Pain is always an emergency that commands our immediate attention. This is adaptive until the pain becomes chronic. Then the vicious cycle begins of narrow focus and reactivity to pain. Biofeedback modalities have been employed for many years to help calm the nervous system or distract it from the chronic pain. With EEG biofeedback we can now, with some pain syndromes, expect to reduce or eliminate the pain.


This workshop will focus on our current understanding of a variety of pain syndromes and our best clinical results with EEG training. Arousal and pain threshold will be discussed in the context of pain and depression. Hyperexcitability will be discussed as a model for migraine, trigeminal neuralgia, neuropathic pain and fibromyalgia. The role of genetics and trauma will be considered in predisposing to pain and triggering pain episodes. Beta/SMR and Alpha/Theta protocols will be described with expected clinical effects for a wide variety of pain syndromes.