January 30, 2017
Dear members,
Without commenting on Betsy DeVos, nor having any opinion about Neurocore, I invite all of you to join me in writing letters to every editor and author of such claims and call and email your senators’ local offices and speak to staff about this disservice to the public and danger to our profession as soon as possible.
Here are some of the articles I have seen:
http://tinyurl.com/zxjx89y
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/what-the-heck-is-neurofeedback-technology-betsy-devoss-pet-project
My response goes as follows, and I invite you to copy, paste, and improve on it as you like for your own letters:
While I don’t care to make any statement about Betsy DeVos or Neurocore in particular, I feel the need to bring to your attention that any implication that neurofeedback and other neuroregulation interventions aren’t valid is a grave disservice to the public.
There is a vast and rapidly growing scientific basis for neurofeedback in the scientific literature going back more than forty years and tens of thousands of Americans are turning to this modality, particularly in light of the growing recognition of the limitations of medication. Without a large industry that stands to benefit from the proliferation of neurofeedback, consumers remain largely ignorant of this effective and powerful alternative. And it’s a crying shame.
Here are links to five scientific articles that provide solid evidence of the effectiveness and power of neurofeedback:
Arns, M., de Ridder, S., Strehl, U., Breteler, M., & Coenen, A. (2009). Efficacy of neurofeedback treatment in ADHD: The effects on inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity: A meta-analysis. Clinical EEG and Neuroscience, 40(3), 180-189. doi: 10.1177/155005940904000311 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19715181
Coben, R., Wright, E. K., Decker, S. L., & Morgan, T. (2015). The impact of coherence neurofeedback on reading delays in learning disabled children: A Randomized controlled study. NeuroRegulation, 2(4), 168-178. doi: 10.15540/nr.2.4.168. http://www.neuroregulation.org/article/view/15893
Micoulaud-Franchi, J-A., Geoffroy, P. A., Fond, G., Lopez, R., Bioulac, S., Philip, P. (2014). EEG neurofeedback treatments in children with ADHD: An update meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8(906), 1-7. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00906 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25431555
Steiner, N. J., Frenette, E. C., Rene K. M., Brennan, R. T., & Perrin, E. C. (2014). In-school neurofeedback training for ADHD: Sustained improvements from a randomized control trial. Pediatrics, 133(3), 483-492. doi: 10.1542/peds.2013-2059. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24534402
Wigton, N. L., & Krigbaum, G. (2015). Attention, executive function, behavior, and electrocortical function, significantly improved with 19-channel z-score neurofeedback in a clinical setting: A pilot study. Journal of Attention Disorders, [e-pub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1177/1087054715577135, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25823743
In conclusion, please don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. The public deserves accurate information about this vital and important resource for their health.
Silvia Costales, MFT, BCN
on behalf of the ISNR (International Society for Neurofeedback and Research) Board of Directors