Has anyone tried neurofeedback?

Hey all, so this is really going out of my comfort zone. This is my first post here, and I’ve actually known of this forum for a long time now. I just thought it was time to finally say something. A little background… I’ve suffered from this nightmarish disorder for many years now, and mental illness in general my whole life, from the time I was born actually. I’m 24 now. A few months ago I got referred by a more holistic psychologist to another psychologist who specializes in neurofeedback, because she felt that he was more qualified to help me and whatnot. So I’ve been receiving neurofeedback for a few months now. I wanna say I started in November of 2016? I’m not entirely sure, my memory’s still pretty bad. But yeah, a few months for sure. I’ve done 19 sessions of it so far and I’m doing incredibly better. My memory has improved, my thinking is so much clearer, and overall I feel much better. I am still struggling with auditory hallucinations. I have them frequently, and it’s something I don’t even really talk about to my psychologist (even though I know I should), because the voices are part of… something big and elaborate that refuses to let go, I’ll just say that much and not go into any more detail. I only had one relapse that I can think of, and that was yesterday, though something tells me I had more previously.

Basically, neurofeedback is when your brain signals are taken by this machine they hook you up to, and mirrored back to your brain, so that it can look at the signals, detect the defects, and fix them all on its own. My psychologist likened the whole process to a person looking in the mirror and fixing their hair. You see what’s out of place, because it’s reflected back to you, and you correct it, just like how your brain corrects itself in neurofeedback. I’m not sure if anyone here has ever heard of it, or gone so far as to even try it, but the success rates are very impressive. I wonder if any of you has ever tried it and had any success with it? I highly encourage anyone to at least look into it as an alternative route to recovery. The only downside to it is that it’s really expensive without insurance. Mine unfortunately doesn’t cover it, so I pay out of pocket. $150 per session, but it’s so worth it. Best of luck to everyone out there. I just wanted to offer something that I’m not sure many even know about, because for me it is working, very gradually, and I came from a place that cannot even be described in words, and I know that’s where many of you currently are.

I have never heard of it before but I am hallucination free on my meds. You should see about upping your dosage and talk to your shrink.

Well the thing is that I’m not even on meds. I have personally had horrible experiences with meds and the psychiatrists who prescribe them, so I stay away from them all. And not even my psychologist really believes in medication – long-term anyway. Talking about the things in my head is perhaps the biggest hurdle for me. I know I need to talk more, but everything tends to get sucked into a ginormous black hole I can’t retrieve them from, and I just shut down entirely. I am glad the meds work for you though. That is definitely all that matters.

I am straight jacket in a rubber room crazy without meds. I wish I could not take meds but I have to, my psychosis is too bad.

I am a licensed commercial pilot. If I could come off the meds I would. I guess it’s good that you can go without them.

I would be interested in learning more about your treatments from others. I finally worked up the courage to open up enough for CBT. Didn’t do anything for me.

I’m very sorry it’s that bad. I know that in cases that extreme, they’re absolutely necessary. And it’s extremely impressive to me that you are a commercial pilot. I very much respect and admire your fortitude with the aid of the meds. That’s definitely a feat to be proud of.

I think everyone responds to things differently. They experimented with so many different meds and dosages, they did nothing for me. In fact they incapacitated me, even more than I already was incapacitated. I was nothing more than a useless rotting vegetable. But the neurofeedback I’ve been doing has helped more than anything else. I’m not even sure how much talking would help, but my psychologist said he can put my symptoms into the machine so that it targets them more, so I guess in that sense it would help. I think this disorder definitely takes a practical approach of some sort. Talking only goes so far. And oftentimes for me I just end up going round and round and round until I’m spinning out of control (in my own head)…