Overview
Electroencephalograms (EEGs) are tests to measure the electrical activity in the brain.
EEG Neurofeedback (EEG-NF) is a medical intervention that retrains the brain’s electrical patterns that connect to subconscious cues for cravings and impulsive behavior. Someone might be hooked up to a brainwave monitoring system through EEG sensors and told to achieve some rewarding tasks solely through bringing their state of mind to emit particular brainwaves. For instance, if you begin to slip into a stressful state that can induce cravings, the task might issue a penalty, like dimming the light of a screen with an interesting movie or slowing down a character’s movement in a video game. If you are able to bring your brain into a calmer state, the reward is restored or increased, like improving picture quality or character speeds. Not only does this train the brain to reach stable emotional states through immediate rewards for the behavior, it also improves the brain’s capacity to remain stable while processing trauma and triggers.