Neurofeedback for Trauma and PTSD
How Neurofeedback Helps Trauma Recovery
Neurofeedback helps trauma recovery by teaching the brain self-regulation. Through guided training, it supports the rewiring of neural pathways into more balanced patterns, thereby reducing hyperarousal and assisting individuals to move toward a calmer, more regulated state.
Trauma is the psychological and physiological response to distressing experiences that overwhelm an individual's ability to cope. It’s not always about what happened, but how the experience was processed and stored in the nervous system. Trauma can result from single incidents (acute trauma) such as accidents or violent acts, or from repeated exposure to distressing situations (complex trauma) like ongoing abuse or neglect.
When trauma occurs, the brain’s standard processing can become disrupted. Instead of being stored as memories, the experience may remain “stuck” in the nervous system, continuing to trigger stress responses long after the event. This often shows up as insomnia, hypervigilance, emotional dysregulation, restlessness, intrusive memories, dissociation, and other symptoms that disrupt daily life.
What is QEEG Neurofeedback?
At North Austin Neurofeedback, we offer EEG Neurofeedback, a form of biofeedback that uses QEEG brain mapping to guide individualized protocols. A QEEG, or quantitative EEG, creates a brain map that shows patterns of electrical activity and provides insight into how a person’s brain is functioning.
Neurofeedback then trains the brain to correct dysregulated brainwave activity linked to symptoms. By teaching the brain how to self-regulate and form new neural pathways, neurofeedback can reduce symptoms related to stress, anxiety, depression, compulsive behaviors, and other mental health challenges.
How Does Neurofeedback Work?
During a neurofeedback session, small electrode sensors are placed on your scalp to monitor brain activity. Then you participate in a personalized brain training session based on the QEEG-guided protocol chosen for you.
You’ll receive visual or auditory feedback while watching your chosen TV show (such as brightening/dimming of a screen or adjusting the audio). This rewards your brain when it reaches the healthy, balanced state we are targeting. Over time, your brain learns to produce these healthier patterns on its own, leading to better regulation of emotions, attention, and overall mental well-being.
How Trauma Impacts the Brain
As Dr. Bessel van der Kolk describes in The Body Keeps the Score, trauma fundamentally influences brain development and embeds itself within our neural circuitry. This creates “malfunctioning” due to an overactive autonomic nervous system, driven by heightened activity in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. His research emphasizes the importance of therapies that directly address and normalize these altered brain states—such as neurofeedback.
How Alpha-Theta Neurofeedback Heals Trauma
Alpha-Theta neurofeedback helps the brain enter a relaxed, meditative state where deep healing can occur. Developed in the 1960s by Elmer and Alyce Green, this method utilizes EEG feedback to gently guide the brain into hypnogogic, or trance-like states, similar to those experienced during deep meditation or the moments just before sleep.
In these states, the nervous system can process unresolved experiences and learn new patterns of calm and self-regulation. Unlike older relaxation methods, Alpha-Theta provides real-time feedback on brain activity, making it a more direct and effective way to support trauma recovery.
Alpha-Theta Neurofeedback in Austin, Texas
At North Austin Neurofeedback, we offer Alpha-Theta neurofeedback training right here in North Austin and surrounding areas, Round Rock, Cedar Park, Pflugerville, and Georgetown. During these sessions, you simply sit back and relax while listening to auditory feedback tones that guide your brain into a deeply relaxed, meditative state.
The audio tones reward your brain when it successfully produces alpha waves (relaxation) and bursts of theta waves (deep meditation and healing). This combination can assist with memory processing, emotional healing, and trauma integration. Many people experience visualizations or insights during sessions, as this relaxed state allows access to deeper levels of the mind.
When most of us close our eyes, the fast focus and thinking waves of the brain (beta) begin to quiet down, and slower, calming (alpha) waves rise, supporting relaxation. Once relaxed and ready for sleep our slow waves (delta and theta) begin to rise to meet alpha - the crossover between alpha and theta is where we begin to fall asleep.
For many individuals with trauma, closing the eyes doesn’t always bring rest though. Instead, their alpha waves rise too strongly, creating an overactive “idling” state in which the mind fills with chatter. Because of this dysregulation, theta waves—the gateway to sleep—must climb higher than normal to meet alpha, which often leads to difficulty falling asleep and insomnia. Alpha–theta training gently teaches the brain through operating conditioning how to reach and sustain this crossover point between these two rhythms, helping quiet the chatter without slipping into deep sleep. A successful session produces one or more crossovers, a daydream-like state that feels deeply relaxed and safe, where traumatic or disturbing memories and emotions can be subconsciously reintegrated for healing.
Neurofeedback in Austin: A Holistic Approach to Mental Health
At North Austin Neurofeedback, we take a combined approach to addressing a wide variety of mental health conditions. Our care integrates talk therapy, neurofeedback, and lifestyle or behavioral changes to provide the best outcomes for you or your loved ones.
If you are interested in neurofeedback in Austin or exploring what we can offer, please give us a call at 512-293-9209 or schedule a consultation today.
References
Green, E., & Green, A. (1977). Beyond Biofeedback. San Francisco: Delacorte Press.
Peniston, E. G., & Kulkosky, P. J. (1989). Alpha–theta brainwave neuro-feedback therapy for Vietnam veterans with combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder. Medical Psychotherapy: An International Journal, 2, 47–60.
Nicholson, A. A., Rabellino, D., Densmore, M., Frewen, P. A., Paret, C., Kluetsch, R., Schmahl, C., Théberge, J., Neufeld, R. W., McKinnon, M. C., Reiss, J., Jetly, R., & Lanius, R. A. (2017). The neurobiology of emotion regulation in posttraumatic stress disorder: Amygdala downregulation via real-time fMRI neurofeedback. Human brain mapping, 38(1), 541–560. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23402
