What is “Brain Mapping”?
At Alternative Therapeutics, we use EEG-measuring technology to take a look at your unique brain wave activity. This information can be used to create a custom training program built just for your brain. What we refer to as a “brain map” is more exactly known as a sequential quantitative electroencephalogram (sqEEG).
Why do I need a brain map?
We can think of neurofeedback (NFB) as a journey. We start with your brain— wherever is right now— and we work to bring it towards a more balanced state. For an efficient and effective NFB journey we need to know not only where we are going, but where we are starting. A brain map serves as a big YOU ARE HERE. Once we know where we are starting, your clinician can plan the best route to get you where you are going.
What does a brain map tell us?
Frequency Ratios and Balance
Your brain map report includes information about how specific brainwaves compare in power to others (ratios) and how the left side of the brain compares to the right (balance).
Response and Recovery
Measurements of response indicate how your brainwaves change when you open or close your eyes or execute a mental task. Recovery is a measurement of to what extent your brain returns to its previous state after the change.
Brainwave Distribution
The distribution map uses a scale of colors to depict how the amplitude of specific waves in your brain compare to an “average” brain. Amplitude can be thought of as how strong or powerful the waves are. The colors gradate from dark red (much higher than average), through green (average), to dark blue (much lower than average).
Where Your Life Meets the Science
Your clinician considers the information you provide them during your intake including your symptoms or difficulties and your end goals along with the information provided by the brain map. Based on the combination of these factors, your clinician uses their specialized knowledge of neurofeedback to craft a brain training program designed specifically for you and your brain's needs.
*It is important to understand the limits of what information can be gained from a brain map. Brain maps are not used to diagnose any diseases or disorders. Although the literature informs us of many patterns of how symptoms can relate to specific brain map presentations, there is no one way that any symptom or set of symptoms always appears in a brain map. NFB focuses on the the electrical activity of the brain which is just one of many ways in which the brain functions.