Anxiety

Anxiety can be triggered by many different stimuli. Anxiety disorders include:

• Generalized anxiety disorder: you worry constantly about health, finances, family, work and more. You find it extremely hard to relax.
• Panic disorder: you have repeated anxiety attacks which appear “out of the blue”.
• Agoraphobia: you fear places where escape may be difficult – crowds, markets, trains etc.
• Social phobia: You fear being embarrassed or judged, so you avoid social situations
• Separation anxiety disorder:  children or teenagers are intensely anxious when separated from their parents, even for short time. They are ‘clingy’.
• Specific phobias: you fear heights, flying, enclosed spaces, water, certain animals etc
• Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD): you have repeated thoughts or urges (obsessions) which drive repeated behaviour (compulsions). Common examples are feeling your hands are dirty, or that you need to count or arrange things.
• Body dysmorphic disorder
• Hoarding disorder

Conventional approaches to anxiety management include cognitive behaviour therapy (talk therapy) and antidepressants. For many, these are effective, but some experience limited relief. Others develop troubling side effects.

Similarly, medical cannabis helps some, but not all. Side effects include brain fog and withdrawal symptoms on stopping.

Neurofeedback for anxiety

Neurofeedback for anxiety, as part of a holistic approach, may reduce your need for conventional medication, or augment the results. 

Multiple studies show that neurofeedback can help reduce anxiety. See the PubMed study on neurofeedback and anxiety reduction and the ScienceDirect article on neurofeedback therapy outcomes for detailed research findings.

QEEG assessment shows that many people with anxiety also have low alpha and high beta brainwave activity in certain regions of the brain. At ZenWaves we always start with a QEEG assessment which allows us to understand your brain and how it is functioning. We can then create a personalised neurofeedback protocol to encourage more normal brain activity in the areas relevant for you.

Treatment is non-invasive and drug-free. Once assessment has been completed, you spend sessions watching or listening to something of interest to you, while your brain activity is being measured. When your brain functions in the desired way, media quality improves, so there is an incentive to continue. In this way, your brain learns new habits, which it continues to use even once treatment is complete.

Every person and every brain is different, so the number of sessions required varies. Our treatment plans may also include other interventions like targeted use of supplements and heart variability training.