PDF Attached at bottom

Abstract: Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are unique attentional disorders which primarily involve slowed frontal brain wave activity and hypoperfusion of cerebral blood flow in the frontal regions, particularly during tasks such as reading. A variety of disorders, such as anxiety, depression and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), are often comorbid with ADD, thus creating a plethora of complications in treatment procedures. Audio-Visual Entrainment (AVE) lends itself well for the treatment of ADD/ADHD. AVE exerts a major wide spread influence over the cortex in terms of dominant frequency. AVE has also been shown to produce dramatic increases in cerebral blood flow. Several studies involving the use of AVE in the treatment of ADD/ADHD and its related disorders have been completed. AVE as a treatment modality for ADD/ADHD has produced wide-spread improvements including secondary improvements in IQ, behaviour, attention, impulsiveness, hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, ODD and reading level. In particular, AVE has proven itself to be an effective and affordable treatment of special-needs children within a school setting.

Introduction
All mental functioning involves an element of arousal, that is, the awakeness or alertness of the brain. The degree of the brain’s (cortical) arousal dramatically affects how well a particular function can be performed. For instance, it is almost impossible to pay attention if the brain is producing an abundance of alpha or theta (Oken & Salinsky, 1992), just as it’s difficult to fall asleep with excess beta and low alpha activity in an eyes closed condition. People with attentional problems such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have particular difficulty shifting their pre-frontal lobes into gear (suppressing alpha and/or theta) during cognitive tasks, particularly passive, spatial tasks such as reading (Lubar, et.al., 1985, Tansey, 1985). However, high levels of stimulation (which AVE provides in abundance) have been shown to improve attention and reduce hyperactivity (Cohen & Douglas, 1971; Leuba, 1955; Zentall, 1975; Zentall & Zentall, 1976), and the presence of rock music has also been shown to reduce hyperactivity (Cripe, 1986). This may explain why those with ADD do so well with video games and action sports. Unless the activity is exciting (pushing up arousal), the pre-frontal and frontal lobes quickly lose their attentiveness and activation. Theta and/or alpha brain waves increase dramatically and the person “fogs out.” ADHD rarely occurs in isolation and is often combined with other conditions including depression, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, learning disabilities, anxiety disorders, and other significant psychological, psychiatric, and neurological problems (Lubar, 1999; Hunt, 1994; Barkley, 1989). (more…)

DF Attached at bottom Audio-Visual Entrainment: II. Dental Studies
David Siever¹, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Abstract: A great deal of temporo-mandibular joint dysfunction and myofascial pain dysfunction
is activated in relation to anxiety and fear responses to challenging tasks, self-criticism and daily
hassles. AVE, like passive meditation, appears to effectively alleviate these symptoms.
Historical Background
The first few studies of visual entrainment (VE) involved a device called the Brain Wave
Synchronizer. The seminal hypnosis study by Kroger and Schneider in 1959 prompted more
research along hypnosis lines. Shortly thereafter VE was used as an analgesic for gastrointestinal
surgery, where it was found that over 90% of patients entered useable levels of trance
induction prior to surgery (Sadove, 1961). The Sadove study caught the interest of the dental
profession, which was awakening to the role of anxiety in temporo-mandibular joint (TMJ) and
myofascial pain dysfunction and during dental procedures. (more…)

The news broke on a day that did not exist for me. I left for Australia on the 27th, and arrived on the 29th. I knew nothing about the scandalous photos that had just surfaced in the US on the 28th until I returned a few days later. Significantly, the photos were not the topic of conversation in Australia. Was that mere politeness, a reluctance to probe their guest with respect to these disagreeable facts? I was thus able to enjoy my visit without having to come to terms. Don’t all of us wish that such innocence could have continued? On another occasion, I found myself in Australia at the time of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma, and in Edmonton, Alberta at the time of the destruction of the World Trade Center. Perhaps I should publish my travel schedule so that precautions can be taken.

What is the relevance of this to our concerns? In a little town in the United States, some dozen large photos in a public space feature the young people of the town who are currently serving the Armed Forces in Iraq. One of those pictures was just taken down, because the soldier–a woman soldier–was seen in the photos just released from Saddam’s gulag. The display of her picture had become an embarrassment. How does it come to be that that smiling young woman could metamorphose into the laughing, taunting creature with a tethered naked Iraqi male prisoner on the floor? (more…)

Part 1 of 3. See bottom for PDF version.

Articles on:
Physiology and Clinical
Applications
of
Audio-Visual Entrainment
Technology
by Dave Siever C.E.T.
Page 2
Audio-Visual Entrainment: I. History and Physiological Mechanisms
David Siever¹, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Abstract: Since the discovery of photic driving by Adrian and Matthews in 1934, much has been
discovered about the benefits of brain-wave entrainment (BWE) or audio-visual entrainment
(AVE) as it is commonly known today. Studies are now available on the effectiveness of AVE in
promoting relaxation, hypnotic induction and restoring somatic homeostasis, plus improving
cognition, and for treating ADD, PMS, SAD, migraine headache, chronic pain, anxiety,
depression and hypertension. (more…)

This was the second year in which I presented an all-day seminar on our approach to neurofeedback. The audience grew this year to fill the room, and many others apparently picked up the handout. I presented a lot of theory, but most were waiting for the goods on how we actually do things, which I saved until the end and covered only cursorily. Sue and I are somewhat ambivalent about putting the material out there in this fashion, since the use of the inter-hemispheric protocol is a two-edged sword. The one-day seminar is supposed to be the “appetizer” for the clinical course, but most will probably just take the material I presented and run with it.

My other major pre-occupation at the conference was our Symposium on Migraine. This was preceded the day before by another such symposium, where the emphasis was on conventional biofeedback therapies and pharmacology for migraine. Deb Stokes was attending the AAPB Conference for the first time and was shocked that this conference would be a vehicle for such a preoccupation with drug treatment. The title of the Symposium was “New Frontiers in Migraine Headache,” and appeared to offer nothing new at all. That symposium was led by the incoming president of the AAPB, Steve Baskin. I have talked with him over the years about our migraine work, and never was able to make an impression. Over most of that time, he was of course still tethered to the vascular model of migraines. Over the last few years he has also been drawn into pharmacological studies, and when you get paid $3000 per patient for a drug study, it’s hard to make room for biofeedback. One could even say that his professional well-being is more dependent on drug company success than biofeedback success. (more…)