Neurofeedback in Reading
ILF and frequency-based neurofeedback to support regulation and psychotherapy
Neurofeedback is a non-invasive, learning-based process that gives the brain and nervous system real-time feedback about their activity.
I offer infra-low frequency neurofeedback and frequency-based neurofeedback within a wider, formulation-led psychotherapy practice. The approach is selected according to your presentation, aims, regulation needs and response to training.
Neurofeedback may be considered when difficulties such as disrupted sleep, overwhelm, reactivity, shutdown, attention difficulties, fatigue or slow recovery after stress are affecting daily life or making psychotherapy harder to sustain.
Sessions are offered in person in Shinfield, Reading, Berkshire.
What neurofeedback is
Neurofeedback is a self-regulation training process.
During a session, sensors read brain activity and provide moment-to-moment visual, auditory or sensory feedback. The sensors do not electrically stimulate the brain.
The aim is not to force the brain to change, consciously control its activity or correct supposedly “abnormal” brainwave patterns. Instead, the brain and nervous system receive information to which they may gradually respond.
You do not have to “do it right”.
Training does not depend on effort, analysis or conscious control. Over time, it may support greater stability, flexibility and regulatory capacity.
How neurofeedback may support psychotherapy
Neurofeedback is not psychotherapy, but for some people it may help create better conditions for therapeutic work.
When sleep, excessive activation, shutdown or nervous-system instability begin to improve, there may be more capacity to:
remain present;
think and reflect;
experience emotion without becoming flooded;
recover more readily after activation;
stay connected to bodily and emotional experience;
engage with difficult material without becoming overwhelmed or disconnected.
Psychotherapy remains the place where experience, protective patterns, relationships, meaning and developmental change can be explored and integrated.
I use neurofeedback as an adjunct to psychotherapy rather than as a replacement for it.
Its role may be to strengthen the regulation, stability and presence needed for psychotherapy to become more accessible and sustainable.
How neurofeedback may fit within therapy
The diagram below shows one way neurofeedback may sit alongside psychotherapy within a wider therapeutic process, depending on the formulation, your current capacity and response to training.
Neurofeedback may be offered:
within ongoing psychotherapy with me;
as a stabilising or regulatory phase before deeper therapeutic work;
alongside therapy with another psychotherapist;
alongside psychiatric or other clinical care where roles and responsibilities are sufficiently clear.
Your response to training is monitored and understood within the wider clinical formulation.
Two approaches to neurofeedback
The image below gives a simple overview of ILF and frequency-based neurofeedback; the choice depends on your needs, formulation and response to training.
Exploring whether neurofeedback may fit
The sections below explain when neurofeedback may be relevant, how ILF and frequency-based approaches differ, and how it may support readiness for psychotherapy, including DBR.
The approach is selected through assessment and formulation rather than diagnosis alone.
Open any section that seems relevant to you.
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Neurofeedback may be considered when nervous-system strain or instability contributes to:
disrupted or unrefreshing sleep;
chronic stress, anxiety or panic;
hypervigilance, startle responses or feeling constantly on edge;
emotional reactivity or difficulty settling;
shutdown, numbness or loss of access to words;
brain fog, fatigue or reduced day-to-day capacity;
attention and concentration difficulties;
slow recovery following stress;
trauma-related instability;
attention and regulation difficulties, including those associated with ADHD;
difficulty remaining present during psychotherapy.
For some people, shutdown is not simply tiredness. It may involve going blank, withdrawing, losing access to speech or appearing functional externally while feeling collapsed or unreachable internally.
Neurofeedback may be relevant when the system seems caught in patterns of overactivation, underactivation or instability.
Its presence is not automatically indicated whenever these difficulties occur. The question is whether neurofeedback appears appropriate for your particular nervous system, circumstances and wider treatment plan.
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Infra-low frequency neurofeedback
Infra-low frequency neurofeedback works with very slow fluctuations in brain activity.
It is generally used to support underlying regulation in areas such as:
sleep and settling;
recovery after stress;
autonomic stability;
emotional steadiness;
resilience;
overall nervous-system capacity.
Training is usually quiet and undramatic. It does not normally involve deliberately revisiting traumatic memories during the session.
Frequency-based neurofeedback
Frequency-based neurofeedback works with selected EEG frequency bands and training parameters.
Depending on the formulation and protocol, it may be used to support:
attention and concentration;
arousal regulation;
cognitive efficiency;
behavioural or emotional stability;
flexibility in responding;
specific functional aims.
Neither approach is selected solely according to diagnosis. The choice depends on your symptoms, regulation profile, aims, current capacity and how your system responds to training.
The method follows the person. The person is not fitted to a standard protocol.
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Deep Brain Reorienting provides one example of how neurofeedback may sometimes help prepare the ground for deeper therapeutic work.
DBR requires a person to remain sufficiently present to subtle physical and emotional experience while approaching orienting tension, shock, pain and affect. For some clients, excessive activation, shutdown or instability can make this difficult to sustain.
Neurofeedback may help settle the nervous system and increase the capacity to:
remain embodied and present;
notice physical and emotional experience;
tolerate activation without becoming overwhelmed;
stay connected rather than dissociating or shutting down;
engage more fully with carefully paced DBR work.
Its role is primarily preparatory and supportive: helping establish regulatory conditions in which DBR—and, more broadly, other forms of psychotherapy—may become more accessible and sustainable.
Neurofeedback is not usually part of the DBR sequence itself, and not every person undertaking DBR will need it.
Assessment and personalisation
Effective neurofeedback is not simply a matter of placing sensors on the scalp and applying a predetermined protocol.
Before beginning, we develop an integrated picture of how your nervous system appears to be functioning. This may include your current symptoms, sleep and arousal patterns, attention, emotional regulation, shutdown, dissociation, recovery after stress, body tension, trauma history, current life demands, present capacity and any relevant medication or medical care.
You will usually complete a questionnaire covering common symptoms and nervous-system patterns. This provides a practical baseline and helps us notice change over time.
The assessment guides the choice of training approach, sensor placements, frequency, dose and pacing.
The question is not only which neurofeedback protocol might help. It is also what may help this particular person become more stable, more present and more able to benefit from therapy and daily life.
Areas we may monitor during training
Assessment helps us identify patterns of functioning—not diagnoses—that may be useful to monitor over time and use to guide training, pacing and review.
What happens in a session?
Small sensors are placed on specific areas of the scalp to read brain activity. They do not deliver electrical stimulation.
You sit in a comfortable chair, usually watching a screen and listening to sound. A vibrating cushion may also be used where helpful.
Moment-to-moment feedback may be visual, auditory or sensory.
Sessions are generally conducted with the eyes open.
Neurofeedback is not hypnosis, trance work, guided imagery or a test you can pass or fail.
We pay close attention to how you respond during the session and afterwards.
How the training is guided
What happens during a session is only one part of the process. Neurofeedback is planned, monitored and adjusted in response to your needs, current capacity and experience during and between sessions.
The sections below explain how we decide whether neurofeedback is appropriate, how training is adapted over time, and what it may—and may not—support.
The aim is not to follow a fixed protocol, but to respond carefully to how your nervous system is changing.
Open any section that seems relevant to you.
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Neurofeedback is not offered as a one-size-fits-all intervention.
Before beginning, we consider:
whether it fits your present needs;
whether your symptoms suggest nervous-system dysregulation;
whether there are relevant medical or psychiatric considerations;
whether psychotherapy alone may be more appropriate;
whether neurofeedback may support a stabilisation phase;
how it fits with any existing treatment;
whether there is enough capacity to notice, monitor and communicate its effects.
For some people, psychotherapy is the better place to begin.
For others, neurofeedback may help reduce nervous-system strain and make deeper therapeutic work more sustainable.
The decision is reviewed continuously rather than made only once at the beginning.
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Neurofeedback may be tailored through:
the training approach;
sensor placement;
training frequency;
session duration;
dose and pacing;
the type of feedback used;
ongoing review of sleep, arousal, mood, attention, energy and stability.
Small changes can make a meaningful difference to whether training feels settling, activating, tiring or helpful.
If early training leaves you unusually tired, activated, headachy, emotionally stirred, foggy, unsettled or less able to sleep, the placement, training frequency or dose is adjusted promptly.
The process is guided by how your system is responding rather than by pushing for progress.
Because nervous systems respond differently, careful tracking matters. Benefits are not guaranteed, and early responses do not always predict the longer-term outcome.
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Neurofeedback has been used and researched across a wide range of symptoms and clinical presentations. My use of it is deliberately narrower. I primarily consider neurofeedback where regulation, sleep, arousal, attention or recovery from stress are affecting daily functioning or the capacity to engage with psychotherapy.
This does not mean that neurofeedback has no possible application beyond these areas. It reflects the way I integrate it within my practice: as a formulation-led support for regulation and therapeutic capacity, rather than as a treatment offered for a long list of diagnoses or symptoms.
Depending on the person and the formulation, neurofeedback may support:
improved sleep quality;
greater calm and emotional steadiness;
better attention and concentration;
improved recovery after stress;
reduced hypervigilance;
greater resilience;
increased capacity to remain present;
more consistent access to psychotherapy;
greater day-to-day functioning.
These are possible areas of support rather than promised outcomes.
Neurofeedback is not a diagnostic tool, medical treatment or stand-alone cure.
Medical or neurological symptoms may require assessment by a GP, neurologist, psychiatrist or another appropriately qualified professional.
Practicalities
Neurofeedback is available in person only in Shinfield, Reading, Berkshire.
Sessions are usually 50 minutes.
For some people, an initial course of approximately 10–20 sessions may provide a useful starting point. The number and spacing of sessions vary according to need, sensitivity and response.
Progress is reviewed throughout.
Sleep and stability are prioritised over pushing for rapid change.
For current fees and practical arrangements:
You may also find these helpful
Individual therapy ›
For a fuller sense of how psychotherapy may support anxiety, overwhelm, shutdown, and recurring patterns.
Trauma-focused individual psychotherapy ›
For information about working with trauma, chronic stress, dissociation and nervous-system strain.
How I work ›
For a clearer picture of how Transactional Analysis, attachment, neurodiversity-informed practice, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, DBR and other approaches relate to one another.
Frequently asked questions ›
For common questions about psychotherapy, neurofeedback and beginning work together.
Further reading
Neurofeedback Advocacy Project ›
Clinical and academic research and advocacy
If you are considering neurofeedback
You are welcome to arrange a free 20-minute consultation.
You can tell me briefly about what you are experiencing—for example difficulties with sleep, stress sensitivity, attention, energy, emotional regulation, shutdown or overwhelm—and whether you are currently receiving therapy or other clinical care.
We can then consider whether:
ILF neurofeedback may be relevant;
frequency-based neurofeedback may be more appropriate;
psychotherapy is the better place to begin;
a carefully coordinated combination may be appropriate.
If we decide to begin, the early sessions give us time to understand your nervous-system patterns, current capacity and what kind of support may be most useful.
There is no pressure to continue.