Gotta make this quick, but I am curious about using neurofeedback testing to identify ADHD by detecting “theta waves”.
All of the Google-fu I used only came up with results for using neurofeedback as a therapy, I couldn’t find ANYTHING about using it for diagnosis.
I spoke to the person at this clinic KCNPI - Neurofeedback - Liberty, Missouri to see if she could shed some light on it. I asked for clarification a couple times, and she said that this testing was definitive, and if the theta waves don’t show up on the analysis the person does NOT have ADHD.
I asked her if there were journal articles or something she could send me, and I was suspicious when she said that she didn’t know any off the top of her head and it had been a while since she had been to “the training”.
So is this a legitimate and definitive diagnostic tool? It seems to me that if it was, I should have been able to find something published on it.
Sounds like a FAD. Doctors, with some good reason, tend to follow fads. When things work out, they end up being a step ahead. I just got put on a tetracyclic antidepressant, for It’s antihistamine effects. Went home, and returned to diphenhydramine. Anti H1 and H2 are all same, and I don’t need all the anti-D weirdness. It’s a current fad among doctors. Best to be aware, go along as needed, but watch out.
I read a lot of research about the brain and they are finding more and more data supporting the idea that the various brain waves are an important part of cognition/computation and the coordination of groups of neurons across the brain, so it’s in the realm of possibility that it could be used to detect adhd.
Of course research is ongoing, but as of right now, ADHD is a clinical diagnosis, meaning it’s based on signs and symptoms. If your symptoms satisfy the DSM-5 criteria for ADHD, you have it; if they don’t, you don’t. Theta waves don’t enter the picture.
In general, people touting this kind of thing are trying to sell you something. In this case, there’s a lot of money to be made in cash-only ADHD clinics, because even people who don’t have it feel like they have more energy and can get more work done when they’re on a stimulant, so lots of people who don’t really have it still want to get diagnosed with it and put on a stimulant. So there are lots of “specialty” clinics who are happy to take the money of and diagnose with ADHD anybody who walks in the door.
Agreed. Evidence for ADHD is generally gathered through rating scales, observations, and performance history in an academic setting, since that is where it generally causes the most difficulty. However, it is then up to a physician (usually) to make the formal diagnosis. Even though there is no reliable office “test” for the disorder, the physician is a vital part of the diagnostic team because it is she/he who can provide the most effective part of treatment, usually stimulant medication.
Looking at the website Who We Are, I notice that none of them are MDs. So they are not going to be able to prescribe medications even if the child needs them.
They may be well-meaning, but I wouldn’t classify this as anything like a medically valid diagnosis. Behavior modification can help with ADHD and possibly even if Xxxxx doesn’t really have ADHD.