Drake Institute – Optimizing Neuroplasticity

Our brain weighs only 2 to 3 pounds, yet the brain uses up as much as 40% of all of one’s blood glucose or blood sugar. This is an astonishing fact. What does the brain do with such a high proportion of our body’s blood sugar?  It creates energy whereby the brain runs all of its functions, and can reorganize, strengthen and develop neural connections. This is an effect of what is called “neuroplasticity”.

Brainmap guided neurofeedback is the most direct,efficient process to therapeutically improve brain functioning through neuroplasticity. At Drake we only target the functional networks or regions of the brain that are dysregulated, causing symptoms.  The more frequently new, healthy brainwave patterns are generated and reinforced in these specific regions or networks,  then the faster the new neural connections become the new, normal baseline. That is why the Drake Institute has new patients begin treatment with undergoing at least 3 treatments a week for the first month.

Patients who come from out of town, usually in the summer, want to complete treatment in the shortest time period so they undergo 5 treatments a week and typically complete treatment in 6-8 weeks, depending on the diagnosis. Over the years our out of town patients have demonstrated to myself and clinical staff of how quickly the brain can reorganize to more normalized, healthy functional patterns. When a patient has a post treatment brain map, it is not uncommon to see significant improvement in 1-2 months.

With what we have learned from our many out of town patients, if it was possible logistically for our local patients, I would encourage any patient in acute crisis to have treatment in the accelerated time frame. It is not necessary but it does accelerate improvement in patients in acute crisis. Three time a week remains highly effective and is our basic program. The accelerated program gives us an additional option  for those patients in acute crisis.