This week is Mental Illness Awareness Week, and brain function is on our mind.

What would you do to be able to retain your brain to help it function better? A Little Rock doctor, Becky Whetstone, has a solution for you. She has brought a user-friendly neurofeedback brain training system to Arkansas – the first of its kind. It can help with anything from anxiety to depression, OCD to ADD and ADHD, addiction and more without taking any pills.

A marriage and family therapist, Dr. Becky Whetstone, says neurofeedback session can help the entire family. She brought this technology to Little Rock due to the lack of Arkansans’ awareness of neurofeedback training. Sessions take place at the Brain Change Center in the Plaza West Building in midtown Little Rock, or you can rent a machine by the month for easy, at home sessions. “I went to a trauma conference in NYC with five of the most world-renowned trauma experts and they said you’ve got to incorporate neurofeedback in your practice to help people who are traumatized,” she said.

Advertisement

Some of Dr. Becky’s patients have been using the technology, like Lily Payne. “You’re just hearing the soft sounds of bells birds while you sit,” Payne said. “It’s really zen music in the background.” Payne started using it three weeks ago and says it is working. She and her husband use the machine for about 30 minutes daily. “I am using it for depression, anxiety, and OCD,” said Payne. “It’s really helped with my depression.”

Neurofeedback training is well researched and known in the mental health community as a way to help train the brain after trauma. Dr. Becky explains, “As we go through events in childhood that are even as little as something that hurts our feelings or where we’re not feeling good enough in a situation, all of these are traumatizing events,” she said. “When dealing with those events, the brain adjusts itself to keep us from suffering and sometimes it will numb us, bring about depression, or make us fearful.”

Advertisement

Traumatic events disrupt the brain’s ability to function at optimal levels. Neurofeedback helps these disruptions. “We hook people up whose brain has adjusted in a way that’s not working for them,” she said.

Dr. Becky says that the NeurOptimal system at the Brain Change Center is so easy to use, you can hook yourself up with very little training. “You don’t need a trained expert to hook you up and you don’t need a diagnosis whatsoever,” she said. “It’s a very user-friendly form of neurofeedback that’s less intimidating.”

Advertisement

“I want to continue in this path because I can tell a huge difference in my overall personality and communication with my husband,” said Payne.

Brain training is safe and helpful for the entire family. NeurOptimal technology is FDA safe test approved. For more information, visit brainchangecenter.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Advertisement

Invest in the future of great journalism in Arkansas

Join the ranks of the 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts who know that the Arkansas Times is the go-to source for tough, determined, and feisty journalism that holds the powerful accountable. For 50 years, our progressive, alternative newspaper in Little Rock has been on the front lines of the fight for truth, and with your support, we can do even more. By subscribing or donating to the Arkansas Times, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be helping us hire more writers and expand our coverage. Don't miss out on the opportunity to make a difference with your subscription or donation to the Arkansas Times today.

Previous article Conway debate called off; Republicans won’t participate Next article 20 in White County charged in unemployment fraud