I was horrified as Angela (not her real name) and her husband recounted their experience with ECT (electroconvulsive therapy). I had witnessed ECT during my psychiatry rotation in residency training. In a nutshell, a severely-depressed patient who fails to get better on psychotherapy and every imaginable drug is put under general anesthesia and treated with electrical shocks that cause seizures. Even watching the process is unpleasant to say the least. But I have to admit it’s better than committing suicide when there is no other known option. Think of it as seeing the blue screen of death on your computer: Your only hope of recovering its function is to turn it off, wait a minute, turn it back on, and pray.
So when Angela informed me that she had been treated with ECT, I knew she wasn’t exaggerating about how severe her depression was. She underwent two dozen weekly ECT treatments. At first, they were a miracle. But the suicidal thoughts soon returned, and they no longer responded to ECT, so she declined her psychiatrist’s recommendation to keep doing it.
By this time, there was no lasting benefit. But the treatments were not without lasting effects. The first ten sessions caused her to lose memory of the most recent two years of her life. She no longer knew anyone she met during that time. She could not recall anything that happened during that time. And she could not remember anything she learned during that time. ECT was truly life-changing for Angela, just not in the way she and her family had hoped. This was not the ”reboot” she needed.
IT’S TIME TO MOVE INTO THE 21ST CENTURY
Fortunately, we have many tools now that were either unavailable or not widely known in 2014. We also have a much greater understanding of the causes of mental health problems. The fact that traditional psychiatrists continue to rely solely on chemicals and psychotherapy to treat mental illness simply reinforces the Institute of Medicine’s 2001 conclusion that standard-of-care medical practice lags an average of 17 years behind published scientific findings.
Whereas traumatic and other unpleasant experiences often trigger or at least contribute to mental health challenges, many people with mental illness actually have no obvious cause…until a proper functional medicine investigation is performed. Then we discover hormonal, nutritional, metabolic, infectious, and/or toxic causes. Simply calling mental illness “genetic” or “a chemical imbalance” robs you of the opportunity to truly heal.
INTRODUCING MICRO CURRENT NEUROFEEDBACK
But the concept of “rebooting” the brain isn’t entirely dead. What if we could reboot the brain using tiny electrical currents that you cannot feel rather than using very risky shock treatments? With the IASIS Micro Current Neurofeedback device, we can do just that. And patients do not have to expose themselves to the risks of anesthesia, either. The procedure takes place in a comfortable office setting while you relax for a few minutes.
IASIS MCN causes brief micro current stimulation (3 trillionths of a watt) to the nervous system, resulting in a temporary fluctuation in brainwaves. This change enables the brain to reorganize itself.
Unlike traditional neurofeedback, IASIS requires no effort on the patient’s part. Sessions are much shorter. Far fewer sessions are required for enduring improvement. And nine out of ten patients notice benefits immediately or within the first few sessions.
SAFE REBOOT
IASIS Neurofeedback does not train the brain like traditional neurofeedback. Rather, it “disentrains” the brain by allowing it to reorganize itself and shift from its formerly fixed patterns to a state of healthy balance. IASIS enables people to “reboot” their brains without losing their memory.
UNLIMITED APPLICATIONS
But you don’t have to be depressed to benefit from this technology. Thousands of people have also used it for anxiety, ADHD, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic fatigue, autism, seizures, fibromyalgia, headaches (including migraines), stroke, and concussion. In fact, people don’t even have to have anything wrong to benefit: IASIS can help athletes, students, and executives achieve peak performance.
ATTEND OUR PRESENTATION TO LEARN MORE
Anyone (yes, this includes friends and family members who are not patients here) can call the office to schedule an appointment to get started. However, if you are available next Wednesday and can make it to the Provo Library, we are having an informative one-hour presentation with guest speaker;
Barry Bruder, CEO of IASIS.
We will tonight, Wednesday, August 24th, 2022 @ 6:15PM. For those in attendance, there will be a delicious charcuterie board. All who attend, whether in-person or via livestream, will receive a free MCN session. The first 50 to register will be entered into a drawing for 50% off a 10-session package!
To your health,
Andrew, MD
