“Sometimes our system gets really good, or too good, at anticipating threats, when there actually isn't a lot of threat there.” - Kayla Taylor

In late November 2024, we held our premiere webinar, hosted by our dynamic duo, co-owners, and registered psychologists, Kayla Taylor and Dr. Blake Ausmus. With a combined total of more than 20 years of experience, they are experts in treating a variety of symptoms and conditions with Neurofeedback (NF) Therapy. Our webinar this past month tackled Anxiety, how it shows up for individuals, how we see it in the brain, and how we can treat it with Neurofeedback. In case you missed it, here are our webinar highlights.

Anxiety is a common struggle, it seems like everybody has experienced anxiety at one time or another. Often, we each have a personal definition for it as well; the same condition can look different in different people. What does anxiety mean for you?

At a basic level, anxiety is a natural response to stress, uncertainty, or potential threats. Our nervous system shifts into a heightened state because we are scanning our environment for threats, danger, or stressors. Anxiety is our brain and body’s response to our environment, (or our interpretation of the environment.)

As put by Kayla Taylor, “Sometimes our system gets really good, or too good, at anticipating threats, when there actually isn't a lot of threat there.” So, some anxiety is normal. We need to have reactions to stress, it drives us to action. However, for a lot of us it gets a little bit excessive.

Common physical, emotional, and behavioral responses to anxiety include:

• Heart racing

• Shallow, quick breaths

• Cold extremities (limbs, hands, or toes)

• Nervous or overwhelmed

• On the verge of tears

• Wanting to run away or hide

• Worried thoughts (past, present, or future)

• Lost in your emotions

• Unable to feel emotions, becoming extremely rational and analytical

Anxiety may be difficult to notice for some people, as we may only have a subset of these symptoms. As Dr. Blake recounted for himself, “I'll feel something in my body… I’ll notice that my hands are a bit sweaty, but I’m not [feeling] nervous. [I’m] not recognizing that I’m actually anxious and nervous and stressed about something.”

So, if anxiety looks so vastly different for each person, how can we scientifically pinpoint it in our brains?

It starts with a qEEG brain map. Quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) is a tool we use to measure electrical activity in the brain. By measuring brainwaves, our psychologists can find how active each part of the brain is. Simply put, we can take a snapshot of the brain and then look for signs of over or under-activity. (For more details on qEEQ and Neurofeedback check out THIS blog post.)

There are 3 common patterns we see when looking at an “anxious brain”.

Excess Hi-Beta (23-38Hz)

Hi-Beta is the brainwave we usually see when we are highly engaged in a difficult or emotionally challenging situation. Sometimes called our “fight or flight” state, Dr. Blake put it best:

“This is actually exactly how I would want the brain to look like if you were in a building that’s on fire.”

But, as Kayla put it, “Hi-beta at that amount is not very efficient. … It’s kind of like the Threat Signal is coming online and going ‘Uh oh! Uh oh! This is not good! There’s a threat here!’ Yet, the person is just kind of sitting in a chair, in a nice cozy office, with a lovely staff member. So theoretically there should not really be any threat, but … this brain is interpreting this as a threat.”

Imbalanced Hi-Beta

While this brain shows less hi-beta during the eyes-closed and eyes-open recording stages (circle one and two), we don’t usually want to be making hi-beta when we are in a safe atmosphere. During our task recording, we may expect to see some, however this brain shows a lot of hi-beta waves on the right-front side of the head, as compared to the left-front of the head (circle three).

During the webinar analysis, Kayla explained, “Imbalances like this often show up as a felt sense of ‘Something’s amiss. I’m not at ease here. I’m discontent with something…’”

We expect to see a little variation in the left and right hemisphere, but this is significant.

Anterior Cingulate Slowing

Slow-wave (2-4Hz) is a brainwave we expect to see in sleep, especially deep and restorative sleep. When we see these waves during waking hours, especially when we are trying to accomplish a task, it can signify difficulties paying attention, being “stuck” in your own head, and anxious rumination. This is most notable when there is slowing in the anterior cingulate. That “midline” (when functioning properly) helps us with flexible thinking, shifting from one task to another, and letting things go. So, this type of anxiety is often described as difficulty paying attention to the world around you, constantly thinking about “what ifs”, and being unable to move out of anxious-sensations like trembling, racing heart, and shallow breathing.

Of course these are not the only ways anxiety appears in the body or the brain, these are simply common patterns seen in our clinics.

Treatment Highlights

Dr. Blake goes on to note how Medical Doctors often diminish client feelings, writing them all off as “anxiety”, when the current diagnostic manual actually details 11 different types of anxiety. On top of this, those types are based on presenting symptoms, rather than what is physically happening in the brain, so medication and other treatments may be poorly guided.

That’s how treatment differs at Sano State Psychology. Our approach is comprehensive. We take a look at the brain, listen to each person’s experiences, and then make an individualized care plan. 

Dr. Blake highlights some of the areas we’ve seen success in treating, including:

• Anxiety

• Depression

• ADHD

• Sleep issues

• Concussion

• Stress

• And more…

Neurofeedback Therapy is about training the brain to function better. By taking an individual perspective, we can look right into your brain and find exactly where the problems are. NF teaches the brain to increase or decrease activity in certain areas. As well, the brain learns to maintain these patterns, so benefits persist even after treatment has finished.

Dr. Blake highlighted some of these results from data collected in the clinic. 

62 clients were included in our analysis. These people had rated their anxiety as “high” or “severe”, (based on a standardized questionnaire). After 20 hours of NF therapy, 92% had a significant decrease in anxiety. This means a noticeable jump, like going from severe to mild, or high to none.

He proceeds, “We wish it were 100% [success], and we work so hard to get it as close as we can. … When compared to the gold standard, …about 4 to 4.5 points decreased [on the standard questionnaire], we’re seeing on average more than double that, [8.9 points decreased.]”

Quick aside, “Gold Standard” is the term used to describe the scientifically best available treatment recommendation at this time. But what’s “best” changes as new research comes out. Usually, the "best” is decided by seeing how many people a treatment usually works for, how well it works for them, and how many times other studies have shown this pattern. As well, these have to be a certain kind of study, so scientists can be sure nothing else is causing the changes. “Gold Standard” doesn’t mean it’s the ONLY treatment that will work. It doesn’t even mean it’s an accessible option. It usually just means that if someone has never tried anything to treat their condition, the “gold standard” treatment will be their best starting point to hopefully see some positive changes.

(We’ll cover this in more detail in a future blog post, but for now you can check out the topic of efficacy and research with NF HERE.)

Dr. Blake continues on regarding client results.

“When I try to present this data to a client to help them sort of gauge expectations, I often hear, ‘Yeah, I’ve tried so many things. I’m going to be in that 8% of people it doesn’t work for.’ 

Remember, the clientele that we are working with are what I would call the “treatment resistant”. … the overwhelming majority of the people that come in have already done lots of different medication, or been hospitalized, or have done counseling, and different therapies, and all sorts of things, yoga retreats… then they come to see us. So, we're working among that treatment resistant [group], so this really, really high rate of improvement is among those people that often think they're not going to get results, yet we still see these incredible results."

The webinar closed with some Q&A from the audience. These questions included: 

Do kids experience anxiety in the same way as adults?

Can NF help kids too?

When is anxiety a good thing?

How does lack of sleep affect the brain?

And more…

If you’d like to watch the full webinar you can find it On YouTube Here. And if you’re interested in the responses to some common questions you can skip to that HERE.

Join us in the new year for our next webinar on Seasonal Depression.

As always, if this is an area where you could use support, connect with us HERE or by calling 587-333-6349. 💙

Our content is for informational and educational purposes and is not a replacement for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you're facing mental health concerns, please seek help from a qualified professional for personalized guidance. Every individual's situation is unique, so use the information here at your discretion. While we strive for accuracy, the field of psychology is ever-evolving, and our content may not always reflect the latest research. Please prioritize your privacy by avoiding sharing personal information in comments or interactions. Your well-being is our top concern, so use our content for educational purposes, but remember to rely on professionals for your specific needs.