Impulse control is a major challenge faced by many individuals, both young and old, afflicted with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and other attentional and behavioral disorders.
In a study conducted by David Kaiser, published in the Journal of Neurotherapy, Vol 4, No 1, 2000, examining seven hundred and twenty-six children aged five to sixteen years and three hundred and sixty-three adults aged seventeen to sixty-seven years, marked improvement was evident on the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA). One hundred and eighty-six total subjects were formally diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder; the remaining nine hundred and three individuals exhibited gross behavioral problems and moderate to severe attentional deficits and impulse control on the Tests of Variables of Attention. Some of the individuals who participated in the study were also diagnosed co morbidities commonly associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: oppositional-defiant disorder, Tourette’s syndrome, anxiety disorders, conduct disorder, depression, minor traumatic brain injury, and epilepsy. The majority of the individuals in the study had undergone standard pharmacological treatment for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, but with no signs of success. Standard pharmacological treatment however, such as stimulant medications (Ritalin, etc.) or antidepressant medications however, were not in use during the study.
Upon completion of the neurofeedback sessions, eighty-five percent of the subjects exhibited significant signs of improvement, regardless of whether a formal diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder was given. The greatest improvement was exhibited in those individuals who possessed the worst TOVA scores upon entry to the study. “In subjects who initially had poor TOVA scores in errors of omission, which measures attentiveness, and errors of commission, which measures impulse control, scores rose by two standard deviations,” stated Dr. Siegfried Othmer. “Remember that these were people who had failed on traditional therapies like Ritalin and that many of the adults had been symptomatic their whole lives. Neurofeedback’s success in such cases shows how robust the intervention is in impacting attentional mechanisms”.
Recent research conducted at Yale University Medical School indicates that individuals prone to exhibiting violence may actually possess several brain abnormalities. Brain imaging of convicted criminals detected biologically predisposed brain abnormalities in as many as sixty-percent of the criminal population.
The images produced by the brain imaging has indicated that violent behavior may be a direct repercussion of a biological defect in the prefrontal lobe of the brain, responsible for regulation of emotions and impulses. Brain imaging has also shown a significant decrease in blood flow across the prefrontal lobe, in the criminal brain, when compared to the blood flow across the prefrontal lobe of normal brains. Oxygenated blood flow is believed to serve as an inhibitory tool for generated impulses, in normal brains. In individuals with decreased blood flow across the prefrontal lobe, there is minimal inhibitory blocks that cause people to slow down and consider the behavioral consequences of their actions. The lack of inhibitory blocks leads individuals to experience a feeling of lack of control over the power impulses generated by their brain.
EEG neurofeedback has been successfully utilized to stabilize mood and impulses of adolescent offenders. One drug-abusing teenage male whom had been residing in a long-term residential treatment center, credited neurofeedback treatment he received while in treatment for saving him from what had quickly been developing into a life of crime.
EEG neurofeedback has also been used successfully at the California Prison System Medical Facility at Vacaville, to address impulse control and drug dependency problems with prisoners. Both children and adults whose lack of impulse control has led to past acts of violence may benefit from the neurofeedback offered at the Sinha Clinic.