31st July- 5th Aug 2008 including pre and post-conference workshops

 

Marriott Hotel Sydney

 Workshops

Dr. Tom Collura phd

Dr. Donald Moss PhD

One Day post-conference Workshop:
Monday 4th of August 2008 (9.00am-5.30pm)

Title:  Pathways to Illness, Pathways to Health: Applications of Mind-Body Medicine to Common Medical Disorders.
Abstract:  This workshop provides a comprehensive mind-body framework for intervening with medically ill patients, based on the Pathways to Illness paradigm (McGrady & Moss, in preparation). Sixty to seventy percent of patients entering primary care present complaints which would benefit from mind-body intervention. The majority of these patients receive routine medical care, including medical testing, medication, and/or referral to a medical specialist. Those referred to mental health specialists frequently refuse referral, and become more focused on medical/physical causes and solutions.  Yet if given a choice, many of these patients will seek out complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies, many with no documented effectiveness.  

• This workshop advocates a comprehensive model for integrating behavioral, behavioral, psychophysiological, and lifestyle changes into health care.

• The model begins with a presentation of the Pathways to Illness paradigm, illustrating specific life style choices, environmental conditions, psychophysiological mechanisms, and cognitive/affective dysregulation processes, which lead the individual to the illness condition.

• The workshop then proceeds to describe a comprehensive assessment which identifies the patient’s individual pathway to illness:  genetic, lifestyle, nutritional, and psycho-physiological factors which dispose the patient to illness. 

• The emphasis is on identifying turning points and choices, which are amenable to voluntary control and self-regulatory change strategies. 

• Finally, patients who understand the pathways that brought them to illness are more motivated to walk the pathway toward health.

• The workshop will highlight the development of a prescriptive individualized pathway for health, including facing difficult behavioral and life-style changes.  Mind-body therapies including biofeedback, hypnosis, and meditative techniques supplement lifestyle interventions in restoring health.

Dr Moss will briefly review the outcome literature to identify disorders for which mind-body therapies have demonstrated positive efficacy. Specific applications will be discussed, moving beyond the bounds of typical psychological practice: headache, diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, and lupus erythematosis. For each of these disorders, life-style, risk behaviors, and psychophysiological patterns will be reviewed, which can contribute to the pathogenesis of disease, and which can also serve as the basis for a restoration to health. Special attention will be given to heart rate variability biofeedback for its expanding applications to a variety of health care problems. 

Workshop Objectives 
At the end of this workshop, attendees will be able to:

1. identify categories of medical patients who respond poorly to routine biomedical treatment,

2. conduct an assessment which identifies the patient’s pathway to illness:  genetic, lifestyle, nutritional, and psychophysiological factors which dispose the patient to illness,

3. discuss strategies to reframe the “pathway to illness” as a potential “pathway to health” for the patient, increasing the motivation and readiness for behavioral and life-style change,

4. summarize which mind-body therapies have been supported by well constructed outcomes research,

5. recognize and understand specific medical disorders, which have been shown to respond positively to life-style change and mind-body therapies, and

6. use case history material, to understand methods for integrating mainstream medical care with the “pathways model,” in an integrative medicine paradigm.

Donald Moss, Ph.D., is the Director of Integrative Health Studies at Saybrook Graduate School in San Francisco, and is a partner in the Psychological Services Center in Grand Haven, Michigan.  He is Editor of the Biofeedback Magazine, Associate Editor for the journal Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, and Consulting Editor for the Journal of Neurotherapy, Psychophysiology Today, and the Journal of Phenomenological Psychology.   Dr. Moss has over 50 publications in the fields of psychophysiology, biofeedback, and mind-body therapies, including an edited book (Handbook of Mind Body Medicine for Primary Care, Sage, 2003). He has given lectures and workshops on these topics throughout the world, including recent presentations at the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, the International Association for Cognitive Psychotherapy, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and the Biofeedback Foundation of Europe. He is also past-president of AAPB.

Dr Rien Breteler, PhD 

One day post-conference Workshop
Tues 5th August 2008 (9.00am-5.30pm)

The QEEG and how to translate it into Neurotherapy protocols for patterns associated with Depression, Anxiety, ADHD, Tourette Syndrome and OCD: A Phenotype Approach.

Research has shown that QEEG-guided neurofeedback is superior to the symptom based approach. Initially, normalization of deviant activity was applied in order to decrease a range of complaints. Recently, EEG phenotypes have been suggested. For example, within the low beta-power, high theta-power profile of children with ADHD, sub groups have been identified, having frontal beta spindles or frontal alpha. This variability has been associated with the limited effects of medication.

Although most research concerns itself with EEG power, recently the role of coherence has received more attention. Besides, brain processes in, e.g., depression, anxiety, ADHD, Tourette Syndrome and OCD have EEG representations, which have been used in neurofeedback.

The workshop will start with an introduction into EEG, QEEG and phenotypes. Then, the five domains will be discussed. The focus of the workshop will be on hands-on QEEG interpretation and protocol development.

At the end of the workshop the participants will have knowledge about :

1. The morphology of the raw EEG and its importance for QEEG maps

2. How to interpret QEEG maps

3. The various phenotypes and their role in depression, anxiety, ADHD, Tourette Syndrome and OCD .

4. Practiced (limited) hands-on experience in how to interpret Raw EEG

5. How to describe QEEG maps,

6. How to develop neurofeedback protocols in five clinical domains.

Dr. Rien Breteler is a chartered psychologist in the Dutch Health Care system.  He has been Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology at the Radboud University Nijmegen since 1987. From 2003 and onwards he has been involved in Neurofeedback research and practice. Currently he is president of the Neurofeedback section of the Dutch Psychologists' Association NIP. He is also director of the Neurofeedback curriculum of the Biofeedback Federation of Europe (BFE) (Netherlands).

Rien Breteler is convinced that neurofeedback will be able to make a considerable contribution to mental and physical health care, in particular where psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy are inadequate. This trend may already be seen in ADHD treatment. An increasing number of parents prefer neurofeedback due to the side-effects of medication. Rien Breteler is involved in various studies concerning the conditions for effective application of neurofeedback.

CONFERENCE SPEAKERS

Dr. Tom Collura Phd

Dr Rien Breteler, PhD

Presentation:: Brain Processes in Dyslexia and their Consequences for Neurofeedback: A Review of Current Developments and Future Directions. 

About 15% of the population differs from normals in reading and writing ability due to dyslexia, a specific disorder in the language system. The phonological deficit theory concerning decoding and identification of text has received most support. A “dyslexic triad” has been postulated consisting of poor phonological awareness, poor verbal short-term memory and slow lexical retrieval. Recent research suggests the importance of memory load, explaining why most children with dyslexia can correctly repeat one- and two-syllable nonwords. The temporo-parietal system, a system in the left occipito-temporal area, and an anterior system in the inferior frontal gyrus have been suggested to be involved in dyslexics’ problems in reading and writing. Besides, coherence abnormalities between frontal and central/posterior areas appear to play a role.

In the light of these findings neurofeedback treatment research for dyslexia will be discussed. Group studies, including the first randomized neurofeedback treatment study (with Effect Sizes up to 3.0), allow for the estimation of the effectiveness of neurofeedback as a health care intervention. Case studies allow for showing the dynamics of change processes. QEEG-guided neurofeedback, addressing the left occipito-temporal word form area during reading, and coherence, may be one of the most promising interventions for dyslexia of the current century.

Dr. Donald Moss PhD

Presentation:: User-Friendly Mind-Body Therapies for Health Care Abstract: Increasingly, patients suffer from disorders produced by exposure to stressful environments and by maladaptive life styles that dispose one to illness. Mind-body therapies reverse the effects of the human stress response and moderate the symptoms of many common medical disorders. Mind-body approaches provide useful adjuncts to mainstream medical care. In many cases fairly minimal interventions, of brief duration, can make significant differences in the patient’s symptoms and quality of life. Dr Moss will identify a wide range of medical diseases and conditions, for which such mind-body interventions have demonstrated effectiveness.

Professor Richard Silberstein:

Neuroscientist from the Brain Sciences Institute, Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia, and Howard Florey Institute, Melbourne, Australia. Professor Silberstein founded the Brain Sciences Institute and headed the team of scientists who developed the Steady State Visually Evoked Potential (SSVEP) technology used at the BSI. 

Presentation: Creativity, Dopamine and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Dr Chris Millar MBBS    Dr Millar graduated from Melbourne University with a medical degree in 1980. He has post-graduate training in Psychological Medicine (Monash University), Psychiatry (Lakeside Mental Hospital), Family Therapy (VAFT), Nutritional Medicine (ACNEM) and Clinical Research (Newcastle University).  In the last five years he has pursued various biofeedback modalities (EEG, HRV and HEG) and applied them to daily clinical practice. He considers himself an applied scientist who takes a systems analyst approach to addressing clinical presentations. He has worked in a primary care role as a general practitioner for over 25 years.                                                                                                                                           

Presentation: Biofeedback in General Practice.
The psychophysiological basis of biofeedback makes it an ideal modality for medically trained clinicians. The nature of everyday general practice work is such that it provides a ready supply of problems with potential biofeedback solutions: in particular, depression, anxiety, stress, and insomnia. Combined with nutritional and lifestyle advice it offers an effective and vital middle way between supportive counselling/CBT and medication/surgery. Five years of experience integrating biofeedback (EEG and HRV) into mainstream general practice will be presented.

Dr Angelo Schibeci, BA (Hons Psych), BSc, MSc, PhD, MAPS, MANSA  Angelo is a registered psychologist in private practice for the past ten years. After he received his PhD in Biochemistry, he pursued a career in Biomedical Research in Canada, USA and Australia. In 1985 he made a career change and studied Psychology at the University of Wollongong and obtained an Honours degree in Psychology from Macqurarie University in 1988. After graduating in Psychology he worked as an organisational psychologist before joining the Department of Corrective Services in 1994. In 1997, he was introduced to Neurofeedback and received training in this field in Los Angeles, California. There he trained with Siegfried and Sue Othmer from EEG Spectrum, and Professor Sterman of the UCLA. He has also trained with various other experts in this field including Jay Gunkelman, Lynda & Michael Thompson, Richard Gevirtz. He has applied Biofeedback and Neurofeedback in his practice in the last 10 years. Angelo has considerable clinical experience working with adults and children suffering from a variety of disorders including ADHD, Depression, Anxiety, OCD, PTSD, post-concussion syndrome, and Chronic Pain.                                                                                                                                                                                                        
Presentation: QEEG features and neurofeedback treatment in Asperger’s Syndrome.  Although patients with Aspergers syndrome present with heterogeneous EEG profiles, it appears that certain regions of the brain show common impairments. Nonetheless, Neurofeedback has been demonstrated to be a successful intervention in the treatment of this disorder. Statistically significant changes before and after neurofeedback treatment have been demonstrated in the QEEG. These changes have been correlated with positive outcomes in objective measures.

Nerida Saunders, BA, Dip Ed, Graduate Dip Coun, M Phil. Nerida Saunders has been in private clinical practice for 15 years and is the Clinical Director of a busy practice employing and supervising psychologists and interns. She has also established a BRC qEEG laboratory and has been trained by Dr. Rien Breteler (Head of Neurofeedback with the Dutch Psychological Society) and Dr. Martijn Arns, from Brainquiry, Netherlands in qEEG interpretation and qEEG protocol driven Neurofeedback. Nerida is president of the Gold Coast Division of the Australian College of Clinical Psychologists, is President elect of the Applied Neuroscience Society of Australasia, and is a member of EMDRI, the international organization for EMDR. She has also set up a unique Memory Clinic in conjunction with Neuropsychiatrist Dr. Philip Morris and Dr. Rustam Yumash.                                                                                                                                                                                                              
Presentation: International Study investigating the efficacy of neurofeedback (NF) on brain function, cognitive performance, clinical symptomatology and behavior in 500 AD/HD subjects.
The International Study of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Neurofeedback Efficacy (iSANE) will investigate the efficacy of neurofeedback (NF) on electroencephalographic (EEG) brain function, cognitive performance, clinical symptomatology and behavior in 500 AD/HD subjects. The trial protocol has been established according to CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) guidelines.       This study involves a “naturalistic” observation of NF within various clinics across the world. Clinicians will conduct “treatment as usual” with their clients (i.e., diagnostic intake, change protocols based on clinical judgment, etc.). In order to study the effects of NF on outcomes across sites, certain guidelines must be implemented. These guidelines will involve standardized procedures and materials. Nerida will outline the four stages of this study as well as guidelines and the standardized procedures n this presentation.

Jacques Duff: BA Psych, Grad Dip Psych.  Jacques Duff is the Clinical Director of the Behavioural Neurotherapy Clinic. Since 1997 he has been involved in Clinical Neuroscience research at the Brain Sciences Institute, investigating the causes of ADHD and its treatment using Neurotherapy. In addition to being a psychologist, he has Postgraduate training in Clinical Neuroscience and Nutritional and Environmental Medicine.

Presentation: QEEG, Anxiety and intestinal overgrowth of Streptococcus.
There is much evidence suggesting that Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is asociated with intestinal dysbiosis (abnormal distribution of comensal bacteria). There is also evidence that around 70-90% of people with IBS report a psychiatric disorder, mostly anxiety and depression. We present evidence that anxiety and panic disorder is frequently asociated with an overgrowth of streptococcus measured with faecal microbiology analysis(FMA). We compared the FMA and QEEG of clients with severe anxiety and panic attacks to those of clients without this presentation. Patients with anxiety and panic disorder had significantly more beta wave activity and streptococcus overgrowth. Suggestions are offered for a possible mechanism to explain this finding and implications for treament are presented.
 

Dr Paul Mahoney BEd, DPsych Sport & Exercise Psychologist                                                                                                          
Presentation: EEG assessment and Neurofeedback applied in a sporting context.  EEG activity and Neurofeedback has been used in a variety of ways to enhance performance. This presentation will outline the dynamic use of EEG assessments and Neurofeedback techniques for performance enhancement. Much of the research suggests that associations between EEG activity and sporting performance reflect a large amount of individual difference. It follows that Neurofeedback interventions would be more effective if they were tailored to the specific needs of the individual and their own performance. A number of assessment strategies that aim to individualise the intervention will be described. In particular a QEEG assessment will be compared to the use of only one or two channels. These strategies compare the EEG activity at different levels of individual performance rather than a norm. Therefore, this assessment can be used as an alternative or in addition to a QEEG database. The interventions derived from these assessments can be used for contemporary Neurofeedback techniques or a dynamic form of Neurofeedback that responds to the needs of the sporting task. The challenges and drawbacks of working with EEG in the sporting field will be outlined. Some contexts lend themselves more readily to EEG measurement. The application of these techniques in the context of Olympic trap shooting, professional golf and state cricket will be discussed.  

Mirjana Askovic and Sejla Tukelija, Psychologists NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS)
Presentation: Neurofeedback Therapy in Work with Complex Trauma Focusing on Affect Dysregulation  
This presentation will cover STARTTS experiences in using neurofeedback with clients suffering complex trauma. The paper will address the theoretical underpinning of working with complex trauma, particularly focusing on issues of affect dysregulation. A detailed case study of a 14 years old African boy will illustrate the practical application of neurofeedback training in resolving longstanding issues of severe anger and impulse control

Gordana Hol: Psychologist NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS)
Presentation: “Utilising Heart Rate Variability (HRV) as an integrative approach to assessment and treatment in torture and trauma survivors”
The focus of this presentation is on the utilisation of Heart Rate Variability (HRV) as one of the approaches working with STARTTS clients. A case presentation is based on theoretical background and rational for implementation of HRV. The aim is to discuss HRV as an assessment tool, as well as a therapeutical clinical component of our work with a female torture and trauma survivors from Iraq.

Dr Donald L. Rowe PhD (med.) M. Clin. Psyc. BSc(hons) MAPS
Donald Rowe is the founder and Managing Director of Psychological Consult. He is a clinical neurophysiologist and consulting psychologist with a PhD in psychological medicine from the University of Sydney, a Masters of Clinical Psychology from the University of Wollongong and a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) degree (with first class honours) from the University of WA. He has over 10 years experience working in the area of psychology and medicine including both practicing and lecturing in the area of clinical psychology. Before training as a clinical psychologist, he developed his skills as a psychotherapist in the area of psychodynamic/self psychology under the supervision of eminent WA psychiatrist Dr Hans Stampfer. He also has a high level of expertise in the area of neuropsychology and psychophysiology (EEG), currently working as a consultant for the Brain Resource Company and as a consultant for medicolegal, geriatric and peadiatric cases. Donald currently holds honorary associate positions with the Brain Dynamics Centre, the Dept. of Psychological Medicine, Westmead Hospital and University of Sydney, and the School of Physics (neuroscience), University of Sydney.                                                                      
Presentation:  Review test-retest reliability of coherence measures in the EEG and application to NF and other clinical applications with case examples.
 

Dr Donald Moss,
Presentation  PTSD, Incidence in Chronic Illness and Returning Combat Veterans, and Psychophysiological Therapies.
This  presentation will highlight the prevalence and costs of PTSD, in the general population and in populations exposed to traumatic events, and will also emphasize factors that increase the risk for PTSD and subsyndromal post-traumatic symptoms.

From the beginning, PTSD has been seen as a condition of mind and body -- a “physioneurosis” as Abraham Kardiner described it.  The psychophysiological nature of PTSD is supported by research which shows the involvement of sub-cortical brain structures, direct sensory pathways to the limbic system, affective dysregulation, and the presence of chronic measurable activation of the sympathetic nervous system. The psychophysiological nature of PTSD limits the effectiveness of purely verbal or cognitive therapies, and indicates a need for affectively oriented mind-body therapies.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was initially recognized as a syndrome precipitated by combat and the experiences of war. Gradually the concept of PTSD was extended to other traumatic and life-threatening experiences, such as auto accidents, rape, assaults, and natural disasters.  Since the development of the DSM-IV, the signs and symptoms of post-traumatic experiencing have also been recognized in cancer, burns, and other chronic illnesses.  The presenters will highlight some of the research available on the presence of PTSD in cancer, burns, and other chronic diseases.

The presenter will also touch on efforts to develop biofeedback and mind-body oriented programs for returning veterans from the Iraq and Afghan conflicts. Finally, the presenter will review the relatively scant data on the applications of psychophysiological treatments, including biofeedback and hypnosis, to PTSD.

Dr Rien Breteler to be announced.

 Panel Discussions after lunch
1. Approaches to neurofeedback & future direction (Saturday)
2. Accreditation (discussion of proposed models) (Sunday)