Sieben Jahre nach Veröffentlichung der Erstausgabe ist in diesem Jahr die 2. Edition von Ute Strehls Buch „Neurofeedback“ im Kohlhammer-Verlag erschienen. Einige Kapitel aus der ersten Ausgabe wurden überarbeitet, andere wiederum kamen komplett neu hinzu.

Schon allein das Grundlagenkapitel steuert exzellent beschriebenes Basiswissen vom spontanen EEG bis hin zu neueren Neurofeedback-Verfahren bei. Der Autor dieser Kapitel Herbert Bauer versteht es dabei sehr gut die wichtigsten Punkte einfach und verständlich zu erklären. Auch wenn sich ILF Neurofeedback und damit die EEG Info-Produkte Kritik in Bezug auf zu wenig kontrollierte klinische Studien gefallen lassen müssen ist die Akzeptanz für ILF Neurofeedback spürbar. Insbesondere in den Anwendungsfällen ADHS und PTBS wird z.B. durch die Autoren Gunnar Ströhle, Stefanie Eiden und Klaus Werner Heuschen deutlich gemacht, wie wichtig diese Methode inzwischen für den täglichen Einsatz in Praxen ist.

Das vermittelte Wissen im zweiten Teil des Buches mit dem Titel „Störungen“ geht dabei weit über die Neurofeedback-Behandlung der genannten Indikationen hinaus. Der Leser lernt Grundlegendes über die Störungen selbst und erfährt mehr über die Hintergründe und andere zum Teil pharmakologische Behandlungsansätze. Das Buch fokussiert sich stark auf Indikationen, für die es bereits eine wissenschaftliche Evidenz gibt. Neue Anwendungsgebiete sowie Wellness- und Lifestyle-Anwendung von Neurofeedback werden nicht behandelt. Die Herausgeberin honoriert trotzdem sehr deutlich, dass es sich bei Neurofeedback um ein Werkzeug handelt, welches in vielen Bereichen noch nicht erforscht ist und gibt der Methode eine ehrliche Chance. Allein deshalb bezeichnet sie selbst ihr Buch als „Work in Progress“. Wir dürfen also auf eine Fortsetzung in einigen Jahren hoffen.

Für Therapeuten ist sicherlich auch der dritte Teil „Praxis und Ausbildung“ ein wichtiger Leitfaden. Besonders gefällt uns, dass für den Einsatz der Methode Mut gemacht wird, beispielsweise schreibt Ernst Hohn in seinem Kapitel über den Einsatz in der Praxis:

„[...] heute, im Jahr 2019, ist es kein Problem mehr, im Rahmen der Gesetzlichen Krankenversicherung den Patienten diese Methode – unabhängig vom Störungstyp – zugutekommen zu lassen.“ (S. 283)

Tatsächlich ist neben der Abrechnung über die Ergotherapie, mit der Aufnahme von Neurofeedback als ergänzende Therapiemethode in die S3 Leitlinie zur Behandlung von ADHS eine Grundlage geschaffen worden, welche die Behandlung verschiedener Störungen in Zukunft mit Neurofeedback deutlich erleichtern dürfte. Ein weiterer Meilenstein in der Geschichte des Neurofeedbacks.

Weitere Details zum Buch:

ISBN / Artikel-Nr: 978-3-17-035601-6
Einbandart: kartoniert
Auflage: 2., erweiterte und überarbeitete Auflage
Seiten: 333
Illustrationen etc.: 49 Abb., 10 Tab.
Erschienen: 2020

The time has come: the second edition of Restoring The Brain, edited by Hanno Kirk, was published this year by Taylor & Francis. This update was eagerly awaited by many. For this volume, the editor has once again been able to attract book chapters from well-known users and researchers in the field of ILF Neurofeedback, including our chief therapist Meike Wiedemann.

Some of the topics from the first edition have been reintroduced, but more than half of the chapters have been newly added or at least fundamentally revised. The volume is again divided into three parts: from the basics (theory, history and electrophysiology) to clinical application and certain areas of application and indications. The book can be considered as essential reading: for all those who want to learn more about the background and current research on ILF Neurofeedback. New findings are also included, for example from sleep research: although the positive effects of ILF Neurofeedback are well known, P. Terrence Moore has contributed a solid summary of scientific results in his chapter "The Sleeping Brain: Neurofeedback and Insomnia". But trauma research is also well represented in Monica Dahl's revised chapter: for example, the case of Jackie O, a Special Ops combat medic (Destert Storm and Iraq). Neurofeedback has helped her once again 2018 after ups and downs:

"Two days after completing five HD ILF booster sessions, without any additional sessions, she reported that her wounds were completely closed, her slepp quality was restored, and she could fall asleep without alcohol or medications, with her sleep free of nightmares. (p. 270)

This is just one of many case studies covered in this excellent book. The only basic criticism is that other Neurofeedback therapies besides ILF Neurofeedback have hardly been considered. However, ILF Neurofeedback has been observed to have many positive effects, so a book with a clear focus on ILF Neurofeedback has its place.

Details about the book:

Restoring the Brain
Neurofeedback as an Integrative Approach to Health
Edited by Hanno W. Kirk
2nd Edition
First Published 2020
eBook Published 12 February 2020
Pub. location New York
Imprint Routledge
DOI https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429275760
350 pages eBook ISBN 9780429275760

What could be more pleasant than making yourself comfortable in the cold season and reading a good book? Especially when you have to stay at home anyway and can update your Neurofeedback knowledge at the same time? We make this thought even more beautiful by giving you just such a book as a present! Take part in our pre-Christmas book raffle!

Among all customers and newsletter subscribers we raffle the book:

"Restoring the brain" by Hanno W. Kirk published in 2020 in 2nd extended and revised edition

Here you can find a short book review

Participation is very easy

Subscribe to our newsletter here and tick the box to enter our book raffle.

You are a customer and already receive our newsletter? Just send us an e-mail to newsletter@beemedic.de and you will be entered in the prize draw. You can participate until 10th of December 2020 inclusive!

What happens then?

The winners will be informed of the prize by e-mail as soon as possible. Please note that we will then also need your address details so that we can send the book to you before Christmas! One entry per person is possible. However, you are very welcome to inform interested colleagues about this promotion and thus perhaps increase the chances that a copy of the book will soon be available in your practice.

Further information on the conditions of participation

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We would also like to point out that the competition and the prizes are voluntary services on our part, for which the same scope of warranty and liability does not apply as, for example, in the case of purchase of the raffled prizes independent of the competition. Detailed conditions of participation and information on data protection can be found here.

Many countries are in a second lockdown right now. Even if most schools remain open and students may attend classes, experiences of the homeschooling phase are still present to many. We want to discuss the potential opportunities and risks of digital learning and teaching formats for children with AD(H)D.

In school, children are not only taught knowledge and skills such as reading and writing, but they also experience socialisation with peers, form social and communicative skills and develop personality traits outside the family environment. However, Covid-19 pandemic changes the everyday lives of many students. Homeschooling, digital learning and other concepts had to be implemented since March 2020 and are currently being reconsidered due to increasing infections and new lockdowns. Many parents, who, in addition to working in home office, also had to take over the teaching duties at home, would again be faced with a double burden. And teachers, for whom daily contact with children is important in assessing their development, lose important information modalities through digital formats. It is not easy for many children to arrange themselves with the new forms of learning. Experts warn in particular that children who do not find optimal learning conditions at home or are affected by diseases such as AD(H)D may lose connection in a digital setting. 

AD(H)D refers to a disease mainly occurring in childhood with symptoms of inattention, impulsivity and possibly hyperactivity, which manifest across situations and cause suffering and emotional stress. AD(H)D is also associated with functional impairments, especially in school and education. International surveys estimate that about 5.3 % of children are affected by AD(H)D. Thus AD(H)D is one of the most common diseases in childhood and adolescence.

We talked to Stephan Kolbe, graduate psychologist and expert for AD(H)D about the risks and opportunities digital teaching and learning formats may offer for children with AD(H)D.

How do you rate digital learning formats specifically in relation to children with AD(H)D? 

This is not easy to say at all and extremely depends on the severity of the symptoms in the individual. For children with a mild form of AD(H)D, a digital learning format is quite possible and can be meaningful and positive– under the conditions that applies to all children, namely that they are accompanied and supported at home. In this way, learning can also take place in a digital environment. Due to the lack of distraction in the classroom and the perception of one-to-one teaching situations, learning can even develop positively in this group. 

However, if the AD(H)D is severe and possibly also a parent is affected by the disease – which is not uncommon as AD(H)D is known to have a high genetic prevalence (editor’s note) – then learning improvement will not be possible. This is often not because of learning itself, but in the organisation of the learning environment and in things such as punctuality in chats, organizing necessary materials, structuring the situation et cetera. This group is severely disadvantaged by the learning environment, which could be shaped differently in classroom teaching by pedagogical specialists. Here, stagnation or even a step backwards can be expected, as the fixed setting, the same sequence and necessary (learning) rituals cannot be maintained. 

What is particularly challenging for children with AD(H)D at home schooling? 

Children with AD(H)D lack support in homeschooling. They are confronted with a highly complex situation, which they often have to handle with little or even without help. Setting up the digital learning environment with the necessary materials already is a challenge for children with AD(H)D. On the one hand, many parents themselves are affected by AD(H)D or subclinical symptoms. I observe this in about 40-50% of the families I work with. In those, the necessary assistance in homeschooling cannot be provided. 

What can parents do to support children with AD(H)D in homeschooling? 

First of all the same steps are recommended as with healthy children.. Keep the daily structure and stay to a time schedule. Adopt and maintain rituals and processes. Encourage and support the child again and again. Accompany the child’s work and pay attention to regular breaks – especially for children with AD(H)D it is recommended from my experience to take 5 minute off every 20-35 minutes. If one as a parent is affected by AD(H)D, then one could possibly pass on this task to someone else within the family. I also recommend parents to talk to other families who also have children with AD(H)D: It is not only learning, which must be encouraged through family members in lockdown times, but also social development, playing and leisure activities must be organised within the home context.

Which other therapeutic options are recommended with AD(H)D from your experience and can also be implemented in times of pandemic? 

From my experience parental training - a structured psycho-educative training - is the strongest and most sustainable element in therapy, precisely because AD(H)D is often inherited and therefore many parents – also unknowingly - have problems with lack of structuring, inattention or impulsive behavior, even if it is expressed differently than in the child’s behavior. Here self-knowledge is an important step in the therapy of the family and often very effective for the affected child. 

In addition, neurofeedback is a highly recommended method. I and many colleagues were able to continue neurofeedback therapie even in times of pandemic, as necessary distances and hygiene can be well adhered to. With neurofeedback, children learn to better control and regulate their attention, concentration and impulsivity. Self-control can be increased and  hyperactivity can significantly be reduced through this method. Because neurofeedback uses computer games as feedback, it is also fun and entertaining for children – when learning and therapy take place digitally, it is an advantage if they differ at least in their design. Neurofeedback is also a useful method for affected parents to gain better control of their own regulation and to provide the child with more structure.

Also, if possible for the child and in the situation, I can recommend structured concentration training and exercises to strengthen body feeling and perception. For optimal holistic therapeutic options, an extensive allergy test – as 50% of children with AD(H)D have strong allergies – can also be useful, accompanied by review of media use and nutrition. 

 

Stephan Kolbe is a graduate psychologist and offers diagnostics and therapy in his “fit4school” practices in children with AD(H)S, LRS, high talent and dyscalculia and has been working with neurofeedback for many years. More about Stephan Kolbe can be found on his lecturer profile. 

The interview was conducted by Jennifer Riederle, psychologist at BEE Medic.