"For the first time, my child can sit and study for half an hour without my supervision.  Before, if the phone rang or someone walked into the room, he was immediately pulled off task and stopped doing his homework.  Now I don't have to be hovering over him every minute to be certain that he gets his work done."   Mother of a 12 year-old son who completed 40 sessions of neurofeedback 

"I was really impressed when I saw how much my life had changed for the better after completing neurofeedback with Doctor McManus.  I had been trying all my life to be able to sit and focus on one project for more than ten minutes.  Even as a child I can remember daydreaming in class and not getting my homework turned in on time.  My boss didn't understand why I couldn't seem to complete paperwork...I could never finish expense reports or budgets until the last minute... My wife was continually nagging me to finish projects around the house that I had started...she wanted me to be on time for dinner and family events... I lost two cell phones in three months' time...I spent most of my day going from crisis to crisis so that by the time I came home I was too tired to be there for my family."

After finishing 30 sessions of neurofeedback, as well as going through couples therapy and intensive coaching, Steve, a 34 year-old father of  two sons, was using his time more efficiently and meeting deadlines at work, as well as spending more quality time with his family. 

Neurofeedback training is like learning any other new skill such as riding a bicycle or hitting a golf ball.  It is based on the brain's essential ability to improve its own performance based on feedback about that performance.  During a training session, sensors are placed on the trainee's head (nothing goes into the brain while the hair is only parted to apply the sensor).  Then, through a sophisticated computer program, their brain waves are displayed on a video screen in an interactive game format. 

In playing the computer game (see picture below of Space Race game), the activity on the screen is directly controlled by the trainee's brain instead of using a mouse or a joystick.   To score points, the trainee must change their brain wave activity to reach certain goals set by the therapist.  In this way, the trainee competes against their own previous best score by improving their brain waves during each session.

With practice, the trainee learns how to retrain and strengthen their own brain, producing new positive patterns while reducing old negative patterns of maladaptive behavior.   With a brain map, the number of neurofeedback sessions is often reduced because a better picture exists of what areas of the brain need training.  Neurofeedback is usually done two or three times a week, and a full course of treatment usually takes up to 40 sessions, and sometimes more.  Neurofeedback not only appears to be durable, but the side effects are also beneficial (better mood, better sleep, fewer headaches or stress-related symptoms).

Research on neurofeedback has been conducted for the past 30 years by doctors and clinicians who are trained in brain science.  Published literature time and time again shows the efficacy of neurofeedback without any harmful effects or other neurological damage.