Hey Guyz,

I was just wondering if anyone has tried using this or ne cognitive related programs?

Supposedly, it is a clinically proven software program that uses innovative Neuro-cognitive therapy to correct cognitive impairments.

Im interested in neurofeedback as a treatment, yet money is still a big concern for me......this 'alternative,' computer program which sells for roughly $500 CDN seems more reasonable in price but i cant seem to find any real supporting evidence

http://www.mysharperbrain.com
http://www.sharperprograms.com

I would not invest my money in this period. It is merely an advertising site promoting an unproven probably unstudied product.

Many prey on those seeking an instant cure to ADD so they can avoid the on going proven treatments. If ADD could be "programmed out" there would be real doctors using such methods. I mean doctors who are willing to open their work for other doctors to critique, study and question.

Legit treatment alternatives will actually WANT their method to be disproved (scientific method) and one would read about such things in the medical journals NOT in an advertisements on the internet!!!!

I would NOT invest in this unless one has the $$$$ to flush what ever sum the requested amount is.

Just to add to what Tammy wrote, the "research" they refer to is published only on the website and not in a peer-reviewed journal.

In addition to that, the one study they give data for is a pre-post design. This is very typical of pseudoscientific claims because the product cannot stand up to the scrutiny of a double-blind control study. Pre-post designs are incredibly weak because any treatment of symptoms (of nearly any kind) will show improvements for several reasons including:

-- Placebo effect. People expect to see improvement, so they do.

-- Attention. Take the idea of a new "phonics game". If you spend time playing phonics games with your child, their reading will improve. This cannot demonstrate that the game caused the improvement because spending time with your child will probably result in improvement.

-- Regression toward the mean. If you take 20 people with colds and give them a "cold-reduction" medicine, they'll get better. BUT, if you take 20 people with colds and you give them nothing, they'll get better. The problem here is that you've measured them when their symptoms are the worst. Who would participate in a cold medicine study if they didn't have a cold? Who would participate in an ADHD study if their symptoms weren't severe? Most symptoms follow a pattern of ups and downs, with a mean somewhere in the middle. If you take someone measured in a high-symptom state, they are very likely to show improvement no matter what you do.

In addition to these problems, the study cited used HIGHLY subjective measures and the experimenters had an agenda. They expected or wanted to see improvement, so they did. (experimeter bias)

As McTavish23 is fond of saying, there is no "proven" treatment for ADHD other than stimulant meds and behavior therapy.

I would add, however, that I believe people included the behavior mod in this statement to avoid controversy. The "landmark" study that is often quoted found no improvements of ADHD symptoms on behavior therapy alone. They also found no differences between participants on meds alone and participants on both meds and behavior therapy. This is a strong indication that behavior therapy doesn't add anything to the average ADDer's treatment.

On the other hand, behavior modification is pretty much the only form of psychotherapy that has demonstrated effectiveness in dealing with psychological disorders. It works amazingly well for problems like specific phobias, agoraphobia, OCD and other anxiety disorders.

To further elucidate, the question of EEG neurofeedback as an accepted clinical treatment for ADHD, has come up at the last 2 UBH (United Behavioral Health: a managed care company) teleconferences on ADHD.

They were held in March and again in November.

The topics covered included ADHD in Children, ADHD in Adults, and ADHD & Comorbidity.

The presenter was Russell Barkley, PhD.

On each occasion he pointed out how those data have NOT been replicated ( outside of the sponsors ).

I have a friend and colleague, who is a licensed psychologist for another agency, who does believe in it.

One of his sons was actually treated by John Nash and he said made improvements.

At the same time though, it took 53 sessions, which he acknowledged was expensive.

I haven't bothered to inquire about whether the treatment gains have been maintained because everything I've read (and seen presented) says it doesn't work.

In short, medication works. For hyperactivity, behavior management works.

For ADHD Predominantly Inattentive type, both of those + other types of pyschotherapy can be helpful.

A friend of mine has taken her son off meds and has done biofeedback and noticed great results.

A friend of mine has taken her son off meds and has done biofeedback and noticed great results.Great for her. I'm sorry for her son, though.

The best one can hope for with biofeedback is a extremely short-lived improvements or a lasting placebo effect.

ive not seen the resuch on biofeedback but allways open to new things an new ideas true id would keep them on the meds an combined the biofeed back toghter to see if it had better effects weather its a real effcted or plcob is hard to tell at this time we see dorm