Drug Free Therapy For Depression and Anxiety

     Frequency is the carrier of information. When you change the channel on your TV, for example, you change the frequency. The TV program being carried by the frequency (channel) you chose is now displayed on the screen and heard on the speakers. The previously chosen channel didn't "go away." Its just not being displayed by your TV.
     Brain wave frequencies also carry information. Nature interconnects our brain's neurotransmitter and brain wave (electrical energy) systems. If the brain changes its chemistry, the brain waves change; If the brain waves change, the chemistry changes.
Remedial Neurofeedback Training™ teaches the brain to balance and harmonize its electrical system. When this happens, clinical experience says the neurochemistry is also balanced -- naturally and without possibility of harm.
     Dr. Marvin Sams' (Director of Neurofeedback Centers of America) approach to remediating mood disorders is straightforward: Do a Quantitative EEG (computerized Brain Wave Analysis) to discover the inappropriate brain wave patterning. Then, using Remedial Neurofeedback Training™ protocols, help the brain restore its normal brain wave function and its ability to do its job efficiently. Restore the balance...restore the mood.
     This natural process of remediating depression by remediating brain wave function assures safety and positive long-term results.

Over 120 scientific studies describe and document the abnormal brain waves in those with depression. EEG features include: Alpha and Beta activity being of excessively high or low amplitude overall or in certain brain areas; excessive or deficient Delta slow waves; abnormally decreased or increased Coherence (the brain's self-communication); and the brain waves lacking sufficient complexity to adjust mood to the environment and circumstances.
For a review of the EEG and depression, see Pollack, V.E. & Schneider, L.S., Biological Psychiatry, Vol. 27:757.

These and other questions create an air of discomfort, for there is evidence that such drugs permanently and adversely affect the brain. Experience has shown that some of these problems do not become apparent until after many years of using the drug.
See the books Toxic Psychiatry and Talking Back to Prozac by Peter Breggin, M.D. (St Martin's Press, New York) for detailed information on how these drugs work, and their affect on the brain.

     Your brain does much of its work by talking to itself.
     When one part of the brain has something to say to another area, it sends high speed electrical signals down slender, thread-like filaments called axons. The electrical zap, reaching the end of the axon, causes a chemical (called a neurochemical or neurotransmitter) to be released from a tiny sac. The chemical crosses a narrow cleft called a synapse. From there, it is received by a dendrite, a tiny sensor connected to the nerve cell that is to be communicated with. The process is fast: A message is sent, received and processed in only a fraction of a second. It is also complex. Billions of these transactions occur every second of every day.
     Neurotransmitters creating sensations of pain and pleasure, sadness and joy, stress and relaxation have been discovered. Each emotion and feeling uses a different neurotransmitter messenger, the brain often putting the same neurochemical in different receptor sites for fine-tuning.

When the brain's chemical transactions go awry, depression, anxiety, sadness, hallucinations, and unexplained violent explosive behavior can occur. For this reason, mood disorders such as depression and anxiety are often treated with prescription drugs in an attempt to manipulate the brain's neurochemistry.
Prozac™, as an example, is a popular antidepressant drug. It does its work by blocking the brain's ability to recycle serotonin, a major neurotransmitter, back into the neurochemical system. More serotonin is thereby made available for the brain to adjust mood.
There are many unanswered questions regarding drugs such as Prozac™. For example:

* Does the depressed person have a brain that is unable to regulate maintain its neurochemistry? If so, does manipulating the already compromised system help or hinder its long term ability to function properly?

* Is there an insufficient supply of serotonin in some depressed people? If so, does blocking available serotonin from going back into the neurochemistry system help "dry up" an already depleted source in the same fashion as a lake that has its water diverted off?

* It is well known that altering one neurochemical alters other chemicals. Do drugs such as Prozac™ unfavorably increase or decrease other neurochemicals, creating the possibility of other mood problems in the future?