Introducing Brain Resource Center
Hello!
Welcome to our new blog on all things neuroscience and mental health! Neuroscience is the study of the biological processes that underlie behavior, cognition, and emotion. Our goal is to provide a view into this complex field and help readers better understand the relationship between their brains and mental health.We’ll give science-based tips and tricks for improving brain health, from sleep hygiene to stress regulation tools and everything in between. We hope that you will find something here that sparks your interest and helps you in your day-to-day life.
What do we do at Brain Resource Center?
We have been treating patients at our center for over 20 years. The top conditions we treat are ADHD, anxiety, depression, and brain injury, but we work with individuals struggling with OCD, addiction, tourette’s syndrome, autism spectrum disorder, and more. We use cutting-edge research for a bottom-up approach to mental and cognitive healthcare. Our center specializes in neurofeedback therapy, a non-invasive and non-medication based alternative to the standard pharmacology approach that has dominated our mental healthcare system for many decades.
What is Biofeedback and Neurofeedback?
Biofeedback is defined by the Mayo Clinic as a “mind-body technique you use to control some of your body’s functions, such as your heart rate, breathing pattern, and muscle responses.” Using heart rate as an example, a patient receiving biofeedback treatment would be provided real-time feedback on heart rate and breathing patterns over multiple sessions. Over time, patients learn how to regulate their bodies and will exhibit lower resting heart rates as well as a quicker ability to bring heart rate down.
Neurofeedback therapy is a form of biofeedback that uses real-time measurements of brain activity to treat a variety of neurological and psychological conditions. Patients are provided feedback on healthy and abnormal brain behavior, and over the course of treatment (30-50 40 minute sessions at our center) their brains will build new, healthier neural pathways that lead to improved cognitive and emotional functioning. Neurofeedback therapy has been around since the 1960s when it was initially used for epilepsy patients. The success of the treatment was so great (it helped to fully cure many of epilepsy) that its uses have greatly expanded, and it has shown great promise in treating individuals with ADHD, traumatic brain injury, tourette’s syndrome, chronic pain, anxiety, depression, PTSD, and many other cognitive and mood disorders.
Meet our clinical psychologist: Dr. Kamran Fallahpour
Dr. Fallahpour is a licensed psychologist and the founder of Brain Resource Center, where he has helped patients using neuroscience-based testing and treatment for more than two decades.
What inspired you to found the Brain Resource Center?
“The inspiration behind it was the realization for myself that I wanted to focus on neuroscience approaches to helping behavioral issues, mental health issues, as well as peak performance. At the time I was working with a group of neuroscientists called brain resource. We started a few projects developing the first and largest database for brain mapping techniques related to EEG and neuropsychological data. While collaborating with that group, we started to conduct biomarker studies and studies on depression and ADHD that gave me the idea of having a center that is a resource for people who are interested in improving their brain, mental, and cognitive health.”
What do you find most fascinating about neurofeedback therapy?
“When you think about the concept that you can actually retrain your brain functions, where thousands and thousands of neurons are firing, it is interesting because normally these neurons work together outside of your awareness and consciousness. You usually have no control over it. With this kind of training, you can change how they fire and as a result of that, you can change the way you feel, the way you behave, the way you think, and cognitive functions such as memory, focus, and executive functions. All of these can change and improve when you have access to the possibility of monitoring them and getting the right feedback to make the neurons fire in a different pattern.”
What is something you do regularly to take care of your mental health that you would suggest everyone do?
“One thing I do regularly is to engage in some sort of art or music-related experience that is creative and meditative. Those are the moments where you start to be engaged and absorbed into another process that's different from your daily responsibilities and things that you worry about. Those moments become self reflective and a space where you can totally disconnect from other obligations.”
Reach out to us!
Mental health is our focus and we are so excited to dig deeper into all of the ways we can improve mental well-being. Check back next month for ways to improve your sleep hygiene! If you are interested in finding out more about neurofeedback therapy or in receiving treatment, browse our website and don’t hesitate to reach out to us at 212-877-2130.