The biggest surprise when I got neurofeedback was that it was unconscious. I didn't have to do anything. Just sit there. It was a completely foreign concept that I could learn without doing anything, without trying. Even though it's technically classified as behavioral therapy, it's not reinforcement for the user outwardly behaving a particular way - it's not behavior in the plain usage of the word. I think it would be helpful to a lot of people to see a video of an actual neurofeedback session, including the collaborative conversation about creating a goal. So they could see that the user is just sitting, and see what the technician sees on their screen and they adjust the settings, and how the feedback is a colored dot on the user's screen and/or drumbeat or other sound that the user chooses. And maybe screenshots of "this is how the user's brain scan looked at the beginning of the session, and this is how it looked at the end of the session." And then the check-in at the beginning of the next session, when the technician asks "how did it go since our last session?"
Having come to the unshakeable conviction, at age 65, that I'm on the spectrum, with the support of several of these tests (AQ: 35/50, and others), but mostly on the overwhelmingly powerful anecdotal evidence from your videos and others, and how all this very simply explains...ME...and MY LIFE...I've proceeded to make sense of tics, habits, formerly inexplicable social discomforts and anxieties, visceral aversions, and, in general, perplexities concerning this "other planet" I have tried to cope with my whole life. It is so startlingly, and yet wonderfully, vivid and starkly plain to me, I feel no need of a formal diagnosis. It is enough for me to take the things I'm learning and let them bring me integration, healing, perspective. And, very importantly, prerogative, to make CHOICES where I didn't realize it was even a matter of choice. One small instance: I am painfully, excruciatingly hyper-vigilant, registering and coordinating, not far removed from choreographing, where everything and everybody is, what their trajectories are compared to mine, in a place like a supermarket. Which tends to mean a lot of looking at people, in front of, next to, and behind me. Along with a compelling sense that I am somehow supposed to be politely sociable, at least acknowledge them. Just like you do in a packed, buzzing party that's absolutely killing you yet you feel that persistent "onus" to interact. At the same time, and this is the astronomically ironic part, I am intensely introverted. Frankly, all the people I'm focusing so fixedly on in a crowded public space like a supermarket are precisely the "mass" I'm viscerally longing to get away from. And so I end up making tons of oblique contact with masses of people that another part of my mind recoils from gratuitious contact with. Talk about exhaustion.... So one thing this discovery has helped me make consciously can be expressed like this: I can choose one of the two modes, either the hyper-vigiliance or, if it's not too simplistic to put it this way, the introversion. In other words, give rein to my hyper-vigiliance or give rein to my private-space maintenance. Even simpler, look at people or don't. And what I am finding is, I can allow my introversion, my instinct NOT to look, NOT to broadly and gratuitously interact, to take charge and subdue my hyper-vigilance (which is the far more counterproductive and distressing of the two instincts). It always feels a bit like being rude, arrogant and reckless, not scanning everything/everybody around me (who knows, maybe I'll accidentally step into someone's way), but I remind myself very consciously and intently that it's NOT rude, NOT arrogant, NOBODY is expecting me to pay attention to them. And the outcome of "doing the supermarket" (and similar contexts) in Introvert Mode rather than Hyper-Vigilance Mode is a remarkably enhanced peace and sense of equilibrium as I leave the challenging context.
Temple Grandin talks about this in her book, "The Autistic Brain. Simon Baron-Cohen invented the test. His control group averaged 16.4. I stopped reading at that point. Like you, I scored 35.
This is exactly what I go through. I am now starting to love myself enough to where I give myself permission to be introverted in situations where previously I felt that I had to be extroverted, but this pressure was coming from me, but we think other people are expecting us to be a certain way
@@oa2850 Good for you! It is marvelously liberating. I generally don't like the cliché about feeling "comfortable in your own skin" but if it ever applied in my life, it's now. I hope that's true for you, too. 🙂
I'm almost 38 and was diagnosed with Asperger's (ASD) about two years ago. Your channel and videos are a godsend. Thank you for all that you've done and shared and are doing and sharing.
I have a friend who has specialized in Neurofeedback and used it for more than a decade ( the one guided with a encephalography, not the "dynamic" one that apparently doesnt' do much according to professionals) and he has found greand results in a wide array of patients and with long lasting/permanent results. I defnitely want to try once there is availably near me.
Wow... i searched "Neurofeedback near me" and got a number of hits. 3 hours away seems like a drive I wouldn't hate. I can't wait til this technology is viable in-home.
Regardless of the trauma I suffered as a child, I’m still struggling to accept my ASD diagnosis. I’m caught in a loop that traps me in the past and cycles through my trauma. My therapist appears intent on ignoring my repeated requests to address the trauma and insists I relive my early life but without context as to why. I get a lot of fancy descriptions of conditions or syndromes or observations made by other professionals but it’s still not helping me in any way at all. I still feel the same way I did in spring 2020, and later when I started therapy.
I have been having a somewhat similar experience in my own journey. Journal-ling has helped. Because I do a day by day account of when I felt powerful emotions or sensations. So when I do meet with my therapist we talk like normal, focusing on staying present and controlling the breath. However I also share the pain points I have about a life event that I didn't have the words for and we would talk through it and he would help me unbox what I was experiencing. I even told him that the version of myself that I was prior to being aware I could be on the spectrum and the version of self, that I am now, to me their the same person. I don't feel like I have changed much. However he would then say that there are changes because I am more open now to sharing both the past experiences and the present experiences. Before I would feel like the present experience is always happening. Now I am aware that it is more of the way my mind works. When something now feels like something in the then, it feels like I am experiencing purgatory. I still kinda feel it that way but I am more aware so I am able to focus on the present and try to let go of the past trauma. Quitting caffeine helps but I feel like having spoken about these things to him and writing it down. Instead of just ruminating allowed me to see how the past experience was bad. It has shaped my thinking in a negative way. However it has also given me the awareness to not subject myself to the same kind of pain in the present. I felt like sharing I hope it wasn't too much.
Honestly I would suggest you look for a different therapist, if they are not addressing your requests to deal with your trauma. Reliving the same patterns isn't helpful, and you are right to think you need to try to resolve those trauma patterns. And if you've been working with that person for several years and don't see results they just might not be the right fit for your needs.
Absolutely what Jordan said ^^^. But also an idea... cut, copy, and paste this post you made and give it to your therapist. Underline the sentence with the "without context" part. Stress to them that this is a major road block that you cannot cross. Maybe reading that will get the idea across?
@@JordanSkinner314in UK they all use the cruel biomedical model CBT mindfulness which totally invalidates us as equal human beings they effectively label snd gaslight but only see one side their own egos and personal biases and they are waiting for us to go into their traps to gaslight us to get what they want not whAt we need and that is to be treated like a human not a chemical disorder or mh label. We are people too
There's strong evidence for neurofeedback assisting trauma recovery so it's a shame it isn't more widely funded and available for that. I tend to think the plasticity in autistic brains has more to do with trauma healing and stress reduction than an alteration of inherent traits.
Interesting and thanks for presenting. He said no one’s normal, no one’s typical. I wonder if he would say that if he could not work in the field he went to school for because of differences. My brain is not optional. Be weird he said. He calls it weird like I could be something else like normal. He said no one’s typical is that like everyone is a little bit autistic, maybe. You can change it if you know about it he says. I am not sure you can change just cuz you know about it. I don’t think that’s how agency works. Goals for things you can’t achieve is very frustrating and he says to have goals but I am not sure neurofeedback would help figure out goals. He is selling something ultimately.
Paul is selling something as are you, while financial skepticism is totally valid that's not how this came across to me. In the same way that if you have met one autistic person you've met one autistic person, if you've met one neurotypical person then you've only met one neurotypical person. that's what it seemed like he was saying to me. the particular thing that he is selling and working on is not something specific to autistic folk is all I think he was trying to say. I know it can be strange to hear perspectives not so entrenched in neurodiverse understandings but I think that's all this is.
That is super interesting. Would be great to give it a go. I like that it's about greater self awareness, self understanding and self control - not about others controlling you to be more 'normal'.
With the exception of a few people, I have trouble reading faces. Brain fog has been a problem in the past few years. I wish someone would try neurofeedback with me.
Right off, you can feel and observe all of the things he say's you can't. We just get in the habit of focusing our minds outwardly and not inwardly. I learnt how to meditate effectively years ago. It's hard to find a technique that works effectively to even get started but once you do it's pretty amazing how quickly you can learn to do all sorts of things that supposedly are not possible.
That sounds a little like behavioral therapy? But maybe with the goalpost being more of the individual’s well-being and less „socially adequate behaviour“
Very insightful, thankyou. I especially like the idea of learning how your unique brain works without any preconceptions or symptomatic judgments, and without thinking in terms of good/bad, normal/weird, but more our own aspirations and suffering. Also expanding personal agency. Although my autism diagnosis has been extremely helpful in so many ways, there is still the question of who am I as an individual, and what is my unique neurological profile, that differs even from other autistics? I always thought it would be really awesome to actually see what was happening inside my brain, rather than just making guesses. I 'feel' things like electric impulses and sensations in my brain sometimes, and I even visibly see things that look like neural connections lighting up sometimes in my field of vision (usually with a migraine or sensory overload). So I've always wondered what they could mean. This technology could potentially be an interesting way of training interoception as well. I have a strong belief in working WITH modern technology, rather than relying on it. I do think, in combination with this equipment and knowledge, we also need: 1) People administering or coaching with a detailed expertise and open-minded attitudes, like Dr Hill. 2) To understand your own goals authentically (i.e. not influenced by what you think you SHOULD do or aspire to, but something you genuinely want and feels right for you). I can see this very easily being used in the wrong way, but it could also be really great for self-understanding, finding genuine self-management strategies, and also potentially better aligning internal neurologies to the right environments. How accessible is this as an option right now? Thanks again for bringing this to light.
This is something I’m sort of trying to do already with me associating specific sensations in my head with specific functions! This sort of treatment would seemingly confirm a lot of my existing knowledge while it would probably allow me to better optimise my mental functions since computers/programming is a special interest of mine! :)
Yeah, before I had neurofeedback, I felt like there were storms in my head. After a few sessions, I noticed they were starting to get better. Now the storms are waaaay less frequent, and maybe 10% as strong.
Maybe it's my age speaking, or the way he came across compared to where I am in life. I do understand the basic idea of what he is doing, however it seemed to me that he worked awfully hard to keep from outright saying the method is trying to "fix" anything non-typical. Yes, he couched it in that idea of being beneficial, and perhaps he really meant it, but my gut response was cringing and telling me to back away. All my spidie senses were tingling. That being said, I do believe we can retrain our brains...many of us who are high masking have, in my opinion, done that rather well all by ourselves...or with the help of parental conditioning or yes, MODELING. This sounded more like a hypnosis pitch..."personal trainer" is what he said they do? Maybe he can help those who are interested in changing something to "get along" better. I just wish he hadn't sounded to me like a sales guy telling me I'm not good enough the way I am. I've spent the last 10 years literally trying to figure out who I am after my husband died and I finally got a chance to not live to please everyone else. I've been individuating and he wants to change people. My Mom did that to me and it led to a life of hellish experiences. He kind of gave me the creeps...I know, that's blunt. I'm tired of being told I am not good enough the way I am and I need to change. Edit to simply say, I can understand why some people might like to try this. And I would be interested if anyone does to hear the results. I am just a little jaded.
"he wants to change people" I thought he was very clear that he wants to help people change who they themselves want to change. personally I was pleased he didn't come across at all like he did to you even though I was primed for the same thing.
I'm loosely familiar with biofeedback. You get hooked up to things that measure pulse, blood pressure, oxygen levels, etc. Then you get to directly see how different things affect those levels, in a way you couldn't without the equipment. Neurofeedback sounds like the same thing, but for brainwaves. The invisible because visible which gives you greater control over it.
@@cogginsnuff Yeah, it was a gut thing. I heard his words, but it felt off to me. My spidey senses could be off too, I do acknowledge that much. Perhaps there is something that tickled my subconscious old wounding somehow. I do hope he helps people who are interested.
@@Tilly850 I get the same vibe to some degree. On the Peak Brain Institute website they list "Symptoms of the autism spectrum" next to various disorders and injuries in a list of "other uses" for neurofeedback. To me this feels like language which has been locally made more 'correct' but hasn't really been re-contextualized from a perspective that isn't the 'medical' disorder-focused one. Being the head of this institute, he also frequently slides into these canned phrases that sound more like marketing than candor to me, and that puts me on guard. Toward the end of the interview, he went on a tangent that felt like it was posing neurofeedback as an alternative to psychological assessment, even sort of criticizing the idea of finding an identity that resonates with you and puts you in a community of people with similar experiences and traits. I don't see how neurofeedback is an alternative to those things. I'm fully willing to accept that it can be a good way to learn about your individual brain and a therapeutic tool for focused help on individual issues, but I find it very hard to swallow what sounds like an overly expansive sales pitch. It raises my anti-cult hackles. tl;dr my gut also feels off somewhat fwiw
Just trying to process and consolidate this… here goes… Nuero feedback seems to be about using nuero plasticity to consciously form new neurological pathways, much like writing a new piece of software to suite your purpose. Is that about right? As a teacher I find this interesting, it’s what we try to facilitate on a daily basis.
I like that line of thinking! My understanding would be that it's more like removing excess lines of code from software you've already got, so it runs more effectively. An example from my own brain: too much theta waves in my anterior cingulate was interfering with my ability to quickly go to sleep, so we trained my anterior cingulate to create less theta and more beta waves instead. Now I fall asleep easier. And it's not consciously doing anything. The neurofeedback technician could see on his computer screen what rhythm my brainwaves were in (in real time) and he set the sensitivity for when the light would turn green on the screen I was looking at and the drum would beat (patients can choose what kind of feedback we like). All I did consciously was look at the screen. I didn't have to concentrate or try to make anything happen. Once the light stayed green and the drum kept beating for a couple of seconds, the technician adjusted the sensitivity again to be more refined, reiterated many times over the course of a 20-minute session. My brain got better and better at producing beta in the office, and I got better at falling asleep at night.
@@shaynaformity1384 oh i see! So to re-evaluate my analogy your saying that the biological computer and operating system was de-bugged and defragmented, allowing the end user to have better, clearer and optimal control overall (perhaps an over simplification). As someone with a chromosome deletion (burnside-butler syndrome) I find my biological operating system is somewhat different to the majority, and often incompatible with pretty much all other systems rendering peripheral devices (family and friends, a litany of ex partners) mostly incompatible over time. My operating system has a name (thankfully), it’s called autism.
@@micro_adVANtures I found this peer-reviewed article in pubmed that suggests two forms of magnesium that might be helpful for you, and the reasoning for why. There's a button on the right of the screen for free full text. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6627575/
"Cats are really bad instruction followers." I stopped the video right there, because I think that's a very human-centric view. Learn how cats and other animals communicate with each other and respond to various cues from interaction with humans. Perhaps I'm being very suspicious with the near-constant smile on the person's face on the right, so my bias and projection are showing, but then the thought switches to having people who are neurodivergent in a system that does not accommodate them sufficiently being compared to cats. I like cats. I have many cat-friends. I have earned their trust and respect.
This comment is spot on. Cats didnt evolve to be instruction followers. Dogs were bred to. People who train cats dont force them to learn specific tricks, they get to know the cat and come up with tricks that suit their personality.
that's a lot of jumps from what he said, he didn't really back it up with any data so I just dismissed it even though I personally don't like cats and would gladly side with such a comment. he never said they were bad at following human instructions, maybe that was implied and I'm too autistic to pick that up but the rest of his analogy seemed perfectly reasonable? I think in the same way we probably wouldn't want to be judged for how much eye contact we make it's probably not fair to judge him for how much he smiles. I would agree comparing autistic and neurodivergent people to animals is dangerous, I don't think that's what he was doing. I know we're primed for this channel to be all about neurodivergent and autistic folk but I think this guy was coming from a more braid angle and don't think thus that wasn't actually the comparison he was making, he was just talking about people in general, I think he made it very clear that diagnosis is not something he was concerned with; becoming aware and changing what people want to change is his business, just like any personal trainer.
Hmmm. I watched about a minute of the video then switched over to the comments to try to suss out the reactions before continuing. I'm still thinking... I am certainly catlike -- PDA will produce that effect. It's why I've flamed out on almost every structured therapy, and mostly made progress through talking and a whole lot of feeling out and pattern matching, which is the technique I've used my whole life with everything. But it's hard to tell when I am resisting an approach because I can sense it's not suited for me -- which is definitely true some of the time -- and when I can't get myself to do something simply because I'm PDA. So to anyone who has watched this part, I would ask: is Hill's point here that "cats are really bad instruction followers," and Neurofeedback is designed for catlike people who also don't follow instructions -- or is the second part that cats are bad at it but humans should be able to do it, and Neurofeedback works because it gives people really good instructions to follow? Or instructions that they want? PDA makes the last possibility less useful than a non-PDAer would expect. I appreciate that my neurology is a challenge, but I'm still hoping for a therapy that accepts that some of that challenge falls on the therapy, rather than the Freudian "I never healed anybody, but that's because none of them would follow my instructions." I agree that the smile is what made me stop almost immediately. What I've been seeking and not seeming to find is a therapeutic approach that is nuts and bolts and not centered on being happier as the solution to the problem. Nice work if you can get it, I guess. But I self-regulate by being analytical. My limbic system is never going to be my guide, because it tends to be out to get me.
As someone who trained their cat to do a bunch of tricks, and only used affection to do it (ie no other reward), while I don't think that all cats are going to be as motivated as mine, I definitely think people under sell their potential a great deal!
Very interesting and I’m definitely going to take a look at what might be available regarding this, but somewhere nearby. Having some names or institutions now can at least be beneficial to weed out the ‘oh this is something new I can make money with/take advantage of people while I have no clue what I’m doing’ wanna-be neurofeedback practitioners later on. (No I’m not cynical or anything 😂)
Having got my (later in life) diagnosis of autism at age 52 in 2021 after 21 years living alone in the U.K. as an Irish gay man from an only child Rural Irish Catholic background, I’m looking for anything, as there is hardly any support nor understanding out there - my family in Ireland simply do not understand this, as much as when I first came out as gay in my teens, even though they “encouraged” me to go for the diagnosis in 2019 and they believe that only ultra strict discipline, based on thier observance of traditional Catholic social teaching, is “The only way” to “manage” this “condition” and they disapprove of my living alone without a live in carer and travelling long distances alone without a chaperone
I've already sorta got some of that when I enter my receptive/empty mind state. Plus, for whatever reason, I occasionally feel an electric sensation and crackling in my head, as well as various other sensations on my right hemisphere that I can sometimes catch.
Off the wall question. I have not been formally diagnosed yet, I am confident I have asd, when I was a toddler my mother was told by the doctor that I was probably mildly retarded. They didn’t know what asd was back then. Here’s my question, how many people with autism are near sighted and farsighted? If you wear glasses and are autistic, please comment below. Wondering if there might be a correlation?
What a great question! I'm autistic, and I used to be nearsighted, with astigmatism, convergence insufficiency, and lack of depth perception. All those were resolved by working with an unusual behavioral optometrist, which led me to become a certified vision educator. I did a quick search and discovered a review of a data set of 10 million children that discovered the prevalence of any ophthalmologic diagnosis considered was 3.5% in typically developing controls, 12.5% in children with pervasive developmental disorder, and 13.5% in autistic children. The opthalmologic diagnoses included amblyopia, strabismus, optic neuropathy, nystagmus, or retinopathy of prematurity. In another study, of 380 autistic children, ophthalmic disorders were found in 71% of children with ASD evaluated at a university-based ophthalmology clinic. The rates of significant refractive error (which includes nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism) was 42%, strabismus, amblyopia, and optic neuropathy exceeded those of the general pediatric population. It makes sense, because many autistics have difficulties with proprioception and spatial awareness, and those provide part of the information the visual system needs to function well. Natural vision improvement includes activities to enhance those senses as well as eye functioning.
Having become engaged with the Autistic community on various platforms, I have noticed in so many instances that over half the attendees wear glasses, which is something I had not seen before in general life situations (and it’s not just I hadn’t noticed because I notice everything). Myself, I always had excellent eyesight until becoming whatever it is called when you are over 45 (need reading glasses, can’t focus less than 6 feet away now). My Autistic son had astigmatism and was given exercises as a child, he should wear glasses perhaps but won’t. Strangely, he is a cameraman/video editor.
@@tracik1277 Especially with the increased screen time and especially cell phones, vision problems are rampant in all ages now, and nearsightedness is becoming common in younger and younger children - it's estimated that 50% of the world's population will be nearsighted by 2050 . I imagine that autistics are more likely to wear glasses instead of contact lenses, so perhaps it's also more apparent in autistic groups. I also wonder whether autistic adults are less likely to get laser eye surgery because we tend to research procedures more carefully and are more risk averse - for people who don't know about or don't have access to natural vision improvement, continuing to wear glasses might seem like a better option than risking lifelong pain or other complications from eye surgery. Astigmatism is a state (not a trait) that can change - it's most usually caused by misalignment in the neck muscles (suboccipital muscles are neurologically connected to extraocular muscles, which change the shape of the eyeball) so it's possible your son doesn't experience astigmatism any more, or only experiences it intermittently, and it can change from moment to moment, while glasses are designed to compensate for a particular configuration.
@@tracik1277 Needing reading glasses after age 40 is called presbyopia. We're also seeing people develop presbyopia at younger ages, because one of the factors is head-forward posture (screen-time, cell phones). Exercises specifically for presbyopia are in behavioral optometrist Marc Grossman's book, Greater Vision. I'm 54, and when my near vision gets blurry, I review my eye exercises and clarity comes back. Contrary to what most eye doctors are taught, it's not due to aging - it's a functional state. Function can be restored.
I like this stuff. Does Dr Hill have offices in Australia, near Melbourne? Or does he know anyone around Melbourne who practices neurofeedback like he does?
I'm autistic, but I don't think there are physical signs of it. Observe me, the way I talk and do things, yeah, that's clear. In conversation, SIL suggested it;s because I am also gifted. That made perfect sense. I was in a group of four classes, first year of primary plus the three following years. Getting perfect score consistently in arithmetic tests probably was noticed. And English and comprehension matching kids two years older. The kids would have noticed. Together with lack of fine motor skills, so poor at sports. My early view of the world was that you could be good at sports or good at classwork but not both. Then I found people who were good at both and had to reframe my beliefs.
Autism isn’t Down syndrome. There are no physical markers that dictate the difference in brain structure, so you wouldn’t be able to look at anyone and determine if they were autistic or not. The only way anyone would know is by observing behavior and brain scans
@@kissit012 Behaviour is precisely what I have in mind. Paul's autism is clear from his stimming, I don't stim beyond what's normal to NT people. Does stimming mean Paul's autistic? Probably not, if it did diagnosis would be trivial in his case. But he's clearly different.
From his Peak Brain website, neurofeedback is successful in 'treating age-related cognitive disorders, anxiety disorders, addiction, and symptoms of the autism spectrum.' In other words - autism itself is something which needs to be medicalised, problematised and fixed. Truly revolting.
Even if you want to be autism-positive about ASD as a whole, there are definitely "symptoms of the autism spectrum" that are flat out problems which would be good for any autistic person to fix. Being non-verbal, whether constantly or even just selective mutism. Communication difficulties. Thought spirals. Analysis paralysis. Anxiety.
@@jliller Temple Grandin advocates not labelling people (labelism), but dealing with their symptoms. You have problems fitting in? Let's deal with that. Can't talk? Let's get you talking. Good at maths? Let's give you harder maths. 60 years ago, I struggles with geometry and trig. Mum (a schoolteacher) thought I was being lazy, so she gave me some training in the school holidays. In the end of year state-wide tests, I scored 98% I lost the two by checking my answers and correcting one.
@@oneeyedphotographer Labelism? That's a new one by me. Labels fit the vast majority of the time and help make the world an organized, understandable place. You can't solve a problem if you can't define it, and it's much easier to talk about something with a simple, shorthand term (i.e. a label). Labels aren't the problem. How people treat those that have certain labels is the problem.
@@austinpeak I know what you mean, and given the history of how autistics have been mistreated, many will be offended and upset if you use the words treatment and symptoms in regard to them, that will set off their amygdala and they won't be able to process anthing else you say. You might consider saying something like "neurofeedback is successul in treating age-related .... addiction. It also helps autistics function better with regard to sleep, anxiety, coping with sensory stimulation, etc."
@@austinpeak To understand where they're coming from, that will help you use language to reach the people you want to help, I highly recommend reading the books NeuroTribes (for history) and Neuroqueer Heresies (for current thinking - very important!).
I tried neurofeedback a few years ago and it made me feel really bad! (Plus the practitionner charges a lot and does nothing at all!) I couldn't find my words and was confused in a strange state for hours after a session... i would not recommend it personally. (I am autistic and adhd). A dangerous path to follow I believe... it goes back to wanting to change us towards a more neurotypical version without clearly saying it... i don't like it
I'd need to see an independent longitudinal study on autistic people, as I wonder if it might perhaps be used as a scientific form of ultimately teaching someone to mask, which as we know, is not an expression of our authentic selves and can lead to burnout.
Neurofeedback doesn't teach someone to pretend to be someone they're not. It teaches the brain to actually function more effectively. For example, I had too much theta waves and not enough beta to be able to go to sleep easily. Neurofeedback taught my brain how to make more beta, so I go to sleep. Being less sleep-deprived means I get to be more of my authentic self, not less.
@@PlanetZhooZhoo yes, for me. I found a very interesting article that says "Hauri and coworkers22,23 revealed that tense and anxious insomnia patients respond more to EMG-theta than ISC [beta], while those who were more relaxed at study intake preferentially responded to ISC. These authors were the first to show that appropriate instrumental conditioning can have long-lasting effects on insomnia and that instrumental conditioning tailored to specific patient needs appears to be most efficacious." Every one of my neurofeedback sessions began with a check-in of what happened after the last session, so treatment could be tweaked based on how my system was responding. Neurofeedback is individualized for each person.
Is it science or pseudoscience? Neurofeedback was, last time I checked one of the fuzzier cases of the demarcation problem, but it failed to meet my personal epistemic bar.
Hi, Paul! This is really interesting work and I'll have a look around for someone that does this, but I'm still having a bit of trouble with you calling everyone Autistic now. When and why did that change. Or did I miss something? And if it's a spectrum, what am I missing? The reason being, I could consider myself and Aspie, but Autistic is too much for me. Thanks for the help.
There is no cure to autism, as it isn't a disease. Neurofeedback and all other sorts of therapy or clinical interventions are meant to promote cognitive health, behavioral and social adaptation, as well as mitigate suffering or mental health issues that people on the spectrum might experience.
@@YaBoiAdzy Not without completely changing who the person is on a fundamental level. Learning how to better structure the environment is a much better approach, as autistic people do bring something to the table that's rather useful for everybody. Even if in some cases it can be a right pain and difficult to deal with.
Andrew Hill is all over youtube but he’s such a car salesman. Not suprised to see him show up here again. I actually know someone who got REALLY messed up at his clinic: peak brain institute. I was also in a group with Andrew where he took zero responsibility when confronted by this guy. He spend a fortune and took him over a year to get back on track from the danage to his brain. So just saying…be careful!!!
@@andrewgawlik4961 Yes, we're not superior, but as a part of the general population, we bring something that is badly needed. A society comprised solely, or even mainly with, autistic people would fail hard and probably in not too many generations. We bring a lot to the table, but so do NT folks and it's not healthy to think otherwise IMHO.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade agreed! It's a part of neurodiversity having neurotypicals in addition to the variety of neurodivergent people (ADHD, autistic, dyspraxic, dyslexic, dyscalculic, etc). We all have something to bring to the table.... different perspectives, different ways of thinking, different ways of processing, etc. That's why acceptance and support are so critical. What is sorely needed is both equity and an understanding of the social model of disability.
“the goal is to reduce suffering, not to be average.” That moment tied with the mind mapping details for sheer gold.
thanks! :)
As a parent of a autistic child, thank you for this video!!!
The biggest surprise when I got neurofeedback was that it was unconscious. I didn't have to do anything. Just sit there. It was a completely foreign concept that I could learn without doing anything, without trying. Even though it's technically classified as behavioral therapy, it's not reinforcement for the user outwardly behaving a particular way - it's not behavior in the plain usage of the word. I think it would be helpful to a lot of people to see a video of an actual neurofeedback session, including the collaborative conversation about creating a goal. So they could see that the user is just sitting, and see what the technician sees on their screen and they adjust the settings, and how the feedback is a colored dot on the user's screen and/or drumbeat or other sound that the user chooses. And maybe screenshots of "this is how the user's brain scan looked at the beginning of the session, and this is how it looked at the end of the session." And then the check-in at the beginning of the next session, when the technician asks "how did it go since our last session?"
Having come to the unshakeable conviction, at age 65, that I'm on the spectrum, with the support of several of these tests (AQ: 35/50, and others), but mostly on the overwhelmingly powerful anecdotal evidence from your videos and others, and how all this very simply explains...ME...and MY LIFE...I've proceeded to make sense of tics, habits, formerly inexplicable social discomforts and anxieties, visceral aversions, and, in general, perplexities concerning this "other planet" I have tried to cope with my whole life. It is so startlingly, and yet wonderfully, vivid and starkly plain to me, I feel no need of a formal diagnosis. It is enough for me to take the things I'm learning and let them bring me integration, healing, perspective. And, very importantly, prerogative, to make CHOICES where I didn't realize it was even a matter of choice. One small instance: I am painfully, excruciatingly hyper-vigilant, registering and coordinating, not far removed from choreographing, where everything and everybody is, what their trajectories are compared to mine, in a place like a supermarket. Which tends to mean a lot of looking at people, in front of, next to, and behind me. Along with a compelling sense that I am somehow supposed to be politely sociable, at least acknowledge them. Just like you do in a packed, buzzing party that's absolutely killing you yet you feel that persistent "onus" to interact. At the same time, and this is the astronomically ironic part, I am intensely introverted. Frankly, all the people I'm focusing so fixedly on in a crowded public space like a supermarket are precisely the "mass" I'm viscerally longing to get away from. And so I end up making tons of oblique contact with masses of people that another part of my mind recoils from gratuitious contact with. Talk about exhaustion.... So one thing this discovery has helped me make consciously can be expressed like this: I can choose one of the two modes, either the hyper-vigiliance or, if it's not too simplistic to put it this way, the introversion. In other words, give rein to my hyper-vigiliance or give rein to my private-space maintenance. Even simpler, look at people or don't. And what I am finding is, I can allow my introversion, my instinct NOT to look, NOT to broadly and gratuitously interact, to take charge and subdue my hyper-vigilance (which is the far more counterproductive and distressing of the two instincts). It always feels a bit like being rude, arrogant and reckless, not scanning everything/everybody around me (who knows, maybe I'll accidentally step into someone's way), but I remind myself very consciously and intently that it's NOT rude, NOT arrogant, NOBODY is expecting me to pay attention to them. And the outcome of "doing the supermarket" (and similar contexts) in Introvert Mode rather than Hyper-Vigilance Mode is a remarkably enhanced peace and sense of equilibrium as I leave the challenging context.
Ken, I felt every word of that. Thank you so much for your perspective.
I feel the same. Thank you!
Temple Grandin talks about this in her book, "The Autistic Brain. Simon Baron-Cohen invented the test. His control group averaged 16.4.
I stopped reading at that point. Like you, I scored 35.
This is exactly what I go through. I am now starting to love myself enough to where I give myself permission to be introverted in situations where previously I felt that I had to be extroverted, but this pressure was coming from me, but we think other people are expecting us to be a certain way
@@oa2850 Good for you! It is marvelously liberating. I generally don't like the cliché about feeling "comfortable in your own skin" but if it ever applied in my life, it's now. I hope that's true for you, too. 🙂
I'm almost 38 and was diagnosed with Asperger's (ASD) about two years ago. Your channel and videos are a godsend. Thank you for all that you've done and shared and are doing and sharing.
I have a friend who has specialized in Neurofeedback and used it for more than a decade ( the one guided with a encephalography, not the "dynamic" one that apparently doesnt' do much according to professionals) and he has found greand results in a wide array of patients and with long lasting/permanent results. I defnitely want to try once there is availably near me.
Wow... i searched "Neurofeedback near me" and got a number of hits. 3 hours away seems like a drive I wouldn't hate. I can't wait til this technology is viable in-home.
Peak Brain actually does about 80% home / remote supervised neurofeedback programs. ;)
Regardless of the trauma I suffered as a child, I’m still struggling to accept my ASD diagnosis. I’m caught in a loop that traps me in the past and cycles through my trauma. My therapist appears intent on ignoring my repeated requests to address the trauma and insists I relive my early life but without context as to why. I get a lot of fancy descriptions of conditions or syndromes or observations made by other professionals but it’s still not helping me in any way at all. I still feel the same way I did in spring 2020, and later when I started therapy.
Same. Fokus on some hobbies
I have been having a somewhat similar experience in my own journey. Journal-ling has helped. Because I do a day by day account of when I felt powerful emotions or sensations. So when I do meet with my therapist we talk like normal, focusing on staying present and controlling the breath.
However I also share the pain points I have about a life event that I didn't have the words for and we would talk through it and he would help me unbox what I was experiencing. I even told him that the version of myself that I was prior to being aware I could be on the spectrum and the version of self, that I am now, to me their the same person. I don't feel like I have changed much. However he would then say that there are changes because I am more open now to sharing both the past experiences and the present experiences. Before I would feel like the present experience is always happening. Now I am aware that it is more of the way my mind works. When something now feels like something in the then, it feels like I am experiencing purgatory. I still kinda feel it that way but I am more aware so I am able to focus on the present and try to let go of the past trauma. Quitting caffeine helps but I feel like having spoken about these things to him and writing it down. Instead of just ruminating allowed me to see how the past experience was bad. It has shaped my thinking in a negative way. However it has also given me the awareness to not subject myself to the same kind of pain in the present.
I felt like sharing I hope it wasn't too much.
Honestly I would suggest you look for a different therapist, if they are not addressing your requests to deal with your trauma. Reliving the same patterns isn't helpful, and you are right to think you need to try to resolve those trauma patterns. And if you've been working with that person for several years and don't see results they just might not be the right fit for your needs.
Absolutely what Jordan said ^^^. But also an idea... cut, copy, and paste this post you made and give it to your therapist. Underline the sentence with the "without context" part. Stress to them that this is a major road block that you cannot cross. Maybe reading that will get the idea across?
@@JordanSkinner314in UK they all use the cruel biomedical model CBT mindfulness which totally invalidates us as equal human beings they effectively label snd gaslight but only see one side their own egos and personal biases and they are waiting for us to go into their traps to gaslight us to get what they want not whAt we need and that is to be treated like a human not a chemical disorder or mh label. We are people too
This is good for those of us with alexythymia. I often don't know I'm stressed until I start having bad gut issues.
I would just love to have my brain mapped! That sounds incredibly fascinating and awesome! 🙂
There's strong evidence for neurofeedback assisting trauma recovery so it's a shame it isn't more widely funded and available for that. I tend to think the plasticity in autistic brains has more to do with trauma healing and stress reduction than an alteration of inherent traits.
Well put. That is the way I see it to, as a neurofeedback practitioner
interesting thought
Thank you for this comment, it's personally relevant to me and I'm going to go look up some stuff now 👍
Interesting and thanks for presenting. He said no one’s normal, no one’s typical. I wonder if he would say that if he could not work in the field he went to school for because of differences. My brain is not optional. Be weird he said. He calls it weird like I could be something else like normal. He said no one’s typical is that like everyone is a little bit autistic, maybe. You can change it if you know about it he says. I am not sure you can change just cuz you know about it. I don’t think that’s how agency works. Goals for things you can’t achieve is very frustrating and he says to have goals but I am not sure neurofeedback would help figure out goals. He is selling something ultimately.
Paul is selling something as are you, while financial skepticism is totally valid that's not how this came across to me.
In the same way that if you have met one autistic person you've met one autistic person, if you've met one neurotypical person then you've only met one neurotypical person. that's what it seemed like he was saying to me. the particular thing that he is selling and working on is not something specific to autistic folk is all I think he was trying to say. I know it can be strange to hear perspectives not so entrenched in neurodiverse understandings but I think that's all this is.
That is super interesting. Would be great to give it a go. I like that it's about greater self awareness, self understanding and self control - not about others controlling you to be more 'normal'.
I love that statement. Very perceptive. Self control vs others controlling you. That would be so relaxing, and dare I say it, normal.
Fascinating! I'd love to get neural feedback about my own brain. Thanks for sharing your results Paul. x
With the exception of a few people, I have trouble reading faces. Brain fog has been a problem in the past few years. I wish someone would try neurofeedback with me.
Right off, you can feel and observe all of the things he say's you can't.
We just get in the habit of focusing our minds outwardly and not inwardly.
I learnt how to meditate effectively years ago.
It's hard to find a technique that works effectively to even get started but once you do it's pretty amazing how quickly you can learn to do all sorts of things that supposedly are not possible.
That sounds a little like behavioral therapy? But maybe with the goalpost being more of the individual’s well-being and less „socially adequate behaviour“
Reminds me of guided meditation
I love this perspective, can't wait to learn more about neurofeedback!
Exciting topic! I was wondering if it would work. Thank you Paul for the work you do.
Very insightful, thankyou. I especially like the idea of learning how your unique brain works without any preconceptions or symptomatic judgments, and without thinking in terms of good/bad, normal/weird, but more our own aspirations and suffering. Also expanding personal agency.
Although my autism diagnosis has been extremely helpful in so many ways, there is still the question of who am I as an individual, and what is my unique neurological profile, that differs even from other autistics? I always thought it would be really awesome to actually see what was happening inside my brain, rather than just making guesses.
I 'feel' things like electric impulses and sensations in my brain sometimes, and I even visibly see things that look like neural connections lighting up sometimes in my field of vision (usually with a migraine or sensory overload). So I've always wondered what they could mean. This technology could potentially be an interesting way of training interoception as well. I have a strong belief in working WITH modern technology, rather than relying on it.
I do think, in combination with this equipment and knowledge, we also need:
1) People administering or coaching with a detailed expertise and open-minded attitudes, like Dr Hill.
2) To understand your own goals authentically (i.e. not influenced by what you think you SHOULD do or aspire to, but something you genuinely want and feels right for you).
I can see this very easily being used in the wrong way, but it could also be really great for self-understanding, finding genuine self-management strategies, and also potentially better aligning internal neurologies to the right environments.
How accessible is this as an option right now?
Thanks again for bringing this to light.
100%
This is something I’m sort of trying to do already with me associating specific sensations in my head with specific functions! This sort of treatment would seemingly confirm a lot of my existing knowledge while it would probably allow me to better optimise my mental functions since computers/programming is a special interest of mine! :)
Yeah, before I had neurofeedback, I felt like there were storms in my head. After a few sessions, I noticed they were starting to get better. Now the storms are waaaay less frequent, and maybe 10% as strong.
Maybe it's my age speaking, or the way he came across compared to where I am in life. I do understand the basic idea of what he is doing, however it seemed to me that he worked awfully hard to keep from outright saying the method is trying to "fix" anything non-typical. Yes, he couched it in that idea of being beneficial, and perhaps he really meant it, but my gut response was cringing and telling me to back away. All my spidie senses were tingling.
That being said, I do believe we can retrain our brains...many of us who are high masking have, in my opinion, done that rather well all by ourselves...or with the help of parental conditioning or yes, MODELING. This sounded more like a hypnosis pitch..."personal trainer" is what he said they do?
Maybe he can help those who are interested in changing something to "get along" better. I just wish he hadn't sounded to me like a sales guy telling me I'm not good enough the way I am. I've spent the last 10 years literally trying to figure out who I am after my husband died and I finally got a chance to not live to please everyone else. I've been individuating and he wants to change people. My Mom did that to me and it led to a life of hellish experiences. He kind of gave me the creeps...I know, that's blunt.
I'm tired of being told I am not good enough the way I am and I need to change.
Edit to simply say, I can understand why some people might like to try this. And I would be interested if anyone does to hear the results. I am just a little jaded.
"he wants to change people" I thought he was very clear that he wants to help people change who they themselves want to change. personally I was pleased he didn't come across at all like he did to you even though I was primed for the same thing.
I'm loosely familiar with biofeedback. You get hooked up to things that measure pulse, blood pressure, oxygen levels, etc. Then you get to directly see how different things affect those levels, in a way you couldn't without the equipment.
Neurofeedback sounds like the same thing, but for brainwaves. The invisible because visible which gives you greater control over it.
@@cogginsnuff Yeah, it was a gut thing. I heard his words, but it felt off to me. My spidey senses could be off too, I do acknowledge that much. Perhaps there is something that tickled my subconscious old wounding somehow. I do hope he helps people who are interested.
@@Tilly850 I get the same vibe to some degree. On the Peak Brain Institute website they list "Symptoms of the autism spectrum" next to various disorders and injuries in a list of "other uses" for neurofeedback. To me this feels like language which has been locally made more 'correct' but hasn't really been re-contextualized from a perspective that isn't the 'medical' disorder-focused one. Being the head of this institute, he also frequently slides into these canned phrases that sound more like marketing than candor to me, and that puts me on guard. Toward the end of the interview, he went on a tangent that felt like it was posing neurofeedback as an alternative to psychological assessment, even sort of criticizing the idea of finding an identity that resonates with you and puts you in a community of people with similar experiences and traits. I don't see how neurofeedback is an alternative to those things. I'm fully willing to accept that it can be a good way to learn about your individual brain and a therapeutic tool for focused help on individual issues, but I find it very hard to swallow what sounds like an overly expansive sales pitch. It raises my anti-cult hackles. tl;dr my gut also feels off somewhat fwiw
Late to this but very interesting. I scan brains for a living and it is a constant source of fascination about how they work!
I love the way he approaches the brain
That was soo interesting and hopeful for the future. Thanks Paul
Just trying to process and consolidate this… here goes… Nuero feedback seems to be about using nuero plasticity to consciously form new neurological pathways, much like writing a new piece of software to suite your purpose. Is that about right?
As a teacher I find this interesting, it’s what we try to facilitate on a daily basis.
I like that line of thinking! My understanding would be that it's more like removing excess lines of code from software you've already got, so it runs more effectively. An example from my own brain: too much theta waves in my anterior cingulate was interfering with my ability to quickly go to sleep, so we trained my anterior cingulate to create less theta and more beta waves instead. Now I fall asleep easier. And it's not consciously doing anything. The neurofeedback technician could see on his computer screen what rhythm my brainwaves were in (in real time) and he set the sensitivity for when the light would turn green on the screen I was looking at and the drum would beat (patients can choose what kind of feedback we like). All I did consciously was look at the screen. I didn't have to concentrate or try to make anything happen. Once the light stayed green and the drum kept beating for a couple of seconds, the technician adjusted the sensitivity again to be more refined, reiterated many times over the course of a 20-minute session. My brain got better and better at producing beta in the office, and I got better at falling asleep at night.
@@shaynaformity1384 oh i see! So to re-evaluate my analogy your saying that the biological computer and operating system was de-bugged and defragmented, allowing the end user to have better, clearer and optimal control overall (perhaps an over simplification). As someone with a chromosome deletion (burnside-butler syndrome) I find my biological operating system is somewhat different to the majority, and often incompatible with pretty much all other systems rendering peripheral devices (family and friends, a litany of ex partners) mostly incompatible over time.
My operating system has a name (thankfully), it’s called autism.
@@micro_adVANtures I found this peer-reviewed article in pubmed that suggests two forms of magnesium that might be helpful for you, and the reasoning for why. There's a button on the right of the screen for free full text. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6627575/
Very informative. Thank you Paul and Dr. Hill.
"Cats are really bad instruction followers."
I stopped the video right there, because I think that's a very human-centric view.
Learn how cats and other animals communicate with each other and respond to various cues from interaction with humans.
Perhaps I'm being very suspicious with the near-constant smile on the person's face on the right, so my bias and projection are showing, but then the thought switches to having people who are neurodivergent in a system that does not accommodate them sufficiently being compared to cats.
I like cats. I have many cat-friends. I have earned their trust and respect.
And cats can generally be trained, it just requires that we stop treating them like broken dogs. And a ton of patience.
This comment is spot on. Cats didnt evolve to be instruction followers. Dogs were bred to. People who train cats dont force them to learn specific tricks, they get to know the cat and come up with tricks that suit their personality.
that's a lot of jumps from what he said, he didn't really back it up with any data so I just dismissed it even though I personally don't like cats and would gladly side with such a comment. he never said they were bad at following human instructions, maybe that was implied and I'm too autistic to pick that up but the rest of his analogy seemed perfectly reasonable? I think in the same way we probably wouldn't want to be judged for how much eye contact we make it's probably not fair to judge him for how much he smiles. I would agree comparing autistic and neurodivergent people to animals is dangerous, I don't think that's what he was doing. I know we're primed for this channel to be all about neurodivergent and autistic folk but I think this guy was coming from a more braid angle and don't think thus that wasn't actually the comparison he was making, he was just talking about people in general, I think he made it very clear that diagnosis is not something he was concerned with; becoming aware and changing what people want to change is his business, just like any personal trainer.
Hmmm. I watched about a minute of the video then switched over to the comments to try to suss out the reactions before continuing. I'm still thinking...
I am certainly catlike -- PDA will produce that effect. It's why I've flamed out on almost every structured therapy, and mostly made progress through talking and a whole lot of feeling out and pattern matching, which is the technique I've used my whole life with everything. But it's hard to tell when I am resisting an approach because I can sense it's not suited for me -- which is definitely true some of the time -- and when I can't get myself to do something simply because I'm PDA.
So to anyone who has watched this part, I would ask: is Hill's point here that "cats are really bad instruction followers," and Neurofeedback is designed for catlike people who also don't follow instructions -- or is the second part that cats are bad at it but humans should be able to do it, and Neurofeedback works because it gives people really good instructions to follow? Or instructions that they want? PDA makes the last possibility less useful than a non-PDAer would expect. I appreciate that my neurology is a challenge, but I'm still hoping for a therapy that accepts that some of that challenge falls on the therapy, rather than the Freudian "I never healed anybody, but that's because none of them would follow my instructions."
I agree that the smile is what made me stop almost immediately. What I've been seeking and not seeming to find is a therapeutic approach that is nuts and bolts and not centered on being happier as the solution to the problem. Nice work if you can get it, I guess. But I self-regulate by being analytical. My limbic system is never going to be my guide, because it tends to be out to get me.
As someone who trained their cat to do a bunch of tricks, and only used affection to do it (ie no other reward), while I don't think that all cats are going to be as motivated as mine, I definitely think people under sell their potential a great deal!
Very interesting!! Loving these new vídeos you are making! Thanks so much for sharing all theses informations!
neurofeedback was a great eye opener on how to control my attention!
Great Chat. Thanks.
I appreciate this video very much
Thank you. I love you and really appreciate you 💕
Definitely did find that interesting. Good interview.
Thank you so much!
As always, a good video but I will have to watch it several times over to digest the content.
Very interesting and I’m definitely going to take a look at what might be available regarding this, but somewhere nearby. Having some names or institutions now can at least be beneficial to weed out the ‘oh this is something new I can make money with/take advantage of people while I have no clue what I’m doing’ wanna-be neurofeedback practitioners later on. (No I’m not cynical or anything 😂)
Having got my (later in life) diagnosis of autism at age 52 in 2021 after 21 years living alone in the U.K. as an Irish gay man from an only child Rural Irish Catholic background, I’m looking for anything, as there is hardly any support nor understanding out there - my family in Ireland simply do not understand this, as much as when I first came out as gay in my teens, even though they “encouraged” me to go for the diagnosis in 2019 and they believe that only ultra strict discipline, based on thier observance of traditional Catholic social teaching, is “The only way” to “manage” this “condition” and they disapprove of my living alone without a live in carer and travelling long distances alone without a chaperone
I've already sorta got some of that when I enter my receptive/empty mind state. Plus, for whatever reason, I occasionally feel an electric sensation and crackling in my head, as well as various other sensations on my right hemisphere that I can sometimes catch.
Thank you for this video. 👌🏻
🤯😍😁 Thanks so much, Paul! I'd love to do this. I wonder if costs are astronomical... 🤔
Off the wall question. I have not been formally diagnosed yet, I am confident I have asd, when I was a toddler my mother was told by the doctor that I was probably mildly retarded. They didn’t know what asd was back then. Here’s my question, how many people with autism are near sighted and farsighted? If you wear glasses and are autistic, please comment below. Wondering if there might be a correlation?
What a great question! I'm autistic, and I used to be nearsighted, with astigmatism, convergence insufficiency, and lack of depth perception. All those were resolved by working with an unusual behavioral optometrist, which led me to become a certified vision educator. I did a quick search and discovered a review of a data set of 10 million children that discovered the prevalence of any ophthalmologic diagnosis considered was 3.5% in typically developing controls, 12.5% in children with pervasive developmental disorder, and 13.5% in autistic children. The opthalmologic diagnoses included amblyopia, strabismus, optic neuropathy, nystagmus, or retinopathy of prematurity. In another study, of 380 autistic children, ophthalmic disorders were found in 71% of children with ASD evaluated at a university-based ophthalmology clinic. The rates of significant refractive error (which includes nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism) was 42%, strabismus, amblyopia, and optic neuropathy exceeded those of the general pediatric population. It makes sense, because many autistics have difficulties with proprioception and spatial awareness, and those provide part of the information the visual system needs to function well. Natural vision improvement includes activities to enhance those senses as well as eye functioning.
Having become engaged with the Autistic community on various platforms, I have noticed in so many instances that over half the attendees wear glasses, which is something I had not seen before in general life situations (and it’s not just I hadn’t noticed because I notice everything). Myself, I always had excellent eyesight until becoming whatever it is called when you are over 45 (need reading glasses, can’t focus less than 6 feet away now). My Autistic son had astigmatism and was given exercises as a child, he should wear glasses perhaps but won’t. Strangely, he is a cameraman/video editor.
@@tracik1277 Especially with the increased screen time and especially cell phones, vision problems are rampant in all ages now, and nearsightedness is becoming common in younger and younger children - it's estimated that 50% of the world's population will be nearsighted by 2050 . I imagine that autistics are more likely to wear glasses instead of contact lenses, so perhaps it's also more apparent in autistic groups. I also wonder whether autistic adults are less likely to get laser eye surgery because we tend to research procedures more carefully and are more risk averse - for people who don't know about or don't have access to natural vision improvement, continuing to wear glasses might seem like a better option than risking lifelong pain or other complications from eye surgery. Astigmatism is a state (not a trait) that can change - it's most usually caused by misalignment in the neck muscles (suboccipital muscles are neurologically connected to extraocular muscles, which change the shape of the eyeball) so it's possible your son doesn't experience astigmatism any more, or only experiences it intermittently, and it can change from moment to moment, while glasses are designed to compensate for a particular configuration.
@@shaynaformity1384 Good points.
@@tracik1277 Needing reading glasses after age 40 is called presbyopia. We're also seeing people develop presbyopia at younger ages, because one of the factors is head-forward posture (screen-time, cell phones). Exercises specifically for presbyopia are in behavioral optometrist Marc Grossman's book, Greater Vision. I'm 54, and when my near vision gets blurry, I review my eye exercises and clarity comes back. Contrary to what most eye doctors are taught, it's not due to aging - it's a functional state. Function can be restored.
I like this stuff. Does Dr Hill have offices in Australia, near Melbourne?
Or does he know anyone around Melbourne who practices neurofeedback like he does?
Is this related, at all, to the work that John Elder Robinson made known, esp. in his book "Switched On"?
I'm autistic, but I don't think there are physical signs of it. Observe me, the way I talk and do things, yeah, that's clear.
In conversation, SIL suggested it;s because I am also gifted.
That made perfect sense. I was in a group of four classes, first year of primary plus the three following years. Getting perfect score consistently in arithmetic tests probably was noticed. And English and comprehension matching kids two years older. The kids would have noticed. Together with lack of fine motor skills, so poor at sports.
My early view of the world was that you could be good at sports or good at classwork but not both. Then I found people who were good at both and had to reframe my beliefs.
Autism isn’t Down syndrome. There are no physical markers that dictate the difference in brain structure, so you wouldn’t be able to look at anyone and determine if they were autistic or not. The only way anyone would know is by observing behavior and brain scans
@@kissit012 Behaviour is precisely what I have in mind. Paul's autism is clear from his stimming, I don't stim beyond what's normal to NT people.
Does stimming mean Paul's autistic? Probably not, if it did diagnosis would be trivial in his case. But he's clearly different.
Very cool indeed.
From his Peak Brain website, neurofeedback is successful in 'treating age-related cognitive disorders, anxiety disorders, addiction, and symptoms of the autism spectrum.' In other words - autism itself is something which needs to be medicalised, problematised and fixed. Truly revolting.
Even if you want to be autism-positive about ASD as a whole, there are definitely "symptoms of the autism spectrum" that are flat out problems which would be good for any autistic person to fix. Being non-verbal, whether constantly or even just selective mutism. Communication difficulties. Thought spirals. Analysis paralysis. Anxiety.
@@jliller Temple Grandin advocates not labelling people (labelism), but dealing with their symptoms. You have problems fitting in? Let's deal with that.
Can't talk? Let's get you talking.
Good at maths? Let's give you harder maths.
60 years ago, I struggles with geometry and trig. Mum (a schoolteacher) thought I was being lazy, so she gave me some training in the school holidays. In the end of year state-wide tests, I scored 98% I lost the two by checking my answers and correcting one.
@@oneeyedphotographer Labelism? That's a new one by me.
Labels fit the vast majority of the time and help make the world an organized, understandable place. You can't solve a problem if you can't define it, and it's much easier to talk about something with a simple, shorthand term (i.e. a label).
Labels aren't the problem. How people treat those that have certain labels is the problem.
@@austinpeak I know what you mean, and given the history of how autistics have been mistreated, many will be offended and upset if you use the words treatment and symptoms in regard to them, that will set off their amygdala and they won't be able to process anthing else you say. You might consider saying something like "neurofeedback is successul in treating age-related .... addiction. It also helps autistics function better with regard to sleep, anxiety, coping with sensory stimulation, etc."
@@austinpeak To understand where they're coming from, that will help you use language to reach the people you want to help, I highly recommend reading the books NeuroTribes (for history) and Neuroqueer Heresies (for current thinking - very important!).
I suppose it all comes with a Price tag?
It’s so tricky that when you have a quirky brain not everything is flowing to be able to understand more.
I tried neurofeedback a few years ago and it made me feel really bad! (Plus the practitionner charges a lot and does nothing at all!) I couldn't find my words and was confused in a strange state for hours after a session... i would not recommend it personally. (I am autistic and adhd). A dangerous path to follow I believe... it goes back to wanting to change us towards a more neurotypical version without clearly saying it... i don't like it
I'd need to see an independent longitudinal study on autistic people, as I wonder if it might perhaps be used as a scientific form of ultimately teaching someone to mask, which as we know, is not an expression of our authentic selves and can lead to burnout.
Neurofeedback doesn't teach someone to pretend to be someone they're not. It teaches the brain to actually function more effectively. For example, I had too much theta waves and not enough beta to be able to go to sleep easily. Neurofeedback taught my brain how to make more beta, so I go to sleep. Being less sleep-deprived means I get to be more of my authentic self, not less.
@@shaynaformity1384 Are you sure beta and theta are not the other way around?
@@PlanetZhooZhoo yes, for me. I found a very interesting article that says "Hauri and coworkers22,23 revealed that tense and anxious insomnia patients respond more to EMG-theta than ISC [beta], while those who were more relaxed at study intake preferentially responded to ISC. These authors were the first to show that appropriate instrumental conditioning can have long-lasting effects on insomnia and that instrumental conditioning tailored to specific patient needs appears to be most efficacious." Every one of my neurofeedback sessions began with a check-in of what happened after the last session, so treatment could be tweaked based on how my system was responding. Neurofeedback is individualized for each person.
Also maybe chack out something very different... Psychoanalysis. Leon Brenner on TH-cam talks about autism beautifully... ❤
Sounds like Bryan Johnsons Kernel Braintree
Is it science or pseudoscience?
Neurofeedback was, last time I checked one of the fuzzier cases of the demarcation problem, but it failed to meet my personal epistemic bar.
Given how many people have experienced side effects from this therapy I would call it pseudoscience
yes.interesting. maybe. wow.
I wish it was more accessible ! Cost prohibitive!
Lost after one minute I guess I just don’t have the patience nor the attention span. I have no idea what he’s talking about.
Hi, Paul! This is really interesting work and I'll have a look around for someone that does this, but I'm still having a bit of trouble with you calling everyone Autistic now. When and why did that change. Or did I miss something? And if it's a spectrum, what am I missing? The reason being, I could consider myself and Aspie, but Autistic is too much for me. Thanks for the help.
So, whats the cost?
And will it actually help to cure autism?
It won't cure it, and I'm sure the cost is like any other medical procedure that isn't standard already - out of pocket.
There is no cure to autism, as it isn't a disease. Neurofeedback and all other sorts of therapy or clinical interventions are meant to promote cognitive health, behavioral and social adaptation, as well as mitigate suffering or mental health issues that people on the spectrum might experience.
I don’t think it’s something that can be “cured”
@@YaBoiAdzy not outright no, that would require gene editing during the babies development, hence why I said help
@@YaBoiAdzy Not without completely changing who the person is on a fundamental level. Learning how to better structure the environment is a much better approach, as autistic people do bring something to the table that's rather useful for everybody. Even if in some cases it can be a right pain and difficult to deal with.
Neurofeedback didn't do anything for me. Just frustrated me and made me feel defective, like every other form therapy has so far.
Damn, how many sessions?
Andrew Hill is all over youtube but he’s such a car salesman. Not suprised to see him show up here again. I actually know someone who got REALLY messed up at his clinic: peak brain institute. I was also in a group with Andrew where he took zero responsibility when confronted by this guy. He spend a fortune and took him over a year to get back on track from the danage to his brain.
So just saying…be careful!!!
Paul. You have a whoop??
whats an autism though google dont tell me so maybe its not scientifically known?
As we are part of the superior group why would we need feedback especially from neurotypicals
I believe that it's just as bad to claim that we are superior just like neurotypicals seem to promote the neuronormative as superior.
@@andrewgawlik4961 Yes, we're not superior, but as a part of the general population, we bring something that is badly needed. A society comprised solely, or even mainly with, autistic people would fail hard and probably in not too many generations. We bring a lot to the table, but so do NT folks and it's not healthy to think otherwise IMHO.
I don't know about you but I'm barely functional at times. Usually trying to do things the "normal" way does actually help, except it's tiring.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade agreed! It's a part of neurodiversity having neurotypicals in addition to the variety of neurodivergent people (ADHD, autistic, dyspraxic, dyslexic, dyscalculic, etc). We all have something to bring to the table.... different perspectives, different ways of thinking, different ways of processing, etc.
That's why acceptance and support are so critical. What is sorely needed is both equity and an understanding of the social model of disability.
@@theodorealenas3171 I believe that for me it's learning to understand my limits and my capabilities
Neuro Feedback has been around for awhile but that guy…..
Neurofeedback is an obvious grift.
ooh yeah you'd be very familiar with grifting given your profile picture.
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Yeah keep ignoring clinical eft techniques, the fastest and easiest and free way!