Posted by a good friend on June 15, 2005, at 1:44:42
In reply to Neurofeedback for severe depression?, posted by Spector on June 14, 2005, at 0:58:03
Nomi,
I've tried it. I was in partial remission at the time from severe depression. It's tough to say if it helped or not. I completed only around a dozen sessions, so my experience is limited.
I am not all that optimistic that it can lift the brain out of a severe depression. I would never say never (we are all so different), but my experience of around 14 sessions, my gut feeling, and my near decade-long knowledge of psychopharmacology and mental wellness tell me that this therapy may be better suited to assisting with moderate to mild depression. That said, I'm not currently engaged in research in this area and it's not scientifically sound to generalize my experience to a larger group.
I suppose the more important question is the trade-off: "what other therapeutic choice would you be giving up by spending your time, money, and emotio-physical resources on neurofeedback?" What might you do in its place?In any case, keep going. As difficult as it is, please remember that there are many healing options out there, and many more that will be available soon. As you no doubt already know, your condition is designed to trick you into thinking that it will persist. The reality is that many people will come out of severe depression to reclaim their life.
> Hi, have any of you tried neurofeedback for severe depression, particularly severe depression with very extreme anxiety? I would very much like to hear about your experiences.
>
> I am in a very long severe depression with crippling anxiety. It has nearly incapacitated me. I have tried literally dozens of treatments both conventional and alternative and this is being suggested to me now.
>
> Some of you may know the incredible anxiety that goes into trying to evaluate a new treatment option. You want help so desperately, but are so afraid of another protracted treatment attempt in which you cannot help but invest incredible emotion and hope, let alone money, only to have it end in devastating disappointment.
>
> I should mention that I am a manic depressive who went 14 years in complete remission until an over zelous doctor in 2002 felt I had mild ADD symptoms and suggested Adderall. I had no idea it was an amphetamine or I would have run for my life. (And she supposedly did not know that it could trigger mania.) It took only one pill and I was in the beginning of a hypomanic state. That was followed by the unthinkably stubburn and terrifying depression that I am still in today despite trying one treatment aften another. My life has utterly stopped. When the depression hit I could no longer care for myself or even be alone much of the time and I had to leave my beautiful husband, my home, my studio and my life as a full time artist to return to my mom's house so that she could care for me. I am here still 2-1/2 years later. I am scared to death that I am never going to be able to return back to life. Terrified to the point of asking to be removed from this earth many many times a day. (But, I have never attempted nor seriously planned to attempt.)
>
> So, you can see. I know I don't have to give most of you the gory details for you to know that it has been torture. Torture. I do not use that word lightly. Any advice about the neurofeedback will be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Nomi Spector
>
>
poster:a good friend
thread:512397
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20050612/msgs/512984.html