Neurofeedback for ADHD=Quackery?

Factual Questions
1

I’m pretty skeptical of any medical claims that don’t involve either (a) medication or (b) being sliced open by a surgeon. But, I have been told I should look into getting neurofeedback therapy to supplement or replace the medication I take for ADD.

I’ve dismissed the claims made by Scientologists, but there is some medical research out there. Unfortunately, it’s hard to distinguish the legitimate medical journals from the new-age, hippy crap. Even mighty Wikipedia failed to enlighten me much. So, can anyone out there separate the science from the hype?

2

Well, I know plain old feedback works, as in “I had several classmates who would nowadays have been diagnosed ADHD and put on pills for life, but instead we educated them and they’re just fine”. They’re all more energetic than your average person, they’re all conscious of that (they don’t expect others to be as energetic as they), they’re all perfectly able to restrain themselves when needed and none of them has a problem explaining “I get distracted easily, so if you need to call me back to earth just do”. People who work with them know when it’s possible to get their attention and when it’s not, same as it was for us as kids.

Neurofeedback sounds like someone is trying to take a shortcut on the educational process we had on those classmates - trying to distill years of encouragement of “good” behavior and disencouragement of “bad” into a few electrical impulses. Also like a subdued version of electroshock. Will it work? Ehrm… maybe I’m just paranoid about sparky stuff, but I wouldn’t put money on it.

3

:::“I had several classmates who would nowadays have been diagnosed ADHD and put on pills for life, but instead we educated them and they’re just fine”.:::

Is this the same advice you would give to someone suffering from, say, bipolar disorder? Or Parkinson’s, for that matter? I know some people with cancer, but I don’t claim to be an oncologist.

I really don’t mean this to be a personal attack, but I’ve heard so much misinformation and absurd suggestions, and they all seem to be based on either: a) I had a friend who they diagnosed with ADD. He can play video games for hours, but he can’t do his homework. There’s nothing wrong with him, he’s just lazy. Or b) I saw a 60 Minutes special where they showed that ADD is overdiagnosed and kids are overmedicated. Therefore, the disease must be an excuse for bad parenting, or bad kids, or whatever…

So, let’s clear a few things up (and again, I’m not directing this as an attack on the previous author, but a few things should be pointed out):

(1) Not everyone with ADHD is a space cadet. No one who knows me has to worry about “when it’s possible to get [my] attention and when it’s not.” I have tremendous difficulties concentrating in certain respects, but I can certainly carry on a conversation, and no one has to stick me with a cow prod to get my attention.
(2) Not everyone w/ ADHD is a spaz. I’m not “more energetic than your average person.” I wasn’t the kid in class who threw stuff or had temper tantrums. Hyperactivity is a possible symptom of ADHD (they just called it ADD back when I was originally diagnosed. I think I now how AADD, which is the same thing, but the name changes in adults.)

(3) :::we educated them and they’re just fine::: Educated? Educated them in what? Did you educate them on how they could change the chemical make-up of the brain? Is there a class I can sign up for on how to fix my dopamine levels? A 2004 study conducted by Harvard Medical School found that about 50% of people with ADHD who had jobs, reported that they lost work directly related to their ADHD symptoms.

So, I’m thinking that maybe science can provide a better answer than ‘plain old feedback.’ That being said, I’m still not sure what to think about Neurofeedback.

4

I’ll be interested to see what people have to say about it. My son has ADHD, is on medication, and is doing very well. I’ve occasionally heard other people say they were going to look into biofeedback for their children, but none of them ever actually did it, as far as I know.

5

Here are articles from WebMD and Medscape , which are reputable sites.

Here are some from ADDA and from CHADD , which are also reputable.

And here is a long list of other articles from MEDLINE.