Specials and new items:

-New: Free 4 hour Biograph training Video with all Procomp Sales ($189 if purchased separately

Procomp with BIograph 15% off the rertail price for pre-paid  cash/check!

-Plus, we now have animated cartoon and puzzle game add-ons for Procomp $250 .

The prices of the audio and video foundations Neurofeedback course have gone up. Buy it at the old price until Dec 10th.

HiTech Stress Cards, $110/100 $795 for first time orders of 1000

 

Brain Master Windows compatible, full function dual-channel trainers are now available at a great new price of $950 each. These give you the ability to display two channels in a brain mirror display as wellas have full access to all frequencies.

Mindset brain mapper $2399 (just add headgear.)

Used Focus 1000 $1995 (includes portable color computer)

Demo Procomp Unit with four sensors $1995 (older, non-eeg, non-biograph compatible unit, good for stress management training.) This will run great on a 486 notebook. We'll include the color notebook for  a total $2450 price.

Standalone EEG unit $495

The best thermal biofeedback package deal around: Audio Thermal Trainer combined with digital numeric readout unit $79.00

 

1)Futurehealth’s February ‘99 Winter Brain Meeting has become a center for a plethora of Events:

1a)-the main Winter Brain Meeting: update on speakers and panel discussions

Winter Brain Conference Featured speakers to include: 

Bob Thatcher QEEG

Bernie Brucker, neuro-rehab

Patricia Carrington power therapies (EMDR, TFT, EFT,) clinically standardized meditation

Hyla Cass, M.D. author of books on St. Johns Wort & Kava

Gary Craig: EFT: A Paradigm Shift: "We are on the Ground Floor of A Healing Highrise"

Joseph Horvat- EEG phase & synchrony

Martha Lappin working with Magnetoencephalograph Stimulation

Joel &Michelle Levy Explaining theSpectrum of Self-Regulation:

Mastery, Mystery, & the Technologies of Transformation

S.Louise Norris Peak Perfmance

Frank Echenhoffer, Ph.D. EEG & Consciousness researcher, BF pioneer

Karl Pribram brain researcher

Steve Wall Deep EEG Training & the Evolution of Human Consciousness

Tom Allen neurobehavioral continuum topics

Anand Akerkar FDA issues

Valdeane Brown, Ph.D. main trainer for TT Biograph,

Tom Budzynski, enhancing mental functioning in the aging

Tom Collura brainmaster developer, and listerver major domo

Frank & Mary Deits spa BF

Jay Gunkelman QEEG mapping, interpretation,

Cory Hammond: Managing Abreactions, Reframing, and Memory Integration During Alpha/Theta Training: Techniques and

     Liability Protection in a False Memory Era.

-Thom Hartmann Best selling author of 6+ books on ADD

-Michael Hutchison author Megabrain, Megabrain Zones

Julian Isaacs alpha/theta groups

Rob Kall Co-editor Biofeedback Theory & Practice, Co-author CAM Scan, Biopro Software

Joel F. Lubar, Ph.D. NeurofeedbackBF pioneer

Judith Lubar integrating family & psychotherapy

Sig and Sue Othmer EEG Spectrum leader founders

Lynda Thompson ADD/HD

Linda Vergara NF in school

Susan Norris Student Performance Enhancement, Practice Economics, Depression pre-post QEEG

Paul Lehrer Respiratory Sinus Arhythmia, Chaos, Zen Meditator Psychophysiology...

David Joffe, Steve Larsen  Linda Mason Len Ochs Peter Rosenfeld Carole Schneider Gary Schwartz Barry Sterman Michael Thompson Hershel Toomim, George Von Hilsheimer 

and at least 20 more great speakers and 30+ workshops yet to be listed.

 

 

Panel Discussions are one of the most stimulating parts of our meetings. 1999 Panel topics:

-Synchrony/coherence

-Nonlinear Dynamical Systems/Chaos

-QEEG, Brain imaging and Brain Changing

-Nutrition, Smart Drugs, Nutrients & Superhormones

-Brain/Mind Stimulation (light, sound, electrical, magnetic, etc.)

-The Neurobiology of the Power Therapies

 

Pre-conference events:

1b)- 2nd Annual Optimal Functioning Course http://www.futurehealth.org/99optima.htm

 

We’re still accepting proposals for presentations and workshops.

1c)- Neurofeedback Foundations Course Feb 4, 9-9 with Joel Lubar, Siegfried Othmer, Paul Swingle, Valdeane Brown, Rob Kall

 

1d)- Joel & Judith Lubar Comprehensive Neurofeeedback course

http://www.futurehealth.org/lubarcou.htm for registration details.

Joel & Judith Lubar

2 day Comprehensive Neurofeedback Course

                You must use a registration form to register.

 

1e)- Barry Sterman Topometric Brain Mapping for NF Course Feb 2-4

http://www.futurehealth.org/sterman.htm for registration details.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

 This course provides an in-depth review of the essential building blocks for understanding and proper application of quantitative electroencephalography in the areas of client evaluation and neurofeedback training. These components include a) the physiological basis of the EEG, b) the functional relevance of frequency/topography patterns and c) the evaluation of client status and change with training. For the latter it introduces and describes a new software program called the SKIL Topometric.

Dr. Sterman, a professor in the Departments of Neurobiology and Psychiatry at UCLA, is uniquely qualified to present this course. His basic studies of the EEG in animals have contributed significantly to current neurophysiological models, his past and ongoing studies of EEG functional dynamics in humans were germinal to the field of neurofeedback and are currently challenging some time-honored concepts in EEG, and his pioneering quantitative studies of the EEG as a tool for the evaluation of pathology and training outcomes in epileptics set the standards for the field of neurofeedback.

Grants and contracts from the US federal government supported all of this research. Further, as Dr. Sterman likes to say, all of the facts and concepts presented in this course are based on published articles in respected journals and on findings replicated at more than one facility. When he reaches into his extensive research and clinical experience to express an opinion, he makes it very clear that the jury is not yet in on that issue.

COURSE OUTLINE

I. A Brief History of the EEG and Neurofeedback

II. Physiological Origins of the EEG

A. Where Does the EEG Signal Come From?

1. Ionic current flow in neurons

2. EPSPs and IPSPs

B. Field Potential Changes at the Cortical Surface

1. Cortical pyramidal cells: structure, orientation, input

2. Cell orientation, dipoles and surface field potentials

C. Thalamic Oscillatory Mechanisms

1. Organization of thalamic relay systems

2. Relay cell behavior

3. Inhibitory burst discharge

4. The Nucleus Reticularis Thalami

5. Projections to cortex and cortical circuits

D. The "athalamic cat", isolated cortex, and slow EEG activity

E. Normal frequency modulation

1. Relationship of thalamic cell membrane voltage to frequency patterns

2. The Graded Polarization model

3. The Independent Generator model

F. Abnormal frequency modulation

1. Cortical hyperexcitability

2. GABA receptor types and characteristics

3. Video presentation

G. Problems with Terminology

III. The Normal EEG

A. Before QEEG: Basics from higher mammals

1. SMR

2. PRS

3. State progression

B. The Human EEG

1. Changes over Time

a. Developmental considerations

b. Sleep and waking

c. Biological cycles diurnal modulation

2. Functional correlates of frequency components

a. The dimension and elements of attention

b. Movement and motor states

IV. Methods and Issues in Quantitative EEG Analysis

A. Recording methods

1. Common-mode rejection

2. The issue of reference

3. Monopolar vs. Bipolar

B. Signal acquisition

1. Montages

2. Digitizing

3. Artifact

4. Signal extraction

C. Signal analysis

1. FFT and band-pass

2. Sampling rate

3. Windowing

4. Band construction

5. Averaged epochs

V. Collecting the Data

A. Patient records and intake interview

B. Patient preparation

C. Data protocols

D. Observing the patient

E. Educating the patient

 VI. Analysis of the Data

A. Visual Evaluation of the Raw Data

1. Artifact removal

2. Recognizing significant transients

3. Deriving initial functional correlates

B. Topographic Evaluation and Bands Selection

1. Topographic maps

2. Compressed spectral arrays

3. About normative databases

 VII. The SKIL Topometric

1. The Normative Database

a. Displays and statistical evaluation

b. State and transition corrections

c. Reliability

d. State comparisons

e. Coherence and covariance

2. Topometric Analysis: Some Clinical Characteristics

a. Seizure disorders

b. Attention deficit and related disorders

c. Head injury

d. Tourett Syndrome

e. Anxiety and Depression

f. Others

3. How to use the SKIL Topometric

a. Pt. Reports: The interactive index for report construction

b. Use of the database.

c. Interpretation and application to neurofeedback

VIII. Future Developments

A. The Event-related EEG Response: applications to evaluation and training

 

Sterman Course Registration fee:

$550 on-site, $450 until Dec. 5th, $495 until Dec 30th, $525 until Jan 25th.

.Or, Register and buy a Mindset EEG at a combination discounted price (save $100 when combining registration and purchase.)

__Add the SKIL Sterman Topometric Database for $2000

 

1f)-post conference Courses

Gary Craig Advanced Course on EFT Emotional Freedom

-EEG Spectrum Alpha Theta Course

-Len Och’s Flexyx course

-Zengar Institute post-conference Biograph Training course

2) A)Equipment Specials and recent used and demo systems/equipment available

2) B) New website updates Futurehealth’s website continues to get better and better. Our new navigation bar makes it easier than ever to find what you are looking for when it comes to biofeedback, neurofeedback, stress or pain management.

2c)

New books available from Futurehealth

 

The Human Frontal Lobes

order from Futurehealth for $75 plus $4.50 shipping
Functions and Disorders

Edited by Bruce L. Miller and Jeffrey L. Cummings

Pages: 550 Publication Date: October 1998
Recent years have seen exciting advances in our understanding of the human frontal lobes and their role in diverse cognitive processes, social behaviors, and psychiatric disorders. This volume brings together current research on these important regions of the brain, examining their functions in both health and disease. Significant findings on anatomy, chemistry, and physiology are first presented. Next, chapters address such neuropsychological functions as working memory, attention, inhibition, idea and word generation, and language, tracing their links to the frontal lobes and describing new and established approaches to assessment and testing. Proceeding to clinical manifestations of pathology, contributors examine the impact upon the frontal lobes of tumors, trauma, and various neurological diseases, and explore the role of frontal lobe dysfunction in psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, and antisocial behavior.

 

Preface
I. Neuroanatomy of the Frontal Lobes
1. Frontal-Subcortical Circuits, Tom and Cummings
2. Frontal Lobe Anatomy and Cortical Connectivity, Kaufer and Lewis
3. Structural and Functional Asymmetries of the Human Frontal Lobes, Geschwind and Iacoboni
4. Gross Morphology and Architectonics of the Frontal Lobes, C. A. Miller
5. The Evolution and Phylogenetic History of the Frontal Lobes, Banyas
6. Neuroimaging and the Frontal Lobes: Insights from the Study of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Jagust
II. Neurochemistry and Neurophysiology of the Frontal Lobes
7. Serotonin and the Frontal Lobes, Robert, Aubin-Brunet, and Darcourt
8. Acetylcholine and Frontal Cortex "Signal-to-Noise Ratio," Hasselmo and Linster
9. Dopamine Projections and Frontal Systems Function, Swartz
10. Neurotransmitters and Neuromodulators in Frontal-Subcortical Circuits, Feifel
11. Cognitive Functions of the Frontal Lobes, Fuster
12. Neuroimaging and Activation of the Frontal Lobes, Grady
III. Neuropsychological Functions of the Frontal Lobes
13. Bedside Frontal Lobe Testing: The "Frontal Lobe Score," Ettlin and Kischka
14. Neuropsychological Assessment of Executive Functions: Impact of Age, Education, Gender, Intellectual Level, and Vascular Status on Executive Test Scores, Boone
15. Language and the Frontal Lobes, Kertesz
16. Frontal Lobe Dysfunction and Patient Decision Making about Treatment and Participation in Research, Fitten
17. Memory and the Frontal Lobes, Yener and Zaffos
18. Neuropsychiatry of the Right Frontal Lobe, Edwards-Lee and Saul
19. Experimental Assessment of Adult Frontal Lobe Function, Grafman
IV. Diseases of the Frontal Lobes
A. Neurology
20. Clinical and Pathological Aspects of Frontotemporal Dementia, Brun and Gustafson
21. Vascular Diseases of the Frontal Lobes, Chui and Willis
22. Extrapyramidal Disorders and Frontal Lobe Function, Litvan
23. Lewy Body Disorders, McKeith
24. Frontal Lobe Tumors, Nakawatase
25. Psychosurgery, Weingarten
26. Infectious, Inflammatory, and Demyelinating Disorders of the Frontal Lobes, Scharre
27. Traumatic Brain Injury, Schnider and Gutbrod
B. Psychiatry
28. Schizophrenia and Frontal Lobe Functioning, W. Perry, Swerdlow, McDowell, and Braff
29. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and the Frontal Lobes, Rubin and Harris
30. Depression and Frontal Lobe Disorders, Starkstein and Robinson
31. Aggression, Criminality, and the Frontal Lobes, Pincus
32. Anterior Temporal Lobes: Social Brain, B. L. Miller, Hou, Goldberg, and Mena
33. Cholinergic Components of Frontal Lobe Function and Dysfunction, E. K. Perry
34. Frontal Lobe Development in Childhood, Samango-Sprouse

 

 

Biofeedback new paperback edition 908 Pages, $40 Hardcover: $75.00
A Practitioner's Guide: Second Edition Mark S. Schwartz Foreword by Frank Andrasik

"Unquestionably the definitive book on biofeedback today....For anyone entering the biofeedback field, seeking a comprehensive reference or update on the field, or studying for BCIA certification, this text should be consulted first....It is informative and thought-provoking even for the most experienced biofeedback practitioner, yet it is accessible to the intelligent beginner."
-Biofeedback and Self-Regulation

 

Publication Date: August 1998

 

 

 

3) Quotations on Relaxation 26 quotations

 

OBSESSION, INSOMNIA, ANXIETY, RELAXATION

You know I can't sleep, I can't stop my brain

You know it's three weeks, I'm going insane.

You know I'd give you everything I've got for a little peace of mind.

Beatles, I'm so tired

CASTI, GIAMBATTISTA, 1721-1804

 

RELAXATION, MEDITATION, QUIET, THINKING

"Whoso doth everyday employ

In doing naught and thinking less,

Tis he alone can life enjoy

He only knows true happiness."

Casti,Giambattista, I Dormienti

WORRY. RELAXATION, SADNESS, DEPRESSION

"Sing away sorrow, cast away care."

Cervantes

ART, SELF KNOWLEDGE, RELAXATION, REST

" It will be useful also to quit his work often, and take some relaxation, that his judgement may be clearer at his return; for too great application and sitting still is sometimes the cause of many gross errors."

DaVinci, Leonardo, A TREATISE ON PAINTING

 

RELAXATION

For not to live at ease is not to live.

Dryden, Translation of Persius

CHARACTER, RELAXATION, SOLITUDE

"What is the product of virtue? Tranquility."

Epictetus

 

RELAXATION, THERMAL BIOFEEDBACK, BLOOD, HEART

"Head and feet keep warm, the rest will take no harm."

Fuller, Thomas, Gnomologia 6255

The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.

Sydney J. Harris

 

RELAXATION, PEACE, SERENITY, CALM, PEACEFUL, ANGER, EVEN, COPING, EMOTION, FEELING, ADVERSITY, STRESS, VOLITION, SELF CONTROL

"Remember to preserve an even mind in adverse circumstances, and likewise in prosperity a mind free from overweening joy."

Horace, Odes

 

RELAXATION, PLAY, SILLY, FUN

The man who does not relax and hoot a few hoots voluntarily, now and then, is in great danger of hooting hoots and standing on his head for the edification of the pathologist and trained nurse, a little later on.

The madhouse yawns for the person who always does the proper thing.

Elbert Hubbard

"You Americans wear too much expression on your faces. You are living like an army with all its reserves engaged in action. The duller countenances of the British population betoken a better scheme of life. They suggest stores of nervous force to fall back upon, if any occasion should arise that requires it. ...you ought somehow to tone yourselves down. You really do carry too much expression, you take too intensely the trivial moments of life."

Dr. Clouston (asylum physician) quoted by James. Many of us, far from deploring it, admire it. ...Intensity, rapidity, vivacity of appearance, are indeed with us something of a nationally accepted ideal... Bottled lightning, in truth, is one of our American ideals, even of a young girl's character.

James, William, 1899, TALKS TO TEACHERS ON PSYCHOLOGY: And To Students On Some of Life's Ideals, Chapter 1-The Gospel of Relaxation

"In one sense, the more or less of tension in our faces and in our unused muscles is a small thing: not much mechanical work is done by these contractions. But it is not always the material size of a thing that measures its importance, often it is its place and function. One of the most philosophical remarks I ever heard was by an unlettered workman who was doing some repairs at my house many years ago. "There is very little difference between one man and another," he said,"when you go to the bottom of it. But what little there is , is very important." And the remark certainly applies to this case. The general over-contraction may be small when estimated in foot pounds, but its importance is immense on account of its effects on the over-contracted person's spiritual life. This follows as a necessary consequence from the theory of our emotions to which I made reference at the beginning of this article. For by the sensations that so incessantly pour in from the over-tense excited body the over-tense and excited habit of mind is kept up; and the sultry, threatening, exhausting, thunderous inner atmosphere never quite clears away.

"If you never wholly give yourself up to the chair you sit it, but always keep your leg and body muscles half contracted for a rise; if you breathe eighteen or nineteen instead of sixteen times a minute, and never quite breath out at that,-- what mental mood can you be in but one of inner panting and expectancy, and how can the future and its worries possibly forsake your mind? On the other hand, how can they gain admission to your mind if your brow be unruffled, your respiration calm and complete and your muscles all relaxed?

James, William, 1899, TALKS TO TEACHERS ON PSYCHOLOGY: And To Students On Some of Life's Ideals, Chapter 1-The Gospel of Relaxation

The intellect which never relaxes is very liable to error.

Joseph Joubert

 

Relaxation frees the heart.

Courage opens the heart.

Compassion fills the heart

Kall

 

RELAX, RELEASE, PLAY, JOY, HAPPINESS, LETTING GO,

"The great man is he who does not lose his child's heart."

Mencius (372-289 BC)

 

RELAXATION, CALM, PEACE, STILLNESS

Happiness is the harvest of a quiet eye.

O'Malley, Austin

 

RELAXATION

"An open brow indicates an open heart."

Schiller

 

EMOTION, FEELING, ADVERSITY, STRESS

 

RELAXATION, PEACE, SERENITY, CALM, PEACEFUL, ANGER, EVEN,

"It is the nature of a great mind to be calm and undisturbed."

Seneca, De Clementia

SOUTH, ROBERT

 

RELAXATION, TRANQUITIY, ALTERED-STATE

"When the supreme faculties move regularly, the inferior passions and affections following, there arises a serenity and complacency upon the whole soul, infinitely beyond the greatest bodily pleasures, the highest quintessence and elixir of worldly delights."

At times of great stress it is especially necessary to achieve a complete freeing of the muscles.

 

Stanislavski, Constantin An Actor Prepares, Ch. 4 Relaxation of Muscles

 

RELAXATION, PEACE, SERENITY

"There is no joy but calm."

Tennyson, The Lotus Eaters, Choric Song

 

VAUVENARGUES, LUC, MARQUIS DE: 1715-1747

 

RELAXATION

Solitude is to the mind what Dieting is to the body.

Vauvenargues, Luc Marquis De,

 

RELAX, CASUAL, CHILD

I do not think that any civilization can be called complete until it has progressed from sophistication to unsophistication, and made a conscious return to simplicity of thinking and living.

Lin Yutang, The Importance of Living

ART, RELAXATION

I think sculpture and painting have an effect to teach us manners, and abolish hurry.

Emerson

 

RELAXATION, SELF CONTROL

"He that can compose himself, is wiser than he that composes books."

Franklin, Benjamin, POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC

ANXIETY, QUIET, MIINDFULNESS, RELAXATION, PEACE, CALM

All mankind's troubles are caused by one single thing, which is their inability to sit quietly in a room.

Pascal, Pensees, II, 139

We must not divert the mind, except to relax it, but at the proper time; to relax it when it is necessary, and not otherwise; for whoever relaxes inappropriately wearies; and whoever wearies inappropriately relaxes, for people then withdraw attention altogether: so pleased is the malice of desire to do just the opposite of what one wishes to obtain from us without giving us pleasure, which is the change for which we give all that is desired.

Pascal, Pensees

 

----------------------------------------------

4) "Normal" Brains Show Abnormal PET Scans

Library: MED
Keywords: DYSTONIA NY DYT-1 ITD IDIOPATHIC TORSION DYSTONIA
Description: What is a "normal" brain? The results of a research study published in this month's Annals of Neurology demonstrate that some of the apparently normal relatives of patients with neurological disease in fact have abnormal brain patterns.



Media contact: Beckie Smith, American Neurological Association,
(612) 545-6284 theresagutoski@compuserve.com

"NORMAL" BRAINS SHOW ABNORMAL PET SCAN PATTERNS

Scientists are asking the question, What is a "normal" brain? The results of a research study published in this month's Annals of Neurology demonstrate that some of the apparently normal relatives of patients with neurological disease in fact have abnormal brain patterns.

The researchers studied brain images of patients with an inherited form of the movement disorder dystonia, as well as images of their relatives who have the same genetic defect but do not have the disease. All the study subjects who had the genetic defect, even those who tested "normal" on neurological tests, exhibited the same abnormal pattern of brain activity.

Dystonia is movement disorder characterized by prolonged muscle contractions that can be as mild as writer's cramp or as severe as contortions that affect the whole body and confine the sufferer to a wheelchair. Some dystonias are caused by injuries to brain areas that control movement, and others have a genetic cause, often appearing in childhood and getting progressively worse.

One subset of dystonia patients has a clearly defined defect in a gene called DYT-1. Although it is not known why this gene defect leads to dystonia, scientists have learned that many people appear normal on routine neurological tests even though they carry gene defect.

Using positron emission tomography (PET), researchers at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, New York, and at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City, took a closer look at the brains of DYT-1 dystonia patients and their "normal" relatives who carried the defective gene. They discovered that, compared to control subjects who did not have the gene defect, both of these groups had abnormal patterns of brain activity confined to the same brain networks.

"That’s a fascinating thing because it opens the big issue as to whether there are a lot of people walking around in society that we view as 'normal' who may actually have gene-specific abnormalities of brain function," said David Eidelberg, M.D., director of the Functional Brain Imaging Laboratory at North Shore University Hospital, and lead author of the report.

In fact, says Eidelberg, more sophisticated neurological tests may turn up abnormalities in the motor behavior of these "normal" people. Preliminary evidence from a follow-up study suggests that they show subtle abnormalities when tested on complex movement tasks.

In addition to the network of brain regions common to all the DYT-1 carriers, the researchers identified a second network found only in the dystonia patients and only when they were experiencing muscular contractions.

"The big question is why do some have the second network," said Eidelberg. "There may be other genes involved, or there may be environmental causes."

The researchers will now try to refine their understanding of these brain networks, and perhaps approach the question of how these two networks relate to the symptoms of dystonia.

Eidelberg also predicts that the study will prompt researchers studying other inherited diseases to look more closely at individuals who carry defective genes but do not appear to manifest any disease. In a more general sense, he and his colleagues hope that by identifying distinctive brain networks in neurologically normal persons, they can add to the understanding of how genes affect human behavior.

Other authors of the study were James R. Moeller, Ph.D., of the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons; Angelo Antonini, M.D., Ph.D., Ken Kazumata, M.D., Toshitaka Nakamura, M.D., Vijay Dhawan, Ph.D., and Phoebe Spetsieris, Ph.D., of the North Shore University Hospital and the New York University School of Medicine; Deborah DeLeon, M.S., and Susan B. Bressman, M.D., of Beth Israel Medical Center; and Stanley Fahn, M.D., of the Neurological Institute in New York.

###

 

5) Psychotherapists' Offices May Affect Attitudes

Description: Dead plants, bad lighting and sagging couches are probably the last things clients should encounter in their therapists' offices, according to a University of Illinois architecture professor.



U of Ideas of General Interest -- October 1998 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Contact: Melissa Mitchell, Arts Editor (217) 333-5491; melissa@uiuc.edu

OFFICE DESIGN

Environment of psychotherapists' offices may affect client attitudes

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Dead plants, bad lighting and sagging couches are probably the last things clients should encounter in their therapists' offices, according to University of Illinois architecture professor Kathryn Anthony.

"The physical environment of therapists' offices may well significantly influence the attitudes and behavior of clients, but at this point we really don't know how," Anthony told members of the American Psychological Association at the group's annual conference in San Francisco last August. In her presentation, titled "Designing Psychotherapists' Offices: Reflections of an Environment-Behavior Researcher," Anthony challenged researchers, architects and therapists to collaborate to further investigate relationships between office design and successful therapist-client interactions.

The U. of I. researcher said she became interested in the topic after searching several national research databases and finding "hardly anything at all." Although she located 23 citations for office design and 3,358 for psychotherapy in Wilson Social Sciences Abstracts, "none linked the two concepts." And of two citations in Periodical Abstracts, only one -- a reference to a gas-filled mattress designed as a therapeutic aid and personal relaxation/entertainment system -- even came close.

In the absence of hard data, Anthony undertook an informal survey of Division 12 APA members, posting a query on its electronic bulletin board. She also sought anecdotal information from therapist-acquaintances. She then combined the responses with her own reflections as an architectural researcher to identify design factors that could play a role in enhancing the experience of therapists and their clients. Among the factors and corresponding relationships that emerged:

* Location. "If the office is right off a busy freeway intersection, the stress of traffic can predispose one to an even more stressful session with the psychotherapist."

* Placement and number of entrances and exits. "One therapist said that in seeking out new office space she was concerned that the client could leave her office without traveling through the waiting room, thus minimizing the need to interact or be seen in a state of emotional fragility."

* Seating arrangements and seating comfort. "Is the therapist face-to-face with clients, or side-by-side? Which is the most/least intimidating?" Regarding comfort, "If it's too comfortable, do you feel like you are sinking into oblivion? Or do some types of furniture actually help clients feel better?"

* Lighting. "Bright lights may seem cheerful to some clients, but glaring or overwhelming to others."

* Windows. "Being able to see out widens your view of the world, and could have a healing effect. By contrast, being in an enclosed environment could make you feel as if the whole world is caving in on you."

-mm-

------------------------------------------------------------------

 

6) Orgasms and Epilepsy

Dostoyevski wrote:

All you, healthy people, do not even suspect what happiness is, that happiness which we epileptics experience during the second before the attack. During a few moments I feel such a happiness that it is impossible to realize at other times, and other people cannot imagine it. I feel a complete harmony within myself and in the world, and this feeling is so strong and so sweet that for a few seconds of this enjoyment one would readily exchange ten years of one's life-perhaps even one's whole life. (cited at the website described below.)

At http://www.duke.edu/~aga2/Daniel.html you can read the rest of this article: if one were to attempt to find the neural substrates for orgasms in the brain, the best bet would be to search for patients who showed deficiencies in the brain in relation to orgasms. A rare form of epilepsy called ecstatic epilepsy seems to fit this description well. During or just prior to their attacks, patients characteristically describe having pleasurable feelings that often culminate in orgasm. It is defined as a "temporal lobe seizure phenomenon of intense pleasure, joy, and contentment" (Morgan 413). However, there is another form of epilepsy mentioned in the medical literature that originates in the parietal lobe of the brain and shows similar symptoms (Calleja et al., Ruff, Bachman), so a neurobiological explanation of orgasms would have to take the activity of both cortical regions into account.

===================================

 

American College of Occupational & Environmental Medicine
16-Oct-98
Depression, High Stress Costliest Worker Health Risks

Keywords: STRESS DEPRESSION HEALTH COSTS HEALTH RISKS
Description: Economic study of more than 46,000 employees finds stress and depression have the greatest impact on worker health care costs. These risk factors increased health care costs more than obesity, smoking or high blood pressure.
10/16/98


Contact: Kay Coyne kcoyne@acoem.org

Depression, High Stress Costliest Health Risk Factors Among Workers

Depression and high stress have the greatest impact on worker health care costs, concludes an economic study of health risk factors, reported in the October issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, official publication of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).

More than 46,000 employees from six nationwide organizations were followed for up to three years, resulting in a database of over 100,000 person years, to evaluate ten modifiable health risks and their associated impact on health care costs. The unusually large database of information was compiled in cooperation with sustaining members of the not-for-profit Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO), Birmingham, Ala.

Industry officials note that there are several reasons why depressed and stressed workers might have higher health care costs. Depression and stress may cause patients to seek care for vague physical complaints; psychological or social problems may lead to more serious health conditions; or depression or stress may be related to serious illness.

According to research led by Ron Z. Goetzel, Ph.D., of the MEDSTAT Group, Washington, D.C., depression and stress seem to increase health costs more than obesity, smoking, or high blood pressure. Health costs for workers reporting depression were 70 percent higher than for nondepressed workers, the researchers found. Costs were elevated 46 percent for workers who felt they were under a lot of stress.

Other health risks associated with significantly higher health care expenditures include: high blood glucose, past tobacco use, current tobacco use, high blood pressure, and lack of regular exercise.

High cholesterol, excessive alcohol consumption, and poor nutrition, had no apparent effect on health costs, even though they are known to increase the risk of illness and death. The results of the study were helpful in identifying patients likely to have extremely high health care costs. For example, patients with risk factors for heart disease had average medical costs of $3,800 per year, compared with about $1,200 for patients lacking these risk factors.

New research will form the foundation for future cost effective and cost beneficial prevention and health promotion efforts in the workplace, the study concludes.

ACOEM, an international society of 7,000 occupational physicians, provides leadership to promote optimal health and safety of workers, workplaces, and environments.

Goetzel, Ron Z, et al. The Relationship Between Modifiable Health Risks and Health Care Expenditures: An Analysis of the Multi-Employer HERO Health Risk and Cost Database Vol. 40 10 (October) pp. 843-854

 

8)AHCPR ANNOUNCES NEW EVIDENCE REPORT TOPICS

The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) today announced the next topics to be investigated by the Agency's Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPCs). The EPCs will conduct rigorous, comprehensive reviews of the relevant scientific literature on these topics, including meta-analyses and cost analyses, if appropriate. Their findings will be published as evidence reports or technology assessments.

"These reports and assessments will provide evidence-based information on medical conditions that can help reduce the uncertainty leading to inappropriate variations in care," said AHCPR Administrator John M. Eisenberg, M.D. "AHCPR is committed to ensuring that clinicians and patients, as well as health system leaders and policy makers, have access to the best scientific evidence available to help them make informed health care decisions."

Once distributed, the reports will facilitate translating evidence-based research findings into clinical practice. The reports will form the basis of other organizations' efforts to develop and implement their own practice guidelines, performance measures, review criteria, and other clinical quality improvement tools. "Potential users of the evidence reports and technology assessments include a wide range of health care providers, medical and professional associations, health system managers, researchers, and others who play key roles in the effort to improve the quality of health care services nationwide," said Douglas Kamerow, M.D., M.P.H., who oversees AHCPR's Evidence-based Practice Program. In addition, the reports may give health plans and payers information needed to make informed decisions about coverage policies for new and changing medical devices and procedures. (Reports from the 1997 topics assigned to the EPCs will be available late in 1998.)

The new EPC topics are as follows:

1. Use of Erythropoietin in Hematology and Oncology
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Technology Evaluation Center, Chicago, Ill.

2. Management of Acute Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Duke University, Durham, N.C.

3. Criteria for Determining Disability in Patients with ESRD
ECRI, Plymouth Meeting, Pa.

4. Treatment of Acne
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.

5. Anesthesia Management During Cataract Surgery
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.

6. Criteria for Weaning from Mechanical Ventilation
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

7. Management of Cancer Pain
New England Medical Center, Boston, Mass.

8. Management of Acute Otitis Media
Southern California EPC/RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif.

9. Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism After Injury
Southern California EPC/RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif.

10. Management of Pre-term Labor
Research Triangle Institute and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.C.

11. Management of Chronic Hypertension During Pregnancy
University of Texas Health Sciences Center, San Antonio, Texas

12. Management of Unstable Angina
University of California, San Francisco, Calif., and Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif.

Contact: AHCPR Public Affairs, 301/594-1364
Howard Holland ext. 1374 (hholland@ahcpr.gov)
Salina Prasad ext. 1369 (sprasad@ahcpr.gov)

 

 

9) Meditation Program Helps Relieve Chronic Pain

To help treat chronic pain patients, a psychologist has developed an effective pain/stress management program which combines both meditation and yoga exercises with medical and psychological treatment. 85 percent of participants who used meditation practices to self-regulate pain reported a relief from symtpoms.

CONTACT: Liz Inskip-Paulk - (806) 743-2143, adm1lap@ttuhsc.edu
Meditation Found to Help Chronic Pain Sufferers

(Lubbock) - In order to help treat chronic pain patients, a Texas Tech Medical Center psychologist has developed an effective pain/stress management program which combines both meditation and yoga exercises in conjunction with medical and psychological treatment. Those participants who used meditation practices to self-regulate pain found remarkable results: an average of 85.5% reported an improvement in pain management skills.

The meditation program, now in its seventh year, was designed and led by Pat Randolph, Ph.D., director of Psychological Services in the Pain Center at Texas Tech Medical Center.

Focused on patients with chronic pain, pain which usually lasts six months or longer, Randolph has designed the meditation class to teach mindfulness or "staying in the moment" awareness.

According to Randolph, the program is based on Theravada Buddhism, an ancient Eastern doctrine which assumes that suffering and stress is part of life, but which can be relieved through an awareness and "letting go" of expectations.

"Sometimes pain is so overwhelming that it's like a big wave in the ocean that crests over your head and, for a while, you just hang on for dear life until the wave passes," Randolph explained. "When people realize that they're stuck with their pain and it's something they have to manage, then they are more open to psychological interventions."

In Western culture, people generally cope with pain through distraction or anasthesia. "However, this process is only effective for a while," adds Randolph. "Eventually your resistance to pain actually wears out."

Among the 67 patients in his study who used meditation to self-regulate pain, Randolph found that 78 percent reported an improvement in subjective mood; 80 percent said their ability to handle stress improved; and 86 percent recorded a higher awareness of internal thought and feeling states. And 98 percent indicated that they had gained 'something of lasting value' from the program.

"It's based on Eastern meditative practices, but it's devoid of religious underpinnings," Randolph added. "In fact, in a related study, almost 90 percent of participants indicated that the practice of meditation was 'moderately' to 'highly consistent' with their present spiritual beliefs, most of which were of the Christian faith."
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10) HUMAN BRAIN TRANSPLANTATION PROTOCOL APPROVED TO REVERSE NERVE AND BRAIN DAMAGE
Description: Scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center are ready to start a human treatment protocol that can reverse nerve and brain damage caused by stroke, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy and spinal cord injuries. The treatment involves removal and regeneration of carefully targeted brain cells, which are then re-introduced into the patient, where growth continues and the brain is repaired.

LOS ANGELES -- While growing cells in petri dishes has been done for more than a century, this old technique is being applied in ground-breaking new ways, and with space-age equipment, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Neurofunctional Surgery Center. The goal is to produce cures for such previously incurable conditions as spinal cord injuries, stroke, epilepsy, and Parkinson's disease.

The project was sparked by the recent discovery of human brain cells' potential for regeneration, contradicting previous scientific assumptions. "While it is true that brain cells don't regenerate in situ, we have found that a very small number of brain cells, harvested and placed into a special environment, can be stimulated to regenerate, and that regeneration continues when the cells are re-introduced into the brain," says Michel Levesque, M.D., Director of the Neurofunctional Surgery Center and an internationally known neurosurgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Toomas Neuman, Ph.D., Director of Neurobiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and Dr. Levesque are working together to culture a number of carefully targeted brain cells from a patient, stimulating growth and regeneration in a carefully regulated environment, and then re-introducing them into the patient, where the growth continues, and effects healing and repair to previously irreparably damaged brain tissue.

"The implications of this are enormous. Right now we will use cell harvesting and implantation to treat Parkinson's disease," says Dr. Levesque. "Treating neurodegenerative diseases involving one type of neurotransmitter cells is comparatively straightforward - introducing excitatory neurons or inhibitory neurons, into a particular part of the brain. In other words, one type of cell to one location.

"Treating stroke and spinal cord injuries with regenerated cells is infinitely more complex," says Dr. Levesque. We have to identify, grow, and re-introduce a complex mixture of cells to restore a damaged circuitry. We're working on a human protocol for spinal cord injury now, and hope to start treating patients with regenerated cells within the next six months."

The process literally starts with brain surgery, says Dr. Levesque. "For epilepsy patients who require surgery, we take a small piece of the cortex, where some of the few brain cells capable of regeneration are located. We remove a few of those cells, store them in our cell bank of neurons, and freeze them until we're ready to grow them in petri dishes.

Dr. Neuman oversees the growth stimulation part of the project. "Right now we have to remove the cells and put them into a special environment to stimulate them to begin growing and dividing. Our goal is to eventually be able to stimulate the cells without removing them first," says Dr. Neuman. "The cells don't spontaneously regenerate in the body -- that's why certain types of brain injuries and illnesses are currently incurable or irreparable.

"A variety of molecular biology tools are used to identify and stimulate the cells," says Dr. Neuman. "We have to keep the growing cells in sterile, biologically stable incubators -- like baby incubators -- to maintain a constant environment. When we're ready to grow them, we put them into a special bath that includes different growth factors. Without either one, the cells don't regenerate. If you have all the necessary things they divide and grow. If you don't have them, these little guys die," he adds.

"The work we're doing is based on solid scientific foundations. It began years ago, with studies indicating that certain types of birds could produce brain cells that would regenerate in the right circumstances. The studies moved from birds to animals. The progression from animal brain cell regeneration to human brain cell regeneration is the next logical step. When I began working with Dr. Levesque we discovered we had a common interest -- our working together actually stimulated the project," says Dr. Neuman.

"When we finish developing our protocol, we'll be the first to offer this treatment for stroke and spinal cord injuries," says Dr. Levesque. "We have a lot of spinal cord injury patients who are interested in this type of treatment." The human protocol is scheduled to be completed in six months, at which time cell regeneration and re-introduction treatments can begin on humans.

 

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11) Scientists Report Brain's Central Switching System Can Be Remodeled

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- The thalamus, the brain's central switching center for relaying sensory information to the brain's somatosensory cortex, "remodels" after sensory nerves are severed, scientists from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of California at Davis report in today's issue of Science.

"This is exciting because it could be the underpinning of the neurobiological basis for recovery of function after stroke or damage to the nervous system," said Tim P. Pons, Ph.D., professor of surgical sciences (neurosurgery) and professor of physiology/pharmacology at Wake Forest.

Pons and Edward C. Jones, Ph.D., director of the Center for Neuroscience at the University of California-Davis, said that a portion of the thalamus in nonhuman primates was completely reorganized after the nerves relaying sensory information from the arms were severed.

The new study follows a 1991 report from the team, also in Science, that the somatosensory cortex itself remodels after injury.

Both reports add to mounting evidence that the brain is not fixed and unchanging after infancy, as had been scientific dogma, but in fact can make new connections. Pons uses the term "plasticity" to describe these changes.

"We had shown that at least one-third of the entire somatosensory cortex is capable of reorganization and this latest work shows that at least one-third of the thalamus is also capable of a similar type of reorganization."

The somatosensory cortex is the brain's processing center for sensory information.

The actual work involved experiments touching the face after the entire upper arm and hand were deprived of their normal inputs. The thalamus had rewired the portions of its surface that previously hooked into the sensory arm and hand nerves so that these portions activated dormant nerves in the face. These nerves were stimulated with a fine glass probe or a camel hair brush.

Pons reported there are measurable -- but tiny -- electrical discharges at that point in the thalamus. Adjacent points on the skin activate adjacent points in the thalamus.

"When the face takes over the hand representation, the brain still interprets the impulses as coming from the hand," he said.

The work was strikingly similar to studies of people who had undergone upper arm amputations. When those investigators touched these amputees in certain parts of the face, the patients had sensations that seemed to be coming from the missing limb. "This is a very plausible explanation for phantom limb sensations and especially phantom pain sensations," Pons said.

"We have identified the thalamus as being a critical component for that plasticity that is exhibited at the cortex. We're not sure that these changes don't also occur at the spinal level," Pons said, "but we doubt it is a factor because of the severe degenerative changes seen anatomically in these animals."

While he said it was premature to speculate about direct applications of the research to people, the researchers will be trying to harness the plasticity of the brain when it helps -- such as after a stroke -- and halt the plasticity when it causes problems, such as epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

###

Contact: Robert Conn, Mark Wright or Jim Steele at (336) 716-4587.

 

12) Taking Self Regulation, Biofeedback and Self Responsibility to the Next Level.

This is a copy of a message sent to Julie Weiner, as a part of a discussion started by Peter ROsenfeld, about how JAMA’s latest issue was devoted to alternative medicince, and how biofeedback was not represented. Someone else had stated that the reason biofeedback was not included was that biofeedback has become part of the main stream.

Julie Weiner wrote:

>>By whom are we considered Main Line? And if we are, how come hardly anyone knows we exist? The majority of the patients referred to me for bfb have never heard of bfb! I doubt this happens to acupuncturists or faith healers or nutritionists! And I have yet to meet a neurologist familiar with the research on EEG bfb and epilepsy. If we were Main Line, wouldn't a treatment without side effects be the first line of defense instead of the last for long-term treatment of seizure disorders? <<

So, Rob Kall replied:

The fact is, biofeedback is a CONCEPT, like medication is a concept.

There are all kinds of different biofeedback applications. Some are related, and benefit from earlier biofeedback reseearch .

Others are different enough so the medical community rejects them because of not enough research.

We've had great exposure over the years for stress, headache and incontinence. But I've always believed that our biggest challenge is the fact that biofeedback takes work. PATIENTS have been trained by the medical model, to expect treatments to be done TO them. Biofeedback empowers them, it allows them to take responsibility, and that is not something that many people want.

Perhaps what we need to develop, in advancing our self regulation paradigm, is a scientific model and approach to increasing the desire to take responsibility, to want to self regulate, to want to grasp opportunities for self empowerment.

When we can get people to see that this is a healthier way that goes beyond not being sick, that this level of health reaches into the level of character and personal strength, then we will be taking biofeedback's next step.

 

Regarding the PR issue.

The important issue is that biofeedback is a different concept than the medicine/medical concept.

New medications get new, huge coverage, even though medications are well accepted.

We need to treat each application as a separate "media" concept. The fact is we are "media-opportunity" rich.

But we have so few media promotion resources, because of AAPB's leadership's current unwillingness to invest in consumer awareness. They spend $18,000 on speakers for a meeting which has been shrinking each year, but won't spend $2000 to make the most of fabulous publicity in Parade magazine.

So, the role of PR chair turns into a primarily passive one. What I have tried to do is use my own journalism experience, having written myself for many national publications, to educate reporters, not just on the current articles they are working on but on the big picture of biofeedback. Plus, when I am contacted by reporters regarding my business, I also promote the field in general, also giving references to the AAPB, SSNR and EEG Spectrum websites, which I think in addition to mine, are the best ones for information content.

I am hoping that once the PR opposing president leaves office, we can then start, with a small annual budget ($1500-$2000 a month is minimal by all standards) to regularly send out announcements about specific applications, so the media begin getting a regular exposure to the depth and breadth of our field. I also would like to see more resources put on the AAPB website, which is going through a major re-design right now.

It would be great to have some active members of the PR committee who would be willing to put in some time on specific media research and promotion projects. It seems that AAPB will pay for postage, so if we can get the time to make some lists, we can get some starts. I've begun to build such lists, but do need help. Volunteers are invited

Lastly, it would be great if cooperative bridges could be built between the different interest groups-- AAPB, SSNR, BCIA, the EEG and EMG sections and .

ROb Kall

AAPB PR chair

 

 

13) Adult Brains Make New Connections After Injury

Vanderbilt study: Adult brain cells make new connections after injury

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The adult brain appears to have a surprisingly strong built-in capacity for change, a study by Vanderbilt University researchers suggests, creating the possibility for innovative treatments for brain disorders.

The seemingly limited ability of the adult brain to recover from stroke or accidental injury has been a major stumbling block in treating brain disorders. However, the Vanderbilt study showed new growth in cell connections following injury.

Writing in the Nov. 6 edition of Science magazine, three Vanderbilt University researchers report that cells in the adult brain can sprout new axons, or branches, that travel relatively long distances and make contact with new targets at distant sites in the brain. The new growth was found in a region of the brain called the sensory cortex that receives information from touch.

First, the normal connections among cells in the sensory cortex were studied by injecting a harmless substance that reveals or "labels" cells and makes it possible to trace the point-to-point nature of cell connections, according to Sherre Florence, research assistant professor of psychology at Vanderbilt. She said that cells in the sensory cortex normally have specific connections with neighboring cells. For example, cells that receive information from the hand make connections only with other cells concerned with the hand.

However, in four monkeys with hand injuries, cells had connections that spanned a much wider area of the sensory cortex, a nearly twofold increase compared to normal monkeys.

"Cells within the injured hand cortex apparently grew connections into neighboring cortical zones that were unimpaired by the injury," Florence said. "And cells outside the hand region of cortex made connections to cells in the zone deprived of sensory information because of the hand injury." (more)

According to Florence, the way the cells behaved within the zone of expanded connections changed, suggesting that the new connections made fully effective contacts with their new targets. This could give the new connections the opportunity to change brain function.

The new growth appeared to be triggered by the injury to the hand. None of the injuries directly impacted the brain, but they all had the common effect of disrupting the amount and pattern of activity being relayed to the brain from the hand.

Florence and her colleagues think that it was the massive change in activity patterns that initiated the chain of events that led to new cell growth, not the injury itself. This suggests that it may be possible to coax more flexibility out of the adult brain, taking advantage of these natural processes, in contrast to other lines of research where chemicals were administered to facilitate cell growth.

The ultimate goal is to be able to reproduce the conditions necessary for axon growth, to help cells in the adult brain form effective new long-distance connections. This might make it possible to reverse some of the effects of damage to the nervous system from spinal cord injury or brain disorders such as stroke.

Other researchers who worked on the project were Jon H. Kaas, Centennial Professor Psychology and Professor of Cell Biology at Vanderbilt; and H.B. Taub, a Vanderbilt graduate student in psychology.

For more news about Vanderbilt, visit the Vanderbilt web site at www.vanderbilt.edu/

Ann Marie Deer Owens, (615) 322-NEWS