A Symphony in the Brain

Author: Jim Robbins
Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
ISBN: 0802191533
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 259

Book Description
A “fascinating overview” of neurofeedback and its potential benefits for treating depression, autism, epilepsy, and other conditions (Discover). Since A Symphony in the Brain was first published, the scientific understanding of our bodies, brains, and minds has taken remarkable leaps. From neurofeedback with functional magnetic resonance imaging equipment, to the use of radio waves, to biofeedback of the heart and breath and coverage of biofeedback by health insurance plans, this expanded and updated edition of the groundbreaking book traces the fascinating untold story of the development of biofeedback. Discovered by a small corps of research scientists, this alternative treatment allows a patient to see real-time measurements of their bodily processes. Its advocates claim biofeedback can treat epilepsy, autism, attention deficit disorder, addictions, and depression with no drugs or side effects; bring patients out of vegetative states; and even improve golf scores or an opera singer’s voice. But biofeedback has faced battles for acceptance in the conservative medical world despite positive signs that it could revolutionize the way a diverse range of medical and psychological problems are treated. Offering case studies, accessible scientific explanations, and dramatic personal accounts, this book explores the possibilities for the future of our health. “Robbins details the fascinating medical history of the therapy, tracing it back to French physician Paul Broca’s discovery of the region in the brain where speech originates. At the heart of this riveting story are the people whose lives have been transformed by neurofeedback, from the doctors and psychologists who employ it to the patients who have undergone treatment.” —Publishers Weekly

Music, Language, and the Brain

Author: Aniruddh D. Patel
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019989017X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 526

Book Description
In the first comprehensive study of the relationship between music and language from the standpoint of cognitive neuroscience, Aniruddh D. Patel challenges the widespread belief that music and language are processed independently. Since Plato's time, the relationship between music and language has attracted interest and debate from a wide range of thinkers. Recently, scientific research on this topic has been growing rapidly, as scholars from diverse disciplines, including linguistics, cognitive science, music cognition, and neuroscience are drawn to the music-language interface as one way to explore the extent to which different mental abilities are processed by separate brain mechanisms. Accordingly, the relevant data and theories have been spread across a range of disciplines. This volume provides the first synthesis, arguing that music and language share deep and critical connections, and that comparative research provides a powerful way to study the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying these uniquely human abilities. Winner of the 2008 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award.

This is Your Brain on Music

Author: Daniel Levitin
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0241987369
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 229

Book Description
From the author of The Changing Mind and The Organized Mind comes a New York Times bestseller that unravels the mystery of our perennial love affair with music ***** 'What do the music of Bach, Depeche Mode and John Cage fundamentally have in common?' Music is an obsession at the heart of human nature, even more fundamental to our species than language. From Mozart to the Beatles, neuroscientist, psychologist and internationally-bestselling author Daniel Levitin reveals the role of music in human evolution, shows how our musical preferences begin to form even before we are born and explains why music can offer such an emotional experience. In This Is Your Brain On Music Levitin offers nothing less than a new way to understand music, and what it can teach us about ourselves. ***** 'Music seems to have an almost wilful, evasive quality, defying simple explanation, so that the more we find out, the more there is to know . . . Daniel Levitin's book is an eloquent and poetic exploration of this paradox' Sting 'You'll never hear music in the same way again' Classic FM magazine 'Music, Levitin argues, is not a decadent modern diversion but something of fundamental importance to the history of human development' Literary Review

Musicophilia

Author: Oliver Sacks
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 0307373495
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Book Description
What goes on in human beings when they make or listen to music? What is it about music, what gives it such peculiar power over us, power delectable and beneficent for the most part, but also capable of uncontrollable and sometimes destructive force? Music has no concepts, it lacks images; it has no power of representation, it has no relation to the world. And yet it is evident in all of us–we tap our feet, we keep time, hum, sing, conduct music, mirror the melodic contours and feelings of what we hear in our movements and expressions. In this book, Oliver Sacks explores the power music wields over us–a power that sometimes we control and at other times don’t. He explores, in his inimitable fashion, how it can provide access to otherwise unreachable emotional states, how it can revivify neurological avenues that have been frozen, evoke memories of earlier, lost events or states or bring those with neurological disorders back to a time when the world was much richer. This is a book that explores, like no other, the myriad dimensions of our experience of and with music.

Decade of the Brain: Poems

Author: Janine Joseph
Publisher: Alice James Books
ISBN: 1948579391
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 131

Book Description
In the deeply personal Decade of the Brain, Janine Joseph writes of a newly-naturalized American citizen who suffers from post-concussive memory loss after a major auto accident. The collection is an odyssey of what it means to recover—physically and mentally—in the aftermath of trauma and traumatic brain injury, charting when “before” crosses into “after.” Through connected poems, buckling and expansive syntax, ekphrasis, and conjoined poetic forms, Decade of the Brain remembers and misremembers hospital visits, violence and bodily injury, intimate memories, immigration status, family members, and the self. After the accident I turned out all of the lights in the room while I watched, concussed, from the mirror. I edged like a fever with nothing on the tip of my tongue.

ADD

Author: Mark Steinberg
Publisher: Author's Choice Publishing
ISBN: 9781931741378
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Book Description
ADD: The 20-Hour Solution explains how EEG biofeedback (neurofeedback) addresses the underlying problem and characteristics of ADD and ADHD, so that symptoms resolve and tangible improvement results. This book describes the method by which we can improve the brain's ability to pay attention and regulate its behavior. It explains the self-healing capacities of the human brain and how it can learn or re-learn the self-regulatory mechanisms that are basic to its normal design and function. This book shows: .What ADD really is and how the brain maintains self-regulation.How and why EEG biofeedback (neurofeedback) helps people with ADD.What parents can do to get their child on-track to healthy adjustment and development.How to talk to doctors, therapists, teachers, and others about ADD.Good assessment procedures and how they contribute to effective treatment.How self-control, personal choice, and responsibility for one's behavior relate to scientific principles of brain functioning.How to find appropriate resources and get started with neurotherapyThe book also lists specific up-to-date resources on where to find information on EEG neurofeedback and how to find providers throughout the world

Getting Started with Neurofeedback

Author: John N. Demos
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393075532
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Book Description
What is neurofeedback? Neurofeedback is founded upon computer technology joined with auxiliary equipment that can measure the metabolic activity of the cerebral cortex. Neurofeedback training combines the principles of complementary medicine with the power of electronics. It is a comprehensive system that promotes growth change at the cellular level of the brain and empowers the client to use his or her mind as a tool for personal healing.Until now, there has not been a single comprehensive yet easy-to-understand guide for clinicians interested in adding neurotherapy to their practice. Getting Started with Neurofeedback is a step-by-step guide for professional health care providers who wish to begin with neurotherapy, as well as experienced clinicians who are looking for a concise treatment guide.This book answers essential questions such as: How does neurotherapy work?, What is the rationale for treatment? When is neurotherapy the treatment of choice? Why should I add it to my already existing healthcare practice? The author also answers questions important to establishing a successful practice such as: What kind of training should clinicians get? What kind of equipment should clinicians buy? How can clinicians add neurofeedback to their existing practice?The first part of the book introduces the reader to the world of neurofeedback, its history and scientific basis. Case studies help clinicians apply what they are learning to their existing practice. Demos takes the mystery out of the assessment process and charts and examples of topographical brain maps (in full color) serve as teaching aids. Later in the book, advanced techniques are explained and demonstrated by additional case studies. The reader is shown how to use biofeedback for the body to augment neurofeedback training as well as being taught to work with the body and acquire a basic knowledge of complementary medicine.The book concludes by offering clinicians practical suggestions on marketing their expanded practice, purchasing equipment, finding appropriate training and supervision, and keeping up with the ever-growing profession of neurofeedback. Research and theory unite to demonstrate the clinical underpinnings for this exciting new modality. Some images in the ebook are not displayed owing to permissions issues.

Neurofeedback in the Treatment of Developmental Trauma: Calming the Fear-Driven Brain

Author: Sebern F. Fisher
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393707865
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 418

Book Description
Working with the circuitry of the brain to restore emotional health and well-being. Neurofeedback, a type of "brain training" that allows us to see and change the patterns of our brain, has existed for over 40 years with applications as wide-ranging as the treatment of epilepsy, migraines, and chronic pain to performance enhancement in sports. Today, leading brain researchers and clinicians, interested in what the brain can tell us about mental health and well being, are also taking notice. Indeed, the brain's circuitry—its very frequencies and rhythmic oscillations—reveals much about its role in our emotional stability and resilience. Neurofeedback allows clinicians to guide their, clients as they learn to transform brain-wave patterns, providing a new window into how we view and treat mental illness. In this cutting-edge book, experienced clinician Sebern Fisher keenly demonstrates neurofeedback’s profound ability to help treat one of the most intractable mental health concerns of our time: severe childhood abuse, neglect, or abandonment, otherwise known as developmental trauma. When an attachment rupture occurs between a child and her or his primary caregiver, a tangle of complicated symptoms can set in: severe emotional dysregulation, chronic dissociation, self-destructive behaviors, social isolation, rage, and fear. Until now, few reliable therapies existed to combat developmental trauma. But as the author so eloquently presents in this book, by focusing on a client's brain-wave patterns and "training" them to operate at different frequencies, the rhythms of the brain, body, and mind are normalized, attention stabilizes, fear subsides, and, with persistent, dedicated training, regulation sets in. A mix of fundamental theory and nuts-and-bolts practice, the book delivers a carefully articulated and accessible look at the mind and brain in developmental trauma, what a “trauma identity” looks like, and how neurofeedback can be used to retrain the brain, thereby fostering a healthier, more stable state of mind. Essential clinical skills are also fully covered, including how to introduce the idea of neurofeedback to clients, how to combine it with traditional psychotherapy, and how to perform assessments. In his foreword to the book, internationally recognized trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk, MD, praises Fisher as “an immensely experienced neurofeedback practitioner [and] the right person to teach us how to integrate it into clinical practice.” Filled with illuminating client stories, powerful clinical insights, and plenty of clinical "how to," she accomplishes just that, offering readers a compelling look at exactly how this innovative model can be used to engage the brain to find peace and to heal.

Dennis Brain

Author: Stephen Gamble
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
ISBN: 1574413074
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 395

Book Description
The British horn player Dennis Brain (1921-1957) is commonly described by such statements as "the greatest horn player of the 20th Century," "a genius," and "a legend." He was both a prodigy and popularizer, famously performing a concerto on a garden hose in perfect pitch. On his usual concert instrument his tone was of unsurpassed beauty and clarity, complemented by a flawless technique. The recordings he made with Herbert von Karajan of Mozart's horn concerti are considered the definitive interpretations. Brain enlisted in the English armed forces during World War II for seven years, joining the National Symphony Orchestra in wartime in 1942. After the war he filled the principal horn positions in both the Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras. He later formed his own wind quintet and began conducting. Composers including Benjamin Britten and Paul Hindemith lined up to write music for him. Even fifty years after his tragic death at the age of 36 in an auto accident in 1957, Peter Maxwell Davies was commissioned to write a piece in his honor. Stephen Gamble and William Lynch have conducted numerous interviews with family, friends, and colleagues and uncovered information in the BBC archives and other lesser known sources about recordings that were previously unknown. This volume describes Brain's life and analyzes in depth his musical career. Its appendices of information on performances will appeal to music historians, and its details on Brain's instruments and equipment will be useful to horn players.

A Whole New Mind

Author: Daniel H. Pink
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101157909
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 305

Book Description
New York Times Bestseller An exciting--and encouraging--exploration of creativity from the author of When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing The future belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind: artists, inventors, storytellers-creative and holistic "right-brain" thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who doesn't. Drawing on research from around the world, Pink (author of To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Motivating Others) outlines the six fundamentally human abilities that are absolute essentials for professional success and personal fulfillment--and reveals how to master them. A Whole New Mind takes readers to a daring new place, and a provocative and necessary new way of thinking about a future that's already here.