I had the pleasure of interviewing a very kind and informative parent on the experiences her son and her family have gone through before receiving neurofeedback, and then after 20 sessions of neurofeedback therapy have been completed.

Amy is the mother of my client Christopher who is almost 13. He’s a really nice and down-to-earth 7th grader who showed symptoms of having Tourette’s and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder around 7-8 years of age. He was highly emotional several times per day and always had difficulty falling asleep or sleeping through the night. He had night terrors until 3 years of age, hated loud noises and didn’t like the dark. He also had trouble focusing on difficult tasks. He was a straight “A” student in elementary school and had a hard time adjusting to transitions to many different teachers and their learning styles in middle school. He’s very friendly and has two very close friends, but because other peers harass him at school, he has a defensive personality and becomes very emotional.

Then he was around 7-8 years old it was thought that he had Generalized Anxiety and he saw a therapist for this. Then he had an obsessive ritual at night that he had to complete, which involved asking the same 6 questions he had in his head, over and over. His tics started with eye blinks and throat clearing, and got worse through puberty (which is expected). He also received Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Exposure & Response Therapy) and used this approach with the prescribed medication of Zoloft. He also had a phobia related to vomiting and the Zoloft made his stomach upset, so he had to stop taking it. His family then ventured off to find a Neurologist, who informed them that there weren’t very many medications available for children with Tourette’s. Some medications being used for Tourette’s are medications related to blood pressure and Bipolar Disorder.

This is where Amy researched her options and came across Neurofeedback. When her son Christopher started the Neurofeedback program his presenting symptoms were:

  • a lot of crying
  • a lot of drama & emotions
  • temper tantrums
  • aggression/defiance
  • impulsivity
  • poor transitioning.

Amy expects her son’s symptoms to wax and wane with the diagnosis of Tourette’s, but his morning routines are so much more pleasant when getting ready to leave the house and his ability to calm his body down is so much easier for him, after doing a handful of neurofeedback sessions. He is also more remorseful and not so angry.
Amy’s overall list of improvements seen after 20 sessions of Neurofeedback includes:
-being more compliant;
-being able to reason with adults much better;
-being much less reactive and having less tantrums; &
-being able to fall asleep on his own, when his Mom is nearby.
Please tune in next week to hear Amy’s recommendations, thoughts on nutritional/dietary changes needed, and overall advice to help your own child who may have some similarities to Christopher.

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