By Alanna Hilbink

Drugs and alcohol have evident, lasting effects on our brains, effects that linger even after they leave our systems. But with the right support, recovery can lead to a life, and a brain, that are as balanced or better than they were before addiction — even if your addiction is complicated by co-occurring mental health issues. Read on to learn how neurofeedback can be a part of this recovery support for you or a loved one.

How Does Drug Use Affect the Brain?

Understanding detox, neurofeedback for addiction, and recovery begins with understanding a little bit about how the brain communicates. Our brains are networks of neurons. These neurons send messages to one another via neurotransmitters. Some of these neurotransmitters excite or spike neurons. Others inhibit communication and prevent neurons from passing messages further along. There are different types of neurons and neurotransmitters, all of which have different roles in how our brains work and how we think, feel, and act.

When we use drugs or alcohol, we disrupt our brain’s internal communication. More technically, Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback reports that electroencephalograms (EEGs) show how drugs change how the brain communicates and functions at all times, not just when the drug is present. However, the specifics of these brain activity measurement tests may vary. For example, alcohol reduces overall arousal in the brain, while marijuana changes the prefrontal cortex and alters cognitive function. Additionally, Harvard Health Publishing explains that our brains adapt in response to our experiences. When we are “rewarded” for drug or alcohol use, our brains strengthen the pathways that reinforce these actions. You have to reset or reroute all of these changes in brain communication, chemistry, and neural patterns before your recovery can proceed on solid ground. And this reset begins with detox.

What Is Alcohol Detox? Drug Detox?

While drugs are creating changes in how we function, our brains and bodies are struggling to maintain balance. Our neurotransmitters begin to adjust so they can function at least somewhat normally in the presence of drugs or alcohol. Our bodies do the same. This is why tolerance develops. It also means that our brains no longer function normally when drugs aren’t present. Neuropsychopharmacology explains that addiction begins with the impulse to seek immediate pleasure or gratification when we use, but it evolves into compulsive use where we experience stress and anxiety when we don’t. And when we detox, this stress and anxiety ramps up, as we aren’t getting immediate relief via drugs or alcohol (immediate relief that comes at the cost of greater long-term mental and physical distress and continuing addiction).

What Happens During Drug Detox?

While the conceptbehind all forms of drug and alcohol detox is the same — clearing drugs or alcohol from your physical body and beginning to loosen the effects they have on your brain — the lived experience varies. While information about drug detox often focuses on the physical effects of ceasing drug or alcohol use, the mental aspects of this process are just as, if not more, important.

Physical withdrawal symptoms are short-lived, and the process can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks depending on your health, the substances you’ve used, and the amount and length of time you’ve been using. It involves ending drug use either abruptly, on a tapering schedule, or with the help of medications or medical supervision. No single one of these methods is right for everyone, which is why finding a team of professionals for every stage of recovery, including detox, is so important. Talk with your doctor and mental healthcare providers to determine which timeline and methods are best for you.

Mental detox will be more complex. Our brains will start to rewire during this time, but we need support and guidance to truly undergo psychological healing. As with physical detox and recovery, this journey should be tailored to you and your specific needs.

Neurofeedback for Addiction Recovery

Neurofeedback, also called electroencephalographic biofeedback, is one tool that can help you through detox and recovery. It maps the electrical activity in your brain and then works to create new neural pathways that support calm, balance, and focus.

Neurofeedback is noninvasive. A computer responds to over-arousal or under-arousal by providing rewards for calm, or encouragement for higher frequency brain waves. Neurofeedback prompts the brain to self-regulate and takes away the need to find an immediate solution to unwanted feelings through negative coping mechanisms like drug use. It trains and strengthens new neural pathways so that you can be present and make the most of your addiction treatment program.

What About Neurofeedback and Mental Health?

Like drugs, mental health can change the pathways in your brain — or stem from preexisting imbalances. Brain scans can detect and identify many mental health issues. For example, there are brain wave patterns and network structures specific to depression. Anxiety appears as changes in ratios of specific brain waves. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment shares that bipolar disorder appears as flattened brain waves.

Our mental health is, no surprise here, rooted in our brains. And because it’s deeply influenced by neural structures and imbalance, neurofeedback can support self-regulation and balance for mental health. And because neurofeedback can support both addiction recovery and mental health, this means it can be an effective tool for treating process addictions like porn, shopping, or gambling that are rooted more firmly in the brain than in an external substance.

Does Neurofeedback for Addiction Recovery Work?

Drug detox starts the process of creating mental space beyond the “noise” of drugs and addiction. And neurofeedback can amplify this ability to begin to think for yourself and focus on healing and rebuilding life. It can help you stay calm through detox, or it can be an important part of your treatment after detox has begun the stabilization process. No matter where neurofeedback fits into your personal recovery journey, it can help create long-lasting positive change.

If you aren’t present and focused, you can’t make the most of your treatment program. Neurofeedback provides calm and balance. It helps keep you present. It provides lasting changes in your ability to self-regulate and form healthy neural pathways. Keep in mind that neurofeedback, like any other single treatment modality for mental health or addiction, isn’t a stand-alone “cure.” It’s one tool among many that can be truly helpful in your journey to recovery, depending on who you are and your individual history, challenges, goals, and more. But as part of a comprehensive treatment program, neurofeedback can and does work. NeuroImage: Clinical reveals that neurofeedback provides immediate changes in self-regulation and can “have lasting therapeutic effects on behavioral modification and symptom reduction” for people working towards long-term sobriety. Neurofeedback can help you make the most of your treatment program and your life of recovery that comes after.

Is Neurofeedback for Addiction Right for Me?

To learn more about neurofeedback and if it is right for you or your loved one, reach out to us at The Meadows. Detoxing alone can be dangerous and even fatal. We’re here to create a customized treatment plan tailored to your unique needs and interests. To do this, our campus features a brain center equipped to provide neurofeedback, biofeedback, and more to support calm, reduce anxiety, and raise self-awareness and self-regulation. These features can be incorporated into any of our comprehensive addiction and mental health treatment plans, setting you on the path to long-term recovery.