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(Hutchison, 1994, p. 361), alcoholism, (Peniston, & Kulkosky, 1989), addiction, attention deficit
hyperactive disorder (ADHD), epilepsy, post-traumatic stress, paralysis and cognitive impairment as a
result of a stroke or head injury (Ochs,1993).
On the Million Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) brain-wave training (BWT) resulted in significant
decreases on the “scales labeled schizoid, avoidant, passive-aggressive, schizotypal, borderline,
paranoid, anxiety, somatoform, dysthymia, alcohol abuse, psychotic thinking, psychotic depression,
and psychotic delusion” when used with vietnam veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress
(Peniston, & Kulkosky, 1990, p. 37).
Possible Mechanisms Underlying Brain-wave Training Triggering of Neurotransmitters
Why should helping individuals retrain their brain wave frequency patterns be so helpful? A
suggestion might be found in the work of Patterson and Capel (1983) in Surrey, England. They found
that different neurotransmitters were triggered by different frequencies and wave forms. For example,
a 10-hertz signal boosts production and turnover rate of serotonin. “Each brain center generates
impulses at a specific frequency, based on the predominant neurotransmitters it secretes,” says Dr.
Capel. “In other words, the brain’s internal communications system–its language, if you like–is based
on frequency…” (Ostrander & Schroeder, 1991, p. 264).
The implications of Capel’s & Patterson’s work is that one can alter the brain’s neurochemistry, and
thereby it’s functioning, with modifications of brain wave frequency.
The popular drug Prozac alleviates depression by increasing serotonin levels. The serotonin levels
are elevated through the selective chemical inhibition of the brain’s serotonin-reuptake enzymes
(Kramer, 1993). The positive effect of Prozac on a depressed subject’s mood and social functioning
can be profound, effects which are generated by elevating the subject’s serotonin levels.
According to Patterson and Capel, a similar increase in the level of serotonin in the brain could be
achieved through the induction of a 10-hertz signal. Could we alleviate depression and other
impairments associated with low serotonin levels as effectively with brain wave training as with
Prozac? What about other forms of impaired mental functioning for which we have no effective
chemical interventions? According to many researchers we can, and the triggering of the release of
beneficial neurotransmitters may be why.
Return of the Brain to Pre-Trauma Neurochemical State
The direct release of desirable neurotransmitters through an increase in amplitude of specific brain
wave frequencies might not be the only mode of action for brain-wave training. A somewhat related
theory of why helping subjects retrain their EEG patterns could be helpful is postulated by Len Ochs,
a California therapist and researcher. Dr. Ochs speculates that the neurochemical response to
trauma may become entrained as a permanent state, limiting normal functioning, and that brain-wave
training may allow a return to the pre-trauma neurochemical state.
Dr. Ochs postulates that psychological or physical trauma induces such a high level of neurochemical
excitement that a seizure may be imminent. In order to protect itself, the brain responds with inhibitory
chemicals. One could visualize it as the neurochemical equivalent of curling up in a ball. In a
protective stance, the inhibited brain has lost function, just as person curled up in a ball cannot walk
or function normally in their protective posture.
Dr. Ochs postulates that these inhibitory chemicals may linger in the brain for an extended period of
time (one supposes for lack of activation of the proper janitorial reuptake enzymes) or, that the brain
mechanism responsible for the production of the seizure protecting neurotransmiters does not reset
itself to the pre-trauma state, creating a new homeostatic state of impaired functioning.
If brain-wave training resets the neurochemistry to its pre-trauma state, such a mechanism would
explain why it is helpful, and why it works with pathologies resistant to other interventions.
EEG Disentrainment Feedback
Dr. Ochs created an EEG biofeedback device which operates directly on the subjects EEG patterns
through light and sound drivers. Normally in EEG biofeedback a subject must attend to, and attempt
to respond to a signal which provides information about their brain wave frequencies.
Unlike traditional EEG biofeedback, in Dr. Ochs’ device there is no need for the subject to be
consciously in the loop or attempting to do anything. The overall brain waves respond to and match
the frequency and amplitude of the signals delivered via strobe glasses and headphones. The audio
and visual stimuli in turn are generated by the overall amplitude and frequency of the EEG. A
computer monitors both and allows the clinician to intervene and sweep the frequencies upward or
downward.
Dr. Ochs calls his form of biofeedback “EEG disentrainment feedback (E.D.F.)” (Ochs, 1993). The
equipment is actually entraining the brainwave frequencies, yet he refers to it as disentrainment
feedback. The disentrainment is for the hypothesized intervention of disentraining a protection
mechanism gone awry, a locked in state of emergency brain functioning.
Ochs has been having remarkable results with victims of both psychological trauma and physical
brain trauma. He has successfully treated victims of closed head injury, stroke, post-traumatic stress,
depression, and addiction. Many of these patients had conditions which were very resistant to
treatment with other interventions.
If Dr. Ochs hypothesis is true, then the EDF and all other brain wave retraining devices either activate
the proper inhibitory enzyme reuptake mechanism, or they disrupt the seizure inhibition responses
which have taken over as the day to day standard for neurochemical functioning.
In either case, brain-wave training would be helping because it allows the brain to reset itself to its
normal unimpaired state of functioning. The brain-wave training would not be directly repairing what is
impaired, but would be enabling the brain to heal itself (Ochs,1993).
The observations and speculations of Ochs, Patterson and Capel provide some insight into why such
“physical therapy” for the brain may work. They illustrate why we might be as effective using brain
wave training to improve some individual elements of functioning, such as memory, as well as
working on broad fields of impaired functioning such as depression, head injury, addiction, ADHD,
ect..
The Peniston Protocol
Perhaps the most famous research to date using EEG biofeedback training has been the work of
Peniston and Kulkosky for their procedure, the Penniston protocol. Peniston and Kulkosky used
alpha-theta brain-wave training to increase the amount and amplitude of the subjects alpha and theta
brain waves.
Dr. Eugene Peniston and Dr. Paul Kulkosky randomly assigned alcoholics to a control group which
received conventional medical treatment (Minnesota Model (12 Step)), and an experimental group for
which the only interventions were fifteen twenty minute sessions of Alpha-Theta brain wave training.
They also included in the study a second control group of non-alcoholics. The results sent a
shockwave through every segment of the alcohol treatment community aware of the study
(Hutchison, 1994).
The control group, who received traditional medical treatment, demonstrated an 80 percent relapse
rate during the thirteen month post treatment follow-up period. The experimental group, who received
15 twenty minute brain- wave training (BWT) sessions (and no other treatment) demonstrated only a
20 percent relapse rate during the same follow-up period. “Depression, as indexed by Becks’s
Depression Inventory, was significantly reduced to control (nonalcoholic) level after BWT” (Peniston,
& Kulkosky, 1989, p. 276). The alcoholic control group did not demonstrate any significant change in
depression as measured by Beck’s Depression Inventory.
Lack of Success with Standard Medical Treatment
Only a twenty percent success rate with traditional intervention techniques in the Peniston & Kulkosky
study is not an unusual finding on the effectiveness of currently available alcohol treatment.
At the Washington University Department of Psychiatry, John Helzer and colleagues concluded in
their study that “Less than 10 percent of those treated specifically for alcoholism survived and were
not drinking alcoholically five to eight years after receiving treatment” (Peele, 1989, p. 78).
In a study of the Minnesota Model at Cambridge following up 100 patients across eight years,
researchers concluded “there is compelling evidence that the results of our treatment were no better
than the natural history of the disease” (Peele, 1989, p. 74).
Peniston and Kulkosky also note that “major outcome studies that have used specific therapeutic
interventions such as controlled drinking, abstinence, compulsory AA attendance, and an active
follow-up program yielded results after 2 and 8 years that were no better than those of the natural
history of the disorder” (Peniston, & Kulkosky, 1989, p. 271).
Advantage of Brain-wave training Over Standard Medical Treatment
If alcoholism does involve impaired brain function, then the above statistics and results would not be
surprising. The subjects who received the traditional medical treatment are fighting against there own
physiology, whereas those who are receiving the alpha-theta brain-wave training are not.
Beta-endorphine has been linked to internal control mechanisms for eating and ethanol consumption
(Peniston, & Kulkosky, 1989). Based upon an existing literature, Peniston and Kulkosky observe, “If
Beta-endorphin is elevated in alcoholics, a return to consumption of ethanol calories would be
inevitable” (Peniston, & Kulkosky, 1989, p. 276).
Peniston and Kulkosky did find significantly elevated levels of beta-endorphine in the group who
received traditional medical treatment. They did not find elevated levels of beta-endorphine in the
group who received the brain-wave training.
Just as a painter with no arms must struggle to overcome the limitations of his physiology to pursue
what he wants to do, so might an alcoholic need to struggle against his physiology to pursue his own
choices for his life. Within the traditional model of treatment, a basic physiological impediment is not
being addressed. According to the findings of Peniston & Kulkosky, that basic physiological
impediment is being addressed with brain-wave training; a physiological impediment addressed not
with drug therapy, but with a non-invasive technique which allows elevated brain chemistry to return
to normal values. This is a technique which in essence allows the brain to heal itself.
The implications of the Penniston protocol are not just for the alcoholic, but also for any victim of the
class of impaired brain functioning Dr. Ochs discusses. Under his model anyone with impaired
neurochemistry (such as elevated beta-endorphine) would receive the same benefit of normalized
brain chemistry after the brain-wave training.
EEG Beta Brain-wave training
While the Peniston protocol focuses on Alpha and Theta brain-wave training, other researchers have
been looking into the benefits of using brain-wave training for beta frequencies. Beta training is
another brain-wave training technique which trains the subjects to increase the amplitude and
frequency of their mid-range beta frequencies. Beta training has been found to be an effective tool for
treating ADHD and dyslexia (Hutchison, 1994, p. 360) and would seem to be significant particularly in
the area of education.
In a controlled study, (Dr. Siegried) Othmer has found that this beta training produces average IQ
increases of 23 percent. In cases where the starting IQ value was lower than 100, the average IQ