VA Watchdog Stuff
cups, hats, shirts
click here to
support the site





Be sure to get all five
VA Watchdog dot Org
RSS feeds --
Daily VA
News Flashes
House CVA
Veterans' News
Senate CVA
Veterans' News
VA Press
Releases
VSO Press
Releases

Download your
free copy of the
2007 VA benefits
handbook here...

Printer-Friendly Version

FREE NEUROFEEDBACK PTSD TREATMENT FOR OEF / OIF

VETERANS -- EEG Institute says treatment leads to improved

cognitive function and improved emotional control.

For more information about PTSD, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here... http://www.
yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=ptsd&op=and

NOTE:  Neurofeedback is considered an "alternative" form of treatment for PTSD.  Publication of this story is not an endorsement of this method of treatment.

EEG4VETERANS web site is here...
http://www.brianothmerfoundation.org/veterans/index.html

Story here... http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/90691.php

Story below:

-------------------------

EEG Institute To Provide Free Post-Traumatic Stress Treatment For Iraq And Afghanistan Veterans

Over the last few months a great amount of attention has been placed on what can be done for those veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who return home suffering from PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder. The vast majority of veterans are relegated to costly medications that fall far short of helping deal with this debilitating condition. As many veteran advocates and military healthcare experts agree, the nation's hard-pressed health care system for veterans is facing a potential deluge of tens of thousands of soldiers returning from Iraq with serious mental health problems brought on by the stress and carnage of war.

As a result, The EEG Institute in Woodland Hills California is doing what it can to assist veterans traumatized by PTSD by providing free of charge a proven program of Neurofeedback that can help reverse the effects of PTSD. "The brain is like a muscle," explains Susan Othmer, B.A., B.C.I.A.C., and clinical director of the EEG Institute. "What Neurofeedback does is provide a painless and medication free way that the brain can be given what amounts to a very specific tune-up. Over the course of the treatment we are able to help the patient back to a normal existence that is not hindered by the traumatic events they have experienced."

The training is based on reinforcement of good brain behavior using the EEG as a measure. The repetition of this exercise for a number of thirty-minute sessions leads typically to improved cognitive function and improved emotional control. "The work is success-oriented rather than deficit-focused. It is a fitness strategy that avoids the jargon of mental health, and suits the soldier's natural orientation toward a training and fitness program," explains Othmer. Veterans who have been through the program have shown tremendous positive benefits. A veteran who hadn't slept more than 2 hours at a time was sleeping through the night after just 7 sessions, without medication. This same veteran had avoided the movie theater because that was the location of his first flashback. After 12 sessions, he saw a movie for the first time in 8 years. Another veteran was able to save his marriage and family by calming down his anger and need to control everything. What had been appropriate in wartime was destroying his home life. Veterans are getting their lives back with Neurofeedback. Even a veteran from WWII found his sleep restored after not having slept well since 1945.

Dr. Siegfried Othmer and Susan F. Othmer, B.A., B.C.I.A.C., are the founders of The EEG Institute and have been involved with Neurofeedback since 1985. The initial impetus was the brain-training of their son Brian for his seizure disorder. The training was life-transforming for their son, which redirected their professional lives to the further development of Neurofeedback as well as to the promotion of its public acceptance. Dr. Othmer is currently Chief Scientist of the EEG Institute and President of the Brian Othmer Foundation. Susan Othmer is Clinical Director at the EEG Institute, which is located in Woodland Hills (Los Angeles). The Othmers have pioneered a number of novel applications of Neurofeedback over the years. The Othmers provide professional training in EEG biofeedback and sponsor a professional network of Neurofeedback therapists, the EEG Associates. The Othmers have been developing premier instrumentation for Neurofeedback continuously over the last twenty-two years, and this development is ongoing.

-------------------------

Larry Scott  --

Don't forget to read all of today's VA News Flashes (click here)

Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage

email Larry

(go back to VA Watchdog dot Org Home Page)

VA Watchdog Stuff
cups, hats, shirts
click here to
support the site