Page 33 - Flathead Beacon // 4.29.15

FLATHEADBEACON.COM BUSINESS MONTHLY FINANCIAL CORNER Jesse Rigler
APRIL 29, 2015 | 33
BRAIN MAPPING
AND BRAIN TRAINING:
Neuro-Technologies for Health
by Lora Lonsberry, PhD NEUROTHERAPY
Eight Reasons Clinicians are making referrals for Neurofeedback:
1They need more help
than medications and psychotherapy can offer some
patients.
Most experienced clinicians are well aware of the limitations of medications and psychother- apy. But what are their options?
Biofeedback is not strange, and it’s not new. Few clinicians are aware of brain biofeedback and how far it has advanced. Once they hear about it and look into it further, you hear them say “it made sense”. Most clinician who adopt neu- rofeedback already have 15-20 years or more experience. It seems experienced clinicians are more acutely aware of the limits of meds and 2psychotherapy.
Clients are demanding an
alternative.
Parents often don’t want their children on meds. They’re concerned about side effects and are ac- tively seeking alternatives that work. More and more doctors and patients are concerned about side effects. When they learn about neurofeed- back and its efficacy, they’re often open and interested in a modality that has solid success 3rates, research, and no side effects.
It makes sense to regulate the
brain.
Many clinicians say they’ve always had an inter- est in the brain, and that the idea you can train the brain and improve self-regulation through biofeedback simply makes sense to them. It’s obvious many patients have very dysregulated brains. Biofeedback helps an individual learn to regulate their brain – to increase certain activity 4and decrease other activity.
The neurophysiology is
compelling.
Many clinicians are unconvinced or very cau- tious as they look into neurofeedback. But if they experience a really good course that makes the neurophysiology understandable, it can be an “aha” moment. This isn’t simple stuff and it takes some effort to get it. When some- one changes their EEG, you are by definition changing activation and timing patterns. These affect many pathways and feedback loops in the brain. When you start to understand those mechanisms, neurofeedback becomes more 5compelling.
Watching symptoms change
quickly.
Seeing someone experience a change rapidly that cannot be explained any other way never
fails to amaze. The brain can shift states very quickly. As an example, in many training cours- es we’ve observed, by the end of several days of training, 80% or greater of attendees have no- ticed clear, significant changes in state. Changes affect sleep, mood, alertness or attention. It’s not uncommon to see a migraine or headache stopped. For some clients, changes occur in minutes – often quite unexpected changes. Experienced clinicians quickly note these un- expected changes cannot be placebo, and can only be explained by the training. NOTE: Many training sessions may be needed before any short-term, transitory changes can be expected
6to hold.
The research is impressive.
Though the “lack of research” or its limita- tions are often cited, that’s usually from people who haven’t read much of it. When clinicians read enough of the research and look at some outcome studies, particularly with ADD, de- pression (small studies), and addictions, it’s very hard to dismiss. The size of the clinical effect is impressive compared, for example, to the tiny effects you see in many studies on med- ications. While much more research is needed, significant research exists to confirm the benefit
7of neurofeedback.
Hearing from other clinicians.
Many clinicians look into neurofeedback after hearing another good clinician talk about the impact of neurofeedback. We encourage you to listen to the clinicians closest to you. They provide some excellent clinical insights. These are experienced clinicians you’d probably 8never get a chance to hear otherwise.
Family, friend, or patient who
has experienced it.
Many clinicians enter this field because some- one they personally met had an experience that was simply too difficult to dismiss. It could be chronic refractory depression that’s no longer chronic or a really out-of-control child who’s settled down and is making great grades. Those are two examples. What’s compelling about neurofeedback successes? The changes tend to sustain over time. How many alternatives see changes sustain 2, 4, or 5 years later? Though it doesn’t always occur, it’s not unusual.
For more information, visit our website: www.affectiveneurosciences. com, or to schedule an appointment for Brain Mapping or Brain Training, call 752 6634.
www.affectiveneurosciences.com • 406-752-6634
Control Your Emotions in Volatile Markets
FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS, the stock market has moved up fairly steadily, with no ma- jor “corrections.” But thus far in 2015, we’ve already seen periods of volatility — enough, in fact, to make some inves- tors jittery. Nervous investors may be more prone to make decisions based on short-term market movements — so how can you stay calm?
First of all, when evaluating your investment decisions, stay focused on those factors that have historically driven stock prices. The U.S. economy is growing at a reasonably good pace, and corporate earnings remain fairly strong. Plus, stocks may not be as un- dervalued as they were a few years ago — as measured by the price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) — but they still aren’t overly expensive, either. Things can change, of course, but when market volatility seems to be primarily caused by short- term events, such as plunging oil prices, it’s important to look beyond the head- lines to these less glamorous, but prob- ably more important, fundamentals of good investing. By doing so, you can help avoid making fear-driven investment choices.
What else can you do to help ensure that you don’t let feelings of anxiety in- fluence your investment moves? For one thing, evaluate your investment mix. If you own too many stocks and stock- based vehicles, you could take a big hit if stock prices fall sharply during periods of volatility. Historically, however, bond prices have typically increased when stock prices fell — although, of course, there are no guarantees. So, if your port- folio consists of stocks and bonds, you are better positioned to weather the
harshest effects of market turbulence. To further prepare yourself for downturns, you may also want to di- versify your fixed-income holdings to include investments such as U.S. Trea- sury bills, certificates of deposit (CDs) and municipal bonds. The percentages of each type of investment within your portfolio should be based on your goals,
risk tolerance and time horizon. Finally, you can help yourself main- tain an even-keeled approach to invest- ing by always looking for quality. Typi- cally, higher quality investments fare better during market declines and re- cover more quickly when the markets rebound. How can you judge whether a particular investment is of good “qual- ity?” A long-term track record is useful to study. It’s certainly true that, as you have no doubt heard, “past performance is no guarantee of future results,” but it’s nonetheless valuable to know how a particular stock, for example, has per- formed in various economic environ- ments. If it seems to have done well rel- ative to others in its industry and over long periods of time, that may give you a
good idea of its quality.
It’s never easy to take all the emo-
tions out of investing, especially dur- ing periods of market volatility. After all, you count on your investments to help provide you with the type of fu- ture you’ve envisioned. But by focusing on the fundamentals, putting togeth- er an appropriate investment mix and constantly looking for quality, you can help “de-stress” yourself — and, as the American poet, novelist and historian J.G. Holland once said, “Calmness is the cradle of power.”
“HELP YOURSELF MAINTAIN AN EVEN-KEELED APPROACH TO INVESTING.”
Jesse Rigler is a financial advisor at Edward Jones in Kalispell.
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