For the last four months I have been doing a form of therapy known as EEG biofeedback (previously more commonly referred to as neurofeedback). On the most basic level it is a system that allows the brain to get information about itself and thereby correct certain imbalances or traumas. As I get into further posts describing the process in more detail I’ll provide plenty of links. For now I’d like to concentrate on my initial experience.

I was skeptical when first offered the chance to try the therapy. Skeptical, but curious. Anything that might work was worth a shot.

A session of EEG biofeedback consists of being hooked up, via three sensors placed on various points on your scalp, to a laptop with specialized software that reads information about your brainwaves and then, based on that information, gives you feedback in the form of sounds and visual images. The loop this creates allows your brain to make the corrections I mentioned above. Which protocols you will use are determined by an evaluation given before the first session.

Almost immediately, it was startling how good I felt. The session would end and I would head home, elated by a sense of ease and comfort. As my sessions continued that immediate jolt of feeling good subsided and I seemed to hit something of a lull (which is apparently common). And, yet, at the same time, I could step back and recognize that when I got into anxious states, particularly when I would get stuck in a building sense of dread, they didn’t seem to be lasting as long.

And then, somewhere around twenty sessions in, something extraordinary happened.

I had agreed to go to an alumni get-together. It was just the kind of situation that has always been terrible for my social anxiety and I dreaded showing up. On the evening of the event, I parked and headed for the location. My mind began a familiar refrain: “Why do I have to do this? No one will remember me. This is going to be horribly awkward and embarrassing. I’m going to stand around holding one drink and looking lost and feeling pathetic. I could just turn around right now…”

But then I noticed something. My body was calm.

My heart wasn’t racing. My stomach wasn’t churning. My breathing wasn’t shallow. I had no numbness in my fingers. I didn’t feel any chills or trembling. I wasn’t having the physical symptoms of social anxiety.

As soon as I recognized this I was floored. I worried I might be imagining it. I stood still, waiting to see what would happen. My body remained calm. And as the realization that I really was feeling okay settled in, my mind began to relax. I stopped thinking about how terrible the evening might be. I went inside.

And while it wasn’t the perfect gathering, it was nothing compared to how events like that usually are for me. I was able to find ways to talk to people, meet people I knew, and not worry so much about what everyone else might be thinking.

The feeling of physical calm I first noticed that night has continued to build. And I have slowly realized that something significant is changing. It is as if my central nervous system has long been out of whack and now is not. I am more content, less thrown by events, and able to experience greater joy.

This therapy is affordable and easily accessible. If you’d like any kind of follow up information you can email me at umguyduh@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to both discuss this and pass on details as to who you can contact to try it yourself. I’ll post further details and links in a future post, once the website being put together by the person who got me involved in this is finalized.

Something unexpected and very positive has happened and I want to share it here because it has had such a powerful effect on my social anxiety. I have had a major reduction in the physical symptoms of social anxiety and the associated thoughts are loosening their hold. This is thanks to a very specific form of therapy I have been doing for the last three months.

I’ll get into that therapy fully with a handful of posts and provide links so that anyone interested in trying what has helped me so much will know who to contact. But for right now I want to establish this site as active once again. My next post will be a catch up post and then I’ll get into the story of what has happened with this therapy.

I’d like to take this opportunity to invite anyone who is dealing with SAD to write for this site. Please contact us with stories you’d like to share or insights you’ve gained. Take a look through the archives and see if anything we have written speaks to you. We’d love to see a post about your reaction to a particular topic we once covered. Anything at all will be welcomed. I would like to keep this site going once again.

In addition to the question, feel free to share your experiences with the particular form(s) of therapy you have used. Or if you have wonderings about any of the approaches, post them as well, and everyone can share their insight.