EEG Spectrum International

Some Concrete Examples
Science in general, and in particular medical science, is not impressed by individual case histories, which are routinely dismissed as "anecdotal data". However, they can nevertheless be useful in the present context to calibrate the reader's expectations of what this new technique may be used to accomplish. They are also useful scientifically, by forcing our attention on new phenomena which have simply not yet been studied extensively, but point the way to the future. The 29-foot long jump by Bob Beamon in the Mexico City Olympics was a singular event, but it could not be dismissed in terms of what it said about human potential.

In the case of major head injuries, significant spontaneous recovery has never been reported in the literature more than a couple of years post-injury. After such an interval, significant recovery would be as exceptional and noteworthy as an amputee starting to regrow a limb. The following are some representative case histories:

A professional woman in her thirties was referred for EEG biofeedback training more than four years post-injury, an automobile accident in which she suffered whiplash. At the time she came for training, she was unable to live independently. She had to be brought to the office because she could neither find the way nor remember her appointments. She could no longer read, and even the simple act of boiling water at home could get her into trouble. She was extremely fatigued, and was not sleeping well. She was emotionally volatile, and suffered from frequent crying spells. All therapies to help her had terminated long before she came to EEG biofeedback training. At the third training session, she reported sleeping better. At session five, she reported having more energy. By session 11, she was reading newspaper ads. At session 15, she declared: "I am becoming the woman I was before". By session 30, she was able to read her whole legal file at one sitting. At session 47 she reported "feeling 100% human again for the first time." The training continued on to session 80. Subsequently, she reentered professional life and was remarried.

A second case involved a woman in her thirties who was three years post-injury, a car accident in which she had suffered whiplash, and was unconscious for a period of time. Her spine was fractured. When she came for EEG biofeedback training she was still totally disabled due to a variety of problems: chronic pain behind one eye; vision problems (central area grey, periphery fuzzy); dragging left leg; slurred speech; diminished memory function. She had continuous digestive complaints; headaches; dyslexia; and mental confusion. All therapies had been terminated except that she was still visiting her chiropractor, who referred her for biofeedback.

The digestive problems she reported were 75% improved by the fourth session, and completely eliminated by the eighth. Sleep was reported improved by session ten. By the time of completion of training at session 24, the pain behind the eye had been remediated, and her vision significantly improved. Her speech was no longer slurred; she was no longer dragging her foot; and there was no more uncontrolled crying. She was able to return promptly to a full-time occupation.

A third case involved a man in his fifties. After an automobile accident he was brought into the hospital DOA. His family was summoned. A family member observed the body to move under the blanket on the gurney, and drew attention to it. "Oh, bodies do that" she was told. The movements continued, and the medical staff thereupon resumed attempts to resuscitate the man. He subsequently made a major recovery, and came to us years later after his condition had stabilized. With the training, his mood became more elevated, and his memory gradually returned. He had studied some seven languages in his youth, and this language ability was gradually recovered. He also improved in terms of balance and gait.

A woman in her fifties came to us for EEG training 19 months post-stroke, and after all other therapies had been terminated. She was having difficulty with concentration, with speech, and with word retrieval. There was some loss in fine motor control, and symptoms of depression. She came from out of town and could only obtain six training sessions during her stay. Nevertheless, it was reported upon her return home that she resumed writing correspondence; that she was again playing the piano; and that she was much more verbal, once again bossing everyone around in her household. Her original vitality had returned.

Another case: A man came to us some three years post-stroke, having suffered extensive damage to left-side speech and motor areas. His speech consisted of only partial words--often the wrong ones--and some consonants were still lacking. He was on a cane, and had limited use of his right hand. He was depressed and withdrawn. All therapies had ended with the exception of speech therapy, which was just about to end.

The training effected first a remediation of the depression. He became much more active and interested in the life of his family. His speech therapist observed a sudden burst of improvement in speech (within two weeks of start of training for the speech deficit). By session 27 he was speaking again in simple but complete sentences. By session 46 he had given up his cane; by session 60 he was using his right hand again to shake hands. By session 90 he trusted himself to go skiing again, and was picking up newspapers to read. Speech is still halting and slow; but he is fully engaged again in the life of the family.

A three-year-old girl was referred to another EEG practitioner for reasons of behavioral dyscontrol. She had screaming episodes lasting for hours. These were so common that it was impossible to find foster care placement for the girl. She was hospitalized at the time of the training. Within three sessions, the crying episodes were reduced to three minutes, and after ten sessions the case worker pronounced that the girl was functioning like a normal three-year-old.

A five-year old adopted boy was starting to develop severe behavior problems at home. Fetal alcohol syndrome was then diagnosed. The child so fractured the family life that the mother thought her only option was to "put the child back into the system". The boy was totally resistant to doing the training. "I don't have a brain", he announced. Nevertheless, after a few training sessions, the boy mellowed. His anger diminished, and it became possible to reason with him. After 32 training sessions total, he was winning "student of the week" awards at his school. His intrinsic charm was now showing.

An adopted boy with an IQ of 70 underwent EEG training with another practitioner. He was retested a year later, and his IQ tested at 112, an increase of 42. By itself, this result may appear startling. However, it is quite consistent with our own findings of increases in IQ test scores of more than thirty points when the children start at values less than 90. The training clearly facilitates the organization of mental functioning so that the child can exhibit his native intelligence. The results are so striking that they must compel us to revisit the whole issue of whom we are calling mentally retarded.

A twelve-year-old boy was referred to us for EEG training because of conduct problems. He had been kicked out of seven schools, the last a school for severely emotionally disturbed children. He was being home-schooled at the time. He had suffered a birth injury, and a subsequent head injury at two years. He had significant sleep problems when he came to us.

After the first EEG session, he stopped talking in his sleep at night. After session nine, he reported that he did not get in as much trouble. He completed training at 29 sessions. Within a few months, he returned to regular public school. No one would call him emotionally disturbed any more. Also, his IQ score increased 34 points (WISC-R), and he improved four grade levels in reading, and more than two in spelling, according to the Wide Range Achievement Test.

An eleven-year-old boy at a group foster home had a history of aggression, oppositional behavior, and ADHD. He was also suicidal. He had math and language disabilities. He was reluctant to undertake the training, and rarely did more than twenty-minute sessions. After twenty such sessions, he made a breakthrough. He came to the next session enthusiastic about the training, declaring that he was a "new man". He was calmer, and much more cooperative. His aberrant behavior subsided. He was no longer suicidal. The staff psychologist said she had never seen a more dramatic change in a person in ten years of psychotherapy. After ten more sessions to consolidate his gains, the boy was released from the group home back to his closest living relative, an aunt.

A woman in her forties came to us with a long history of depression, of eating disorders, of chronic pain, and bruxism (teeth-grinding). As part of the intake session, she took the TOVA test, which measures attentional variables. She was in the 5th percentile in terms of reaction time, and in terms of inattention and variability in response time. After only twenty training sessions, her TOVA scores were all better than her age-appropriate norms, a simply staggering improvement. We rejoiced. She was wistful. "You are taking my disability away", she said. "I've lived with that all of my life." Change, though positive, can be somewhat frightening because of the uncertainty it brings. She is in the continuing care of her psychotherapist to manage these changes.

An elderly man came to us diagnosed with "diffuse cortical atrophy". He had been a highly verbal, intellectual man--Rhodes scholar, company president, and public official. Now he was falling silent because he was losing himself in paragraphs and sentences, and he found that was too embarrassing for him. After nine training sessions in one week, his disorderly EEG was normalized (reduced in amplitude) by a factor of three. He became more verbal, and more animated. His wife said, "You have given me my husband back." He came for booster sessions a year later. Subsequently he suffered an ischemic attack, leaving him with symptoms of disorientation and paranoia. These symptoms persisted for some months until he could come back to the training, at which time they were promptly remediated. As the organic deterioration continued its relentless course, he eventually needed the booster sessions more frequently. Ultimately, he benefited from the training for more than five years, until he succumbed to progressive supranuclear palsy.

A woman came to us after having had a $10,000 dental restoration for bruxism. She was a hyperactive adult with poor body awareness. She undertook the training for more than thirty sessions. By session six, she became aware of clenching her teeth during the day. By session twenty, the cessation of night-time bruxing behavior was indicated by remediation of the pain associated with it. Training continued to thirty sessions to consolidate the gains.

A woman came to us with a history of frequent panic attacks, migraine headaches, poor sleep patterns, and fatigue. She could not handle the stress of a job. Training in the SMR band helped her to relax; then training in the beta band (15-18Hz) helped her mental functioning (concentration, focus). Followup after 32 training sessions showed that she still felt somewhat anxious, but her panic attacks had been completely eliminated.

A seventeen-year-old boy was trained for temporal lobe epilepsy, for which he was medicated with Tegretol and Dilantin. He was doing poorly academically, and was exhibiting many signs of psychological disturbance and instability. He was emotionally volatile, even explosive. He was depressed and angry. He exhibited self-mutilating behavior and suicidal ideation. This behavior pattern had been observed for nine years prior to the onset of EEG training. After the training was initiated, the boy became friendly and talkative. His academic performance began to soar. The volatile emotions subsided. The suicidal thoughts vanished. He began to set long-term goals for himself: getting into college, choosing a curriculum. He was able to eliminate the need for Dilantin entirely, and to significantly reduce his dose of Tegretol.

After a year of intensive training at two sessions per week, he succeeded in getting into college on the basis of his obvious change in performance, which made his prior record unrepresentative. By the end of the first year, he was near the top of his class in his chosen field of computer science. The biofeedback gave him a sense of control over his epilepsy, and over his brain. He began to take charge of his own training. He came to know his own brain very well. He could predict what the EEG instrument would show on a given day based on what he knew about himself. Eventually, he came to need the instrument less and less. He also learned other skills (breathing, yoga, meditation) which many other persons with seizure disorder have found to be helpful as well in managing their seizure threshold.

We have now managed over 1000 persons in EEG training in our own office, and our techniques are now in use with well over fifty other professionals who are getting similar results.