Drugless ADHD therapy touted

Kate Nolan
The Arizona Republic

SCOTTSDALE - A few years ago, New York Times medical writer Jim Robbins reported on a grade school in Yonkers that successfully gave its students access to an unusual treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

ADHD is characterized by poor concentration, distractibility, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Children and adults with the disorder can't concentrate for long periods of time and are restless or tend to daydream. The disorder typically is treated with stimulant drugs. About 8 percent of U.S. kids have it, boys more than girls.

The drug-free treatment Robbins wrote about, neurofeedback, has now come to the Southwest Naturopathic Medical Center in Scottsdale. advertisement

The therapy uses a computerized biofeedback system that allows patients to see depictions of their brainwaves on a screen. With coaching, they attempt to change the activity of certain types of waves and hence change their own behavior.

The school principal in Robbins' story had discovered neurofeedback in treating her own son, who previously had taken the drug Ritalin for the condition. With neurofeedback, her son became calmer and started doing his homework without badgering.

The results in Yonkers were encouraging enough for Robbins to write a book about the therapy, A Symphony in the Brain: The Evolution of the New Brain Wave Biofeedback.

Backed by interviews with clinicians, researchers and patients, Robbins concludes that the technique has value in treating disorders such as autism, epilepsy, ADHD, learning disabilities, head injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, addictions and depression.

Although the medical profession tends to ignore the therapy and broad research is rare, neurofeedback has enough anecdotal mileage to deserve closer study, two doctors investigating the procedure say.

Dr. John Dye, a professor at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine and a physician at the Scottsdale clinic, is offering the therapy with Leslie Sherlin, a certified neurofeedback practitioner.

Measuring brain waves
The therapy is preceded by a physical examination and medical history. Nutritional, psychosocial and environmental factors that affect brain function are treated through dietary changes or psychological interventions.

Individuals who get biofeedback are outfitted with a hydra-head of 19 sensors adhered to specific points on the scalp. They pick up the brain's electrical activity, assessing which waves are active in different parts of the brain.

The waves include the sharp-thinking beta type, the zoned-out alpha waves, the meditation/twilight-sleep theta waves and the delta waves of deep, dreamless sleep.

The results are plotted on a brain map, which is compared to a "normal" brain map, based on information from five databases around the world.

Specialists like Dye and Sherlin can identify a spacey individual from a fidgety one based on a brain map.

"The client gets to look at the brain activity on the computer and see when the brain is doing the right thing and getting on track," Dye said.

One-on-one coaching is the subtle therapy that provides the tools to change brain wave levels.

"The harder you try, the more it doesn't work," Dye said, commenting on the approach.

The ADHD problem in general is that the brain waves are too slow, concentrated in the alpha or theta ranges, resulting in poor mental focus.

Individuals with ADHD tend to crave excitement, theoretically because it makes up for the slow brain waves and makes them feel normal. Some experts theorize that anxiety is an expression of this compensation.

"Somehow their brain is looking for trouble," Dye said. "In therapy we ask them to produce more beta and fewer theta waves."

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