What's New in Neurofeedback
A Monthly Summary of News and Events

Vol. 7 No. 2 - February 2004

This newsletter is sponsored by EEG Spectrum Intl, Inc.,
a leader in providing clinical service and training professionals.
Past issues available at http://start.eegspectrum.com/Newsletter/
To subscribe or cancel, see newsletter's end. Opinions related in
this newsletter reflect the author's only. Copyright (C) 2004
by EEG Spectrum Intl, Inc. or David Kaiser. All rights reserved.
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Announcements - News
In the Spotlight - Epidemics Revisited
News & Reviews - Books & journal papers
Events & Locations - Conferences, Courses
Last Word - Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness

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Announcements

Brain waves control video game
Slow brainwaves 'cause seizures'
Headache sufferers 'denied help'
Pre-Humans May Have Traded Killer Jaws for Bigger Brains
Dreams Ride on Freud's Royal Road, Study Finds
Smoking 'causes brain decline'

All links at:
http://news.yahoo.com/fc?tmpl=fc&cid=34&in=science&cat=brain_research

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In the Spotlight

Epidemics Revisited

"...it would rush upon its victims with the speed of a fire racing
through dry or oily substances that happened to be placed within its
reach." -Giovanni Boccaccio on the Black Death (mid-1300's)

According to recent statistics, Boccaccio might have also been
refering to America in the last decade. In 1990 half a million
children were diagnosed with the disease. In less than 8 years it
multiplied eight-fold, to 4 million school-aged victims, infecting
an astounding 10 percent of the entire school-age population. In
some parts of the country nearly half the school children were said
to have succumbed. Adults were also not immune. As many as 13
million adults currently are afflicted. Although no infectious agent
has been uncovered, these numbers suggest an epidemic is upon us. I
am refering to, if you haven't already guessed, Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder.

By some estimates, one in six school-aged children suffer from ADD
or ADHD. "With the exception of AIDS, there are few examples of such
a rapid spread of a serious condition in recent years," says Gene
Haislip, a former deputy assistant administrator at the Drug
Enforcement Agency. AIDS is a severe, potentially lethal disease. At
its peak in the US (1993) 102,000 new cases were diagnosed each
year. But that same year ADHD struck 20 times this number.
Fortunately the production of Ritalin kept pace! A rise of more than
700% over the past 10 years. And although America may be ground zero
for the ADHD epidemic, it crossed the pond with a vengeance: Britain
witnessed a 35,000 % increase in ADD cases in five years, from 2,600
cases in 1992 to 92,000 in 1997. Seven years later and there's no
stopping it: current estimates now hover at half a million, many
undiagnosed. "Too many children are 'slipping through the net'",
sais a Dr Val Harpin, of Sheffield Children's Trust. Only 70,000
children are receiving medication; the National Institute for
Clinical Excellence recommends that 100,000 children should. A lot
of small pills are not being swallowed.

Although I would object to comparing ADHD to the AIDS epidemic,
mental disorders can be nearly as devastating, emotionally and
intellectually. Childhood ADHD is associated with an increased
frequency of psychopathology in later life (Wender, et al., 1981).
About two-thirds of children continue ADD symptoms into adulthood.
Researchers have consistently found higher rates of antisocial
personality, conduct, oppositional defiant, substance use, and
anxiety disorders in adults with ADHD. Serious delinquent and
psychological outcomes are associated with ADHD. ADHD children are
at greater risk for chemical dependence (Clopton et al., 1993;
Wilens, et al., 1995). Substance abuse disorders were found in 28%
of children with ADHD, 8% of ADHD children who no longer showed
symptoms in adolescence, and in only 3% of non-ADHD children. ADD
children often progress from substance abuse to addiction in a
shorter time period than other children. Milin (1991) found ADHD in
one quarter of all substance abusers he examined butno cases of ADHD
in non-substance abusers, so this epidemic shouldn't be
underestimated. Or should it? Is there really an epidemic underway?
And if so, what triggered it?

Epidemics. What causes epidemics? What ignites them, fuels them?
When an unfamiliar and virulent germ enters a virgin population, an
epidemic often follows. True? But where did the new germ come from?
Some would say epidemics are the price we pay for living together,
living in crowded cities. Humans are the highways upon which
microorganisms test out this year's newest models. But often the
germ responsible for an epidemic isn't particularly new to the
scene; the population is.

Epidemics have plague humankind since our inception. Hippocrates
wrote about them two thousand years ago. He also wrote about endemic
diseases, which are more common. Endemics are epidemics past their
prime, making the rounds after an original assault against a more
resistant folk. By this definition ADHD is an epidemic, not an
endemic condition. It is Round One, people, and there have been
hundreds of Round Ones throughout history.

The first documented epidemic struck the Persian army in 480 BC.
Xerxes led an army of 800,000 men into Thessaly, but had to withdraw
when he lost a third to plague and dysentery. History is replete
with similar examples: microbes striking a target that artillery
could not reach. The First Crusade ended when an epidemic killed 80
percent of the horses. I would have gone home after that, presuming
the Hand of God (or Allah) was at work. The Second Crusade suffered
100,000 losses to disease. Every campaign has incurred two fronts:
one manned, one microbial. By the 19th century it was not unusual
for disease to create more casualties than weapons of war. Typhus,
cholera, smallpox, diphtheria. World War I ended as it did, and with
the problematic terms that led directly to number II, in part,
because of flu.

The three most devastating epidemics in human history were the Black
Death, a combination of (presumably) bubonic and pneumonic plagues
which struck Europe in the mid 14th century and reduced the
population by a third; the 1918 influenza epidemic which killed
three times as many people than the surrounding World War; and the
current AIDS epidemic.

Ring around the rosies,
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes, ashes!
We all fall down.
(Children's rhyme, from plague-ridden England)


Black Death is thought to have been carried into Europe in 1347 by
sailors from the Black Sea, and it may have been history's first and
most successful act of biological warfare. As part of their seige
tactics, the Tartars catapulted plague-infested bodies over the city
walls of the port of Kaffa. The defending Genoese contracted plague
and left, spreading the disease throughout the Mediterranean Basin.
The 1918 influenza epidemic was called "Spanish flu" because of an
early report in Spain, but the responsible virus evolved in American
pigs and was spread around the globe by U.S. troops mobilized to
fight the Kaiser. Even the peace conference at Versailles was
affected as President Woodrow Wilson, the Prime Minister of Great
Britain, and Premier of France all contracted the disease. As for
AIDS, there are many theories about its origin, but I'm partial to
the simian theory.. Milder strains of HIV have been carried with us
for millions of years, but the end of European colonization in
Africa lead to populations mixing as never before on the continent.
Two extremely virulent strains of HIV emerged as a result. Without
the increased traffic and contact between individuals, such strains
would have burned themselves out in a decade or so, infecting one or
two villages at the most. But truck and jet transporation changed
all that.

Although epidemics can occur for any number of reasons, many share a
common element. What kicks a local mutated microbe onto the world's
stage? What is the epidemic catalyst?

Power. The endless human pursuit for power. Also called politics or
money on occasion. Appropriation of wealth and power by any means
possible. Invasion, conquest, exploration, trade. The pursuit of
wealth is responsible for a large proportion of the major epidemics
in history. (AIDS could be an exception, unless you place it in the
context of suppressed cultures, a la slavery and colonization.) Last
year 95% of the HIV infections in the world occurred in the 3rd
world.

Epidemics are ignited by movements of capitol -- be they sailors,
soldiers, or natives. A decision is made to transport a virgin
population to a germ's homeland or to transport the germ to an
unprepared city, all in the pursuit of wealth. In North America,
measles and smallpox reduced a population that rivaled Europe's in
1491. The American plains and forests were not empty when Columbus
arrived. But they were soon after. Disease reduced Mayan and Incan
cultures to one-tenth their previous size. As many as 130 million
indigenous people lived in Central and South America in 1491; 1.6
million a few generations later. Rock beats scissors, scissors beats
paper, paper beats rock, but germs beats guns and nothing beats
germs.

So what's it all mean?

Epidemics are political -- even when they aren't. They change the
balance of power. They come about when one group is grabbing power.
Be it the newest faux epidemics -- the epidemic of obesity, or
school violence, or violent media -- to the more microbial sort.
When epidemics appear, we should quickly try to isolate the human
source of the contagion.

So is the same mechanism true for the ADHD epidemic sweeping through
America's schools? Possibly. Let's ask ourselves this: Would this
epidemic be so vast if money were not to be made?

-DK

New York Now, March 02, 1999; Gene Haislip, U.S. Drug Enforcement
Agency; National Institutes of Health, Washington, D.C.

Christopher, Cieslak, Pavlin, & Eitzen (1997). Biological warfare: A
historical perspective. JAMA, 278, 412-417.


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News & Reviews

NEW BOOKS

Souls: Beneath & beyond Autism
Attention Deficit Disorder : A Different Perception
by Thom Hartmann, Edward M. Hallowell, Michael Popkin
Argues that ADDers are uniquely gifted individuals in their own
right. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1887424148/ top100

Attention, Genes and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
by Florence Levy, DA Hay
Reviews behavior genetic and molecular genetic advances in ADHD,
including twin studies, diagnostic approaches, family and genetic
influences on speech and language, and comorbidities.
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841691933/top100

Neuropsychosocial Intervention: Treatment of Severe Behavioral
Dyscontrol After TBI
by Robert L. Karol
Outlines the nature and significance of behavioral dyscontrol,
explains aggression, and details the neuropsychosocial treatment
approach and the principles on which it is based. Case vignettes.
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0849312442/ top100

Exploratory Analysis and Data Modeling in Functional Neuroimaging
by Friedrich T. Sommer (Editor)
A survey of theoretical and computational approaches to
neuroimaging, including inferential, exploratory, and causal methods
of data analysis.
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262194813/top100

Alternative Medicine and Multiple Sclerosis
by Allen C. Bowling
Complementary and alternative medicine for multiple sclerosis
--www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1888799528/top100

Neuroimaging: Clinical and Physical Principles
by Robert A. Zimmerman, Wendell A. Gibby, Raymond F. Carmody
Covers modern imaging modalities and techniques, emphasizing
practical solutions to everyday problems. Technical. --
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0387949631/top100

Localization and Neuroimaging in Neuropsychology
by Andrew Kertesz
Comprehensive review of theory and methodology in the field, circa
1994. --www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ 012405045X/top100

Functional Neuroimaging in Child Psychiatry
by Monique Ernst, Judith M. Rumsey
Recent developments of functional neuroimaging techniques;
implications for child psychiatry. --www.amazon.com/exec/
obidos/ASIN/0521650445/top100





JOURNAL PAPERS

Quantitative EEG and neurocognition in methamphetamine-dependent
volunteers. : QEEG provides a sensitive measure of
methamphetamine-associated alterations in brain function.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14706488

EEG biofeedback vs. placebo treatment for ADHD : The Terrace effect
(running a poorly designed or analyzed experiment and make claims
about well-run studies) exerts itself in neurofeedback.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14738180

Seizure Expression During Electroconvulsive Therapy : EEG features
associated with ECT efficacy may reflect individual differences in
inhibitory processes that terminate the seizure.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14735129

EEG correlates of sound-induced affect : Sound-induced positive
affect increases relative left-sided frontal activation and negative
affect right frontal activation.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14738350

Neurobiological consequences of childhood trauma. : Adverse
early-life experiences have a profound effect on the developing
brain, and the consequences of early-life stress are reviewed.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14728093

Lessons for neuropsychology from functional MRI in patients with
epilepsy. : Reorganization of cognitive and motor function favors
the activation of contralateral homotopic areas.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14725851

Structural and functional brain changes in PTSD : The hippocampus,
amygdala, and medial frontal cortex differ in PTSD from normals.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14728092

Functional reorganisation in patients with right hemisphere stroke :
In patients with alertness deficits due to right hemispheric
vascular brain damage, improvement was found only if the RH was
activated by training.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14728918

Efficacy of methylphenidate for treating adult ADHD : MPH (ritalin)
is efficacious for treating adult ADHD and in circular logic,
according to the authors, this means adult ADHD is a valid diagnosis
because Ritalin remediates its symptoms.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14709943

Epilepsy and videogames. : Overview of the literature os
videogame-induced seizures, beginning with the first case in 1981.
Preventive measures on flash rate, choice of colors, patterns, and
contrast and 100 Hz screens are recommended.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14706041

Modulation of cortical-limbic pathways in major depression :
Treatment response for cognitive behavior therapy was associated
with increased metabolic changes in hippocampus and dorsal cingulate
and decreases throughout the frontal cortex.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14706942

Linking Hemodynamic and Electrophysiological Measures of Brain
Activity : The relation between ERPs and fMRI differs across brain
regions.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14704213

Nature of traumatic memories: a 4-T FMRI functional connectivity
analysis. : PTSD is associated with lateralized differences of brain
connectivity, with decreased connectivity in multiple left brain
regions but increased in some right brain regions.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14702248

Low-Field Magnetic Stimulation in Bipolar Depression Using an MRI-
Based Stimulator. : Echo-planar magnetic resonance spectroscopic
imaging induces electric fields that are associated with reported
mood improvement in bipolar disorder.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14702256



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Events & Locations

Upcoming Courses

A Pathway to Brain Regulation - Neurofeedback helps improve
neuroregulation. It's used by health care professionals for ADHD,
depression, anxiety disorders, LD, mood disorders, and behavioral
problems. This 4-day course, Neurofeedback in a Clinical Practice,
provides the basis for using Neurofeedback clinically. - *28 CEs

4-Day Comprehensive Course Dates

Boston, MA Apr 22-25
Chicago IL May 13-16
Washington DC Jun 24-27
Denver CO Jul 15-18

Our course is a hands-on experience right from the start. Attendees
consistently say this format is a very good way to learn
Neurofeedback.

"Neurofeedback should be viewed as one of the three essential or
primary forms of intervention - psychotherapy, psychopharmacology,
and Neurofeedback. In my experience, Neurofeedback is every bit as
important and powerful as the other two forms of treatment." - Dr.
Laurence Hirshberg of Brown University Medical School, a
psychologist specializing in Developmental Disorders and Autism.

Contact Karie Kramer, our training coordinator, for more information
818-789-3456 ext 847 or see www.eegspectrum.com/ Training

*EEG Spectrum International, Inc. is approved by the APA to offer
continuing education to psychologists. ESII maintains responsibility
for the program.

CONFERENCE LOCATION DATES
AAPB Colorado Springs Apr 1-4
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Last Word


We are all misfits. Degenerates.

Last week it was discovered that 2.4 million years ago the hominid
line underwent another "fortunate monster" stage of evolution.
Charles Darwin spoke about fortunate monsters: most mutations kill
the child or fetus, but a sparingly few actual help it along and
make it king of the class. All new species undergo a monster phase.
In our case, one of our genes mutated, horribly disfiguring our
face, and this was a good thing (I think -- for it led to our
intelligence, but it has yet to be proven that intelligence has any
survival value, so maybe it wasn't....). Our recent disfigurement
was a reduction of jaw muscle. With less muscle, we didn't need a
sagital ridge atop our skull, you know the ones, that fancy jutting
of bone our "more attractive" robust ancestors possess. The ridge
anchored powerful jaw muscles, but when we became
mandibly-challenged, out went the ridge and in came a thinner skull
and the plasticity to balloon out.

We are the gracile version of the gracile version of the gracile
version of the great apes of Africa, circa 25 million BCE. In other
words, any more estrogen and there wouldn't be a male version of our
species (hmmm, is that a bad thing?). We are the most estrogenized
ape alive, which explains why males acquire the feminine aspects of
cognition that allow for spoken language. Who else is going to pay
attention to the flittering inside one's head, and think that others
are doing the same? Certainly not males.

Returning to mutation... Which is better, the threat of lethal
bites, or elbow room in the skull? For 80 primate species, threat of
death. Bites rule. The MYH16 gene builds major components of the
masseter and temporalis jaw muscles. Every living primate has a
functioning MYH16, except us. In fact the gene went unnoticed
because in humans, it was completely disabled by a tiny mutation. So
it turns out that our mouths were the epicenter of humanity. Somehow
that makes intuitive sense (he writes, speaking aloud as he does).

So what's the relevancy to mental health?

We are the offshoots of a few hairless apes that emerged 120,000
years ago in a remote region of Africa. We are adapted for THAT
environment, not this one. Psychiatry is one of the last disciplines
to catch Darwin-fever, but it will probably take off when it does.
Evolutionary forces are the source of mental disorders. Evolution
cripples the modern-day city-dwellers as it raises the bushmen. We
are not adapted for living in a Chicago, or the cold of upstate New
York, or any part of the industrial world. The environment of
evolutionary adaptedness, they call it -- savannah, or coastal South
Africa (depending upon which anthropologist you talk to). That is
where we belong; that is where the human mind reached the pinnacle
of fitness -- and where our thoughts are still.

We long for savannah, open spaces, carnivore preditors, 150 tribal
faces and no more. Psychiatric theories and treatments that fail to
take account of the evolutionary adaptedness of depression,
schizophrenia, autism, bipolar disorder, and a host of other
disorders will undoubtedly suffer the fate of evolution, sooner or
later, and go the way of the dodo bird.

-DK
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