Bio feedback therapy received during mid 1990s

Hi, I was seeing a doctor during the 90s that was attempting to treat me for ADD and as I recall the doctor had a problem with calibrating the computer software he was using on me and had to adjust my beta waves to levels he seemed to think was so high that he thought something was wrong with his equipment. After seeing the doctor for sometime he asked me if he could share my results at conference of some kind and I agreed and when he returned he didn’t have much to say but said there apparently was one other doctor their with a patient like me.

My questions for this forum is in the last twenty years has anything like what I described been characterized? What does it mean to have crazy high beta waves?

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Hi @zoot, and welcome to the forum! Interesting question. I don’t know enough about clinical EEGs to give a proper answer, though others on the forum might.

I do know that beta amplitude is generally correlated with alertness, concentration, and problem solving, and that in some cases excessive beta is considered to be related to anxiety or hypertension, especially in the higher end of the beta range. This doesn’t sound like what you’re describing, though.

There is also a phenomenon known as “breach rhythm”, an abnormally high-amplitude rhythm that’s associated with skull surgery or lesions, but from what I’ve read it’s usually more in the mu range (and wouldn’t be likely unless you’ve had brain surgery!)

Do you know which electrode sites the doctor was measuring from, or at what frequency in the beta range the abnormally high beta was showing up?

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Thanks for the response. I understand that this might not be the perfect place to find out about clinical bio feedback therapy of the 90s but hey I am curious and thought bringing it up and asking about every 20 years or so couldn’t hurt. :wink:

I do not recall the exact locations but it was a fabric helmet style with what i want to say was in the range of 12 to 20 electrodes and I am uncertain of the range but the ranges the feedback was working with was theta and beta.

I never had brain surgery but i would say the anxiety thing does have merit since I do have chronic anxiety but even as a kid I was always a bit dubious of being considered ADD since I have always been very calm and can be extremely focused on certain subjects to almost obsessive amounts.

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Interesting. Happily, it doesn’t sound like you have the kinds of health issues that would make anomalous EEG activity more expected (if you did, you probably would have more recent EEGs – and a less cheerfully curious approach to the question).

Any idea if your doctor’s conference presentation was ever posted or published?

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