FROM LEE GERDES
Founder & CEO of Brain State Technologies
Functional brain patterns are so cool. We continue to see the results of Brainwave Optimization assessment patterns reveal specific patterns for specific pathologies. It is so exciting to see these relationships emerge from the data.
Brainwave Optimization with RTB™ has been known to be helpful for people who suffer from sleep issues. In fact, we see sleep issues emerge in brain patterns, and as clients change those patterns we see over 90% of them report that they are sleeping really well.
Sleep is the restoring cycle for the brain. Without restful sleep, the brain starts becoming unbalanced due to the stress on its functioning. Ineffective sleep is known to be associated with heart problems, high blood pressure, depression, Alzheimer’s, obesity, diabetes, and a host of other issues.
Brainwave Optimization with RTB™ that enhances sleep by producing self-regulation and relaxation may truly be one of the most healthful and preventative disciplines in which an individual can participate.
American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, Inc.
Infocus – Vol. 17. No. 1 March 2009
– by Vijendra K. Singh, Ph.D., Director Research, Brain State Technologies, Scottsdale, AZ
More than 50 million people in the United States suffer from autoimmune diseases due to an abnormal immune reaction called autoimmunity. Autoimmunity is a major cause of many chronic diseases. This number, however does not include several brain diseases and mental illnesses for which brain autoimmunity has been experimentally demonstrated. For example a huge population with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Tourette’s syndrome (TS) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been found to have autoimmunity to brain. This patient population is never included in epidemiological studies of the autoimmune diseases.
If you have an autoimmune disease, your immune system goes haywire and begins to attack healthy cells, tissues, and organs. However, this must happen in a highly select way. Thus, In the case of NeuroAutoImmunity (NAI), the immune system will elicit autoimmune response towards the brain or nerve tissue. To that end, the term “NeuroAutoImmunity” (NAI) has recently been used to refer to this autoimmune response that is directed against the brain or ever tissue. Our immune system and nervous system are connected with each other via the so-called neuro-immune circuitry; and when this circuitry is disrupted, the most common problem manifested is autoimmunity to brain. Then, people commonly show a wide spectrum of neurological and psychiatric health problems. Read the rest of this entry »
Introduction
Psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, particularly major depressive disorder (MDD), are serious medical illnesses that affect millions of people worldwide, including an estimated 20 to 25 million adults in the United States. The financial burden is huge and many don’t seek medical help and yet others simply can’t afford to pay for the much needed medication. The two disorders manifest some overlapping symptoms but they represent two separate disease entities. PTSD is more of an anxiety disorder that people acquire after exposure to traumatic or life-threatening events, such as war, rape, earthquake, hurricane, airplane crash or automobile accident. PTSD can cause problems like flashbacks, or feeling like the event is happening again, trouble sleeping or nightmares, feeling alone, angry outbursts, feeling worried, guilty or sad. Depression or MDD is a medical illness that characteristically demonstrates a significant change in an individual’s ability to function on a daily basis. The symptoms of depression include persistently sad or irritable mood, pronounced changes in sleep, appetite, and energy, difficulty thinking, concentrating, and remembering, physical slowing or agitation, lack of interest in or pleasure from activities that were once enjoyed, feelings of guilt, worthlessness, hopelessness, and emptiness, recurrent thoughts of death or suicide and persistent physical symptoms that do not respond to treatment, such as headaches, digestive disorders, and chronic pain. Although the mechanism of pathogenesis of PTSD and MDD is not very well understood, both of them have a neurobiological basis (1, 2) and they are manifested as the pathologies of the human brain, most likely because of imbalanced brain function (3). In the present study, we describe that the PTSD and depressive tendencies can be suppressed though brain training using Brain State Conditioning (BSC).
Materials and methods
We studied a total of 8 adult subjects in this pilot study. Four of these cases (all males aged 49 to 59 years) had goals to overcome manifestations of PTSD while the other four cases (2 males aged 35 to 38 years and 2 females aged 41 to 60 years) had goals to overcome depression. They all had additional goals such as improving sleep, cognitive performance, social interaction, decision making, attention and focus, drug addiction and dependency, motivation, mood stabilization, happiness and well-being, weight, pain and anger management, and physical health and balance, etc.
In this pilot study, we used Brain State Conditioning (BSC) as an innovative computer based technology for brain training. It measures brainwave energy of neuronal oscillations in real-time. The method has been outlined in a recently published book (3) and it is also described in detail in the Brain State Technology Manual (Please see www.BrainState Technologies.com). BSC utilizes a specific type of electrode, which includes a computer chip that eliminates other electromagnetic energy from producing interference in the brain energy signal being detected. BSC is the process of balancing and harmonizing the brain. Brain function is manifested in the form of electromagnetic energy which can be captured by detecting it – or listening to it – without being invasive. Brain energy can be detected from the outer scalp anywhere on the head through the use of electrodes.
We employed multiple methodologies including benchmark and comparative brain maps for each participant, questionnaires, diaries, and socio/economic data. Initial screening of subjects for study eligibility was done by telephone interview, followed by the completion of Objective Survey, PTSD Questionnaire (see below) or standard Beck’s Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Beck’s Depression Inventory, 2nd Edition (BDI-II) (Copyright by Aaron T. Beck, 1996, The Psychological Corporation, Harcourt Brace & Company, San Antonio, Texas, USA). The PTSD Questionnaire included the following questions, which were rated on a scale of 0 to 10 (where 0 is no experience of PTSD
symptoms and 10 being the worst experience of PTSD symptoms).
1. Recurrent, intrusive thoughts about their experience
2. Nightmares
3. Flashbacks – believing as if they are back in the experience
4. Physical and/or psychological responses to triggers that remind them of the experience (i.e. feeling panicky after smelling a particular cologne)
5. Avoiding thought , feelings, conversations or people associated with the experience
6. Diminished interest in engaging with pleasurable activities or people.
7. Difficulty with memory, focus or cognitive performance
8. Difficulty falling or staying asleep
9. Irritability and/or anger outbursts
10. Depression
11. Anxiety
12. Hypervigilance – a constant watchfulness for safety.
Subjects were scheduled to come for initial assessment (45-60 min) of individualized brainmaps, followed by 4 to 6 consecutive sessions of 90 min each spread over 2-5 days. An illustration is included to show a male subject hooked up to electrodes in the Human Touch™ Perfect Chair™ (Figure 1) manufactured by the company Human Touch in Long Beach, California, USA. Subjects were asked to complete a PTSD Questionnaire or Beck’s Inventory after the final session of brain training. Various observations were stored in a computer database and/or clients files and subsequently analyzed by staff members.
Results and Discussion
The subject characteristics and their response to Brain State Conditioning (BSC) are summarized in Table 1 for PTSD and Table 2 for depression. In the present study, six out of 8 subjects were male while the other two were females. The age for the PTSD group was between 40 to 59 years whereas the age for the depression group ranged between 35 to 60 years. The objective surveys revealed that although the two groups of subjects had distinctive goals, mainly PTSD or depression, there was considerable overlap of other behavioral manifestations also. For example, the clients commonly reported lack of sleep and/or poor cognitive performance. Some also reported low level of self-confidence, physical health and balance, and social interactions. Still others reported problems of weight, pain and anger management. All participants were asked to abstain from alcohol one week before the assessment and three weeks after the last session. Before the initial assessment, all subjects completed a PTSD Questionnaire or Beck’s Inventory, which represented a baseline or pre-BSC response.
At first, the assessment of each subject revealed specific imbalance in the brain maps of these individuals, i.e. brainwave activity or energy was out of balance. Each individual has a highly personalized assessment, which was done through a sequence of montages using the International 10-20 System. Brain activity is commonly measured by electroencephalography (EEG), but we modified it to develop Brain State Conditioning (BSC) and we continue to make improvements of this technology. Brain activity is commonly displayed in terms of waveforms or brainwaves: Delta (0.5 – 3 Hz), Theta (3.0 – 7.0 Hz), Alpha (7.0 – 12.0 Hz), Low beta (12 – 16 Hz), High Beta (23 – 38 Hz) and Gamma (38 – 48 Hz). Subsequently, depending upon the characteristic brain map and individualized goals, protocols were designed to administer highly personalized brain training sessions. Subjects in the study received 4-6 sessions of about 90 min each spread over a period of 2-5 days. They then completed either the PTSD Questionnaire or Beck’s Inventory for depression and anxiety, which represented a post-BSC response.
As summarized in Table 1, all four PTSD subjects showed a considerable reduction in the PTSD score after the administration of BSC (post-BSC). The reduction in PTSD score was approximately 41%, 55%, 64% and 75% for subjects coded P1, P2, P3 and P4, respectively. This finding suggested that all four subjects responded quite favorably to BSC because lower the score means either less or no experience of PTSD behaviors. Alternatively, it can also be said that the administration of BSC suppressed or alleviated the experience of PTSD and thus there was a noticeable improvement of quality of life in these individuals by BSC.
The second group of four subjects with depression also showed positive outcomes, including reduction of Beck’s inventory scores (Table 2). The response to BSC was divided into two test scores: (i) BDI-II score for depressive behavior; and (ii) BAI score for anxiety behavior. In spite of the individual differences, all four subjects responded to BSC and showed noticeable reduction in the two test scores. The subject coded D2 showed a 43% drop in BDI-II score whereas the subjects coded D1, D3 and D4 reduced their BDI-II scores dramatically, i.e., 80 to 95% reduction post- BSC. Furthermore, all four subjects also showed considerable reduction (54 to 100%) in the BAI score. The reduction in these scores means that they all responded to BSC and overcame their depressive tendencies.
Moreover, the subjects in this study also showed considerably lower level of anxiety, substance abuse and anger management. The improvement of anger management was directly related to being less irritable after the administration of BSC. Some of the most prominent manifestations of PTSD are depression and anxiety behavior (4, 5), sleep disturbance (6), and alcoholism with or without substance abuse (7, 8). After the administration of BSC, subject in the study showed a noticeable improvement in depressive and anxiety behaviors as reflected by the resolution of stress, calmness, focused attention and reduced hyper-vigilance. Taken together, the improvement of these behaviors also improved the quality of their lives at home and at work, as well as in the society.
Psychiatric and/or psychological disorders such as PTSD, depression, stress, anxiety and anger disorders are manifested as the pathologies of the human brain (1, 2). People affected with these disorders often present overlapping symptoms while the etiology remains poorly understood. Depressive behavior is the commonest form of the behavioral problem which is clinically identified as Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Although MDD has a common clinical presentation the symptoms vary from one patient to another, which implies that the disorder is a very heterogeneous disorder comprising of subsets or subgroups. This also means that no single treatment will be solely effective for MDD but the therapeutic strategy will require modalities for each subset or subgroup of the disorder. It should also be emphasized that the treatment of MDD is of social importance because it is the single most prevalent problem of all psychiatric disorders in the society today.
Neural networks are generally disrupted and the connectivity between neurons is generally lost. Consequently, the neurotransmitter function is impaired and nerve-impulse transmission is interrupted. Thus the brain function is modified. In this respect, the scientific evidence suggests that the ‘wiring’ in the brain influences personality as well as human behavior (9, 10). Ultimately, his all leads to imbalances in the functional brain or it can also be said that imbalance in the brain could potentially alter brain function. But these changes do not occur throughout the entire brain. Instead, they occur in localized brain regions or lobes or nuclei which are constellations of highly select groups of neurons that utilize specific type of neurotransmitters, for example serotonergic neurons use serotonin as the neurotransmitter and cholinergic neurons use acetylcholine as the neurotransmitter (11).
Furthermore, it has recently been shown that the human brain shows plasticity – it has the capacity to re-wire or re-establish neural connections by itself. This property has opened up a narrow-window of opportunity to find novel approaches to helping people who suffer from brain diseases and mental illnesses. Stemming from brainwave patterns, the mapping of the functional-brain is of paramount importance because it permits identification and characterization of neurobehavioral abnormalities that are associated with dysfunctional mental health (12, 13). In this regard, we would like to suggest that BSC is an extremely important technology because it optimizes brain function in real-time balancing.
Scientifically speaking, rapidly accumulating evidence suggests that the behavioral disorders, including PTSD and depression, have a neuroanatomical basis and/or neuropathological substrates. Patients with depression show dysfunctional neuronal systems, particularly in the prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, temporal cortex and basal ganglia (2, 13, 14). Some MDD patients also show smaller volumes (loss of neurons) in hippocampus, which is a sign of impaired neurogenesis in the hippocampus region of the brain (15, 16). Patients with MDD consistently have low levels serotonin (17) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) (18), both of which also have neurotrophic effect on hippocampal neurons. Since hippocampus is the primary brain region involved in memory function, the neuronal loss in hippocampus may explain, at least in part, the memory loss or cognitive decline in patients with major depression.
Reduced level of serotonin in MDD patients suggests the involvement of serotoninergic neurons of the temporal cortex, basal ganglia and Raphe nucleus in the upper brain stem. Other neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine may also be involved (19). Moreover, patients with major depression consistently show disturbance of the body’s “biological clock” often having difficulty in falling sleep. This abnormality is directly related to the neurohormonal imbalance of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. The HPA axis through the release of corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) plays a key role in the induction of stress and anxiety behaviors (20). Childhood trauma has been found to increase HPA axis activity (21), which via CRH could potentially increase the risk of stress and anxiety disorders later on in adult life. CRH axis also plays a physiological role in the modulation of immune response and is a mediator of neuro-immune circuitry (20). Recent experimental finding showed that the immune response, in particular brain autoimmunity, could potentially represent immune trauma perhaps as prelude to developing imbalances in the human brain (22). This line of thinking could also imply that there is a biological need to optimize “neuro-immune balance” by balancing both the nervous system and the immune system (22).
In conclusion, the findings of this pilot study clearly demonstrate a positive outcome of BSC in people who suffer from PTSD and depressive behaviors. Brain training through BSC definitely impacted the quality of life of these individuals, albeit the testimonial and anecdotal nature of the observations. The results are very encouraging and should not be ignored. It is however instructive to conduct clinical studies with scientific rigor in order to demonstrate advantageous and efficacious benefits of BSC for improving health and well-being of people who constantly suffer from PTSD and depression, including those resulting from exposure to combat zones and/or war-related traumatic injuries. The evidence is quite compelling for a neural basis of dysfunctional or imbalanced brain in people with PTSD, depression and related behavioral disorders. We therefore
would like to suggest that the intervention through brain state conditioning (BSC) is a novel approach to attain balance and harmony of the brain function, thereby help people suffering from a wide spectrum of behavioral and mental health problems.
Table 1. & Table 2. Characteristics of PTSD subjects and their response to Brain State Conditioning.
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It is hoped it could help in the design of new ways to combat the condition.
Previous research looking at the brains of people with ADHD had uncovered differences in areas controlling attention and hyperactivity.
But this study suggests ADHD has a profound impact elsewhere in the brain too.
Researcher Dr Nora Volkow said: “These deficits in the brain’s reward system may help explain clinical symptoms of ADHD, including inattention and reduced motivation, as well as the propensity for complications such as drug abuse and obesity among ADHD patients.”
The researchers compared brain scans of 53 adult ADHD patients who had never received treatment with those from 44 people who did not have the condition.
All of the participants had been carefully screened to eliminate factors which could potentially skew the results.
Dopamine pathway
Using a sophisticated form of scan called positron emission tomography (PET), the researchers focused on how the participants’ brains handled the chemical dopamine, a key regulator of mood.
In particular they measured levels of two proteins – dopamine receptors and transporters – without which dopamine cannot function effectively to influence mood.
ADHD patients had lower levels of both proteins in two areas of the brain known as the nucleus accumbens and midbrain.
Both form part of the limbic system, responsible for the emotions, and sensations such as motivation and reward.
Patients with more pronounced ADHD symptoms had the lowest levels of the proteins in these areas.
Dr Volkow said the findings supported the use of stimulant medications to treat ADHD by raising dopamine levels.
The findings also support the theory that people with ADHD may be more prone to drug abuse and obesity because they are unconsciously attempting to compensate for a deficient reward system.
Andrea Bilbow, of the ADHD charity ADDISS, said the study might help convince people who argue that ADHD is more to do with bad parenting than any concrete medical difference.
She said: “The findings of this new research will go a long way to helping us understand the presentation of symptoms but more importantly it may give teachers more of an idea of what interventions should be used in the classroom in order to accommodate children with ADHD.
“For far too long there has been an assumption that children with ADHD are deliberately wilful which has led to mismanagement and ultimately permanent exclusions from school.”
Professor Katya Rubia, of London’s Institute of Psychiatry, said: “This study widens our horizons. It shows that ADHD is not just about abnormalities in the attention systems of the brain, but also abnormalities in the motivation and emotion centres.
“It suggests that teachers need to make sure that school tasks are interesting and exciting, so that children with ADHD are motivated to remain interested.”
“Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) affect the lives of millions of people worldwide. Patients show a wide range of neurological and psychiatric problems, including cognitive deficit, memory loss, confusion, motor disability, depression, stress and anxiety (Poewe, 2009; Singh, 1997). We performed a preliminary study of Brain State Conditioning (BSC) (Gerdes, 2008), a computer-based brain technology that we modified from electroencephalogram (EEG), on cognition of people with AD and PD and the findings are described here. We conducted an open-label study of BSC in 6 subjects suffering from AD (two females, 61 and 83 years old) or PD (one female of 61 years old and three males, from 61 to 76 years old) BSC was employed to observe brain wave maps that were used to design protocols specific for each subject depending on the nature of the individual brain map (Gerdes, 2008). Subjects were administered with 10 sessions (90 min each) typically over a period of 5 days that also included the initial assessment. Training staff compiled the effects of BSC on these subjects.
We found that each person had a distinct brain map, which had the fingerprint of a functionally imbalanced brain. The administration of BSC sessions brought about better balance and harmony resulting in a more functionally balanced brain. All subjects showed considerable improvement of neurological and behavioral characteristics (Table 1). The improvement was evident as early as 3-4 days in some cases while the others took longer. Some subjects showed dramatic improvement while the others exhibited modest improvement but they all showed improvement. Overall, there was improvement in physical health and lifestyle that led to better sleep and attention span and reduction in depression, agitation, stress and anxiety behaviors. The improvement was also noticeable in cognitive functions like language, speech and communication skills. This was particularly obvious in two cases of AD who suffered from severe memory loss and dementia. They have made a remarkable recovery of cognitive function as reflected by their ability to recognize and communicate with family members and BSC trainers.
Recent advances in neuroscience have demonstrated that there exists a neurobiological basis of brain plasticity, brain wave oscillations and EEG (Dolan, 2002; Sandi, 2008; Stein and Hoffman, 2003). To that end, we recently developed a computer-based technology that measures brain waves and referred to it as Brain State Conditioning™ (Gerdes, 2008). The technology intends to create balance and harmony in the brain, thereby helping people with brain diseases and mental illnesses. Thus BSC is a process that involves seeing one’s brain electrical activity relayed to a computer followed by a visual display on a monitor. The brain electrical view is very fast and occurs in a few thousandths of a second. The brain is able to observe itself and the areas of imbalance are encouraged towards balance. When the brain is in optimized state, pathologies like AD and PD are suppressed and the person gradually attains a more normally-functioning brain state. In conclusion, BSC is an innovative approach to brain training that can be used to help people with neurological problems, including augmenting their cognition.
References:
Dolan, R. J. (2002). Emotion, cognition and
behavior. Science 298, 1191-1194.
Gerdes, L. (2008). Limitless You: the infinite
possibilities of a balanced brain. Namaste
Publishing, Vancouver, BC, Canada, pp. 1-281.
Poewe, W. (2009). Treatments for Parkinson
disease – past achievements and current clinical
needs. Neurology 72, suppl. 2, S65-S73.
Sandi, C. (2008). Understanding the
neurobiological basis of behavior: a good way to
go. Front. Neurosci. 2, 129-130.
Singh, V. K. (1997). Neuroautoimmunity:
pathogenic implications for Alzheimer’s disease.
Gerontology 43, 79-94.
Stein, D. S., and Hoffman, S. W. (2003). Concepts
of CNS plasticity in the context of brain damage and
repair. J. Head Trauma Rehabil. 18, 317-341.”
Dr. Vijendra K. Singh recently joined Brain State Technologies as the Director of Research. Dr. Singh has over twenty years experience in neurobiology and immunology research, beginning at the BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he focused on neurochemistry and began delving into the immunology of the nervous system. After moving to the United States, Singh continued researching central nervous system disorders at the University of Michigan, focusing specifically on autism, autoimmunity in autism, and Alzheimer’s disease. His research has led him firmly to the conviction that up to eighty percent of the cases of autism are caused by an abnormal immune reaction, commonly known as autoimmunity, rather than simply genetics.
Singh is also one of many scientists to propound the notion that diet may impact cognitive function, and to recommend dietary interventions to mitigate psychiatric disorders. Only in recent years has the immune system been recognized to have profound affects on all other body systems, thanks to pioneers including Singh.
Singh has authored over one hundred scientific publications, and has made presentations before a congressional oversight committee and numerous conferences.
“We are thrilled to have Dr. Singh here to head up our non-profit research division,” said Lee Gerdes, President and CEO of Brain State Technologies.
If you would like more information regarding this topic, or to schedule in interview with Dr. Singh or Lee Gerdes, please contact Christy Schmidt at 480-588-6840 or email at christys@brainstatetech.com.
FROM LEE GERDES
An article appearing in vol. 3 issue 1. of the journal 
