The Use Of Neurofeedback In The Treatment Of Addictions
Addictions are, at the same time, one of the most frequent neurological and behavioral disorders, and they are also part of the pathologies that require urgent treatment due to their danger and the way in which they harm not only those who develop them themselves, but also to the people around them.
Fortunately, in recent decades psychotherapeutic resources have been developed that make it possible to treat addictive disorders beyond medical intervention. In this article we will focus on one of them: Neurofeedback applied to the treatment of addictions.
Neurofeedback is a method of psychological intervention that is based on the idea of offering real-time information about brain activity to the subject from whom that information is extracted. That is to say, an information loop is created that goes from the nervous activity of the cerebral cortex from the person to the person’s perception system, which in turn alters the brain’s activity patterns.
It is a non-invasive and totally painless procedure., since even if the activity taking place inside the skull is recorded, you don’t even have to go through the skin to achieve that. It is enough to place a series of sensors on the head, which respond to electrical activity from a distance. The information collected by the sensors is processed by specialized software and represented on a screen in front of the gaze of the person to whom the intervention is applied.
This procedure, which as we will see has potential as a psychotherapeutic resource, is part of a more general category of psychological and medical intervention methods known as Biofeedback. The particularity of neurofeedback is that the information that is recorded in this process is always the neuronal activity of the brain, while in the rest of the forms of Biofeedback you can opt for other types of records by applying sensors to many other parts of the body, not just the head.
Its application to addiction cases
These are the benefits of neurofeedback used in the context of addiction treatment.
1. Helps the person detect feelings of vulnerability
neurofeedback makes people with addictions familiar with those sensations that precede a higher risk of relapsesince this process involves receiving “training” in paying attention to the psychological processes that take place in oneself.
2. Helps recognize the effectiveness of discomfort management techniques
As in neurofeedback it is possible to see in real time the consequences of psychological techniques applied to oneself (since you see changes in brain activity instantly, without delays), it is much easier to determine what works, how it works, and how its effects are spreading.
3. It allows you to keep tempting situations at bay
During neurofeedback sessions, the person performs various imagination exercises related to the presence or absence of the element to which they have become addicted. This helps to see which are the most risky contextsand which are those in which control can be maintained, without seeing one’s own ability to give in to the impulse to relapse compromised.
In this way, an ascending difficulty curve is followed, starting with situations that are relatively simple to manage, and ending with those that, if they do not generate a very intense disturbance in the person’s mental activity, indicate that the addiction is in progress. clear remission.
Of course, we must keep in mind that technically addictions never completely disappear (although it is possible that we will never relapse again), and being aware of this is key precisely to not let it progress or risk situations. of relapse catch us off guard.
