The use of neurofeedback in the treatment of addictions

Addictions are, at the same time, one of the most frequent neurological and behavioral disorders, and are also part of the pathologies that require urgent treatment due to their dangerousness and the way in which they harm not only those who develop them in their own flesh, but also the people of their own environment.

Fortunately, in recent decades psychotherapeutic resources have been developed that make it possible to treat addictive disorders beyond medical intervention. In this article we will focus on one of them: Neurofeedback applied to addiction treatment.

• Related article: "The 14 most important types of addictions"

What is neurofeedback?

Neurofeedback is a method of psychological intervention that is based on the idea of ​​offering real-time information about brain activity to the subject from which this information. Namely, an information loop is created that goes from the nerve activity of the cerebral cortex from the person to the person's perception system, which in turn alters the activity patterns of the brain.

It is a non-invasive and completely painless procedureSince even though the activity taking place inside the skull is recorded, you don't even have to go through the skin to achieve that. It is enough to place a series of sensors on the head, which respond to electrical activity at a distance. The information collected by the sensors is processed by specialized software and represented on a screen in front of the gaze of the person on whom the intervention is applied.

This procedure, which, as we shall see, has potential as a psychotherapeutic resource, is part of a more general category of psychological and medical intervention methods known as Biofeedback. The particularity of neurofeedback is that the information that is recorded in this process is always from the neural activity of the brain, while that in the rest of the forms of Biofeedbak you can opt for another type of recordings by applying sensors to many other parts of the body, not only the head.

Its application to addiction cases

These are the benefits of neurofeedback used in the context of addiction treatment.

1. Helps the person to detect feelings of vulnerability

Neurofeedback familiarizes people with addictions with those sensations that precede an increased risk of relapse, since this process implies receiving a "training" in looking at the psychological processes that take place in oneself.

2. Helps recognize the effectiveness of discomfort management techniques

As in neurofeedback it is possible to see in real time the consequences of psychological techniques applied to oneself (since changes in brain activity are seen instantly, without delay), it is much easier to determine what works, how it works, and how its effects are spreading.

3. Keeps tempting situations at bay

During neurofeedback sessions, the person performs various imagination exercises related to the presence or absence of the element to which they have become addicted. This helps to see which are the most risky contexts, and which are those in which you can be maintaining control, without compromising your own ability to give in to the impulse to relapse.

In this way, an ascending difficulty curve is followed, starting with situations that are relatively easy to manage, and ending with those that, in case they do not generate a very intense disturbance in the mental activity of the person, indicate that the addiction is in clear remission.

Of course, we must bear in mind that technically addictions never completely disappear (although it is possible that they will not relapse again ever), and being aware of this is key precisely to not letting progress or relapse risk situations catch us off guard short.

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Bibliographic references:

• American Psychiatric Association (APA). (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
• Basmajian, J.V. (1989). Biofeedback: Principles and practice for clinicians. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins.
• Carrobles, J.A. (2016). Bio / neurofeedback. Clinic and Health, 27 (3): pp. 125 - 131.
• Kalivas, P.W., Volkow, N.D. (2005). The neural basis of addiction: a pathology of motivation and choice. The American Journal of Psychiatry. 162 (8): pp. 1403 - 1413.
• Kauer, J.A.; R.C. Malenka (2007). Synaptic plasticity and addiction. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 8 (11): pp. 844 - 58.