great deal of hard work on your part; certainly no one else on PB has evinced such a dramatic positive change in communication style, intent and content. Wish I had.
THIRD, an overdue but huge THANK YOU for your Asperger's posts. It's impossible to overstate what a profound impression your discussion of this topic made on me. I'm still baffled that I managed to remain unaware of this syndrome's application to me for so long. My psych degree included courses on both learning disabilities and autism, the latter taught by Dr. Ivar Lovaas, a pioneer in this field who first championed early intervention. (Of course, he did focus mainly on his own research.) I even had a graduate course in which a student identified himself as having Aspergers; I found him annoyingly inappropriate and verbose. Then I "saw myself" in your descriptions, and it dawned on me that that was exactly how other students in ALL of my classes must have seen me! The light bulbs were blinding. Since earliest childhood I've known I came from "someplace else." I just never knew its name, or that there were other aliens here somewhat like me.
I began to research the subject and ended up reading the entire Internet Asperger's Ring. I ordered the book "Pretending to be normal" on its oh-so-relevant title alone. When I mentioned it to my brother in the Seattle area, he bought and read it the next day, finding that it fit him even more perfectly than it does me.
My reactions to this diagnosis are contradictory. On the one hand, I am calmer, more at peace, finally knowing the dimensions of my disability. I have even attempted to explain some of it to my 2 adult children (neither of whom have it, thankfully). They seem to have accepted my Asperger's idiosyncrases long ago as "the way Mother is" and remain much more concerned (and affected by) my depression. On the other hand, I (and my brother) are griefstricken. The last, admittedly faint, hope that something could ameliorate or rectify that which isolates us from "normals" has died. This "loss" has understandably worsened our depressions.
Still, I would much rather know than not know, and hope to come to some kind of self acceptance, eventually. I am deeply grateful for your insights on this subject.Sorry this is soooooo long. I hope you read it in chapters.
Many thanks and well wishes---medlib
poster:medlib
thread:3349
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20001117/msgs/3386.html