NeuroAdvantage™ offers a number of light & sound neurotherapy (LSN) programs that facilitate profound relaxation of the mind & body.  These LSN sessions are designed to increase the alpha/theta brainwave patterns that are associated with deep relaxation and sense of personal wellbeing.   Clinical researchers have found that such LSN sessions are highly effective in facilitating deep relaxation and meditative states (e.g., Freedman & Marks, 1965; Richardson & McAndrew, 1990; Thomas & Siever, 1989; Williams & West, 1975).  

A key reason for LSN’s effectiveness is that for most people, it triggers a pleasant dissociative state similar to that achieved through deep meditation and/or hypnosis.  Therapeutic dissociation is simply a “disconnect” or interruption in one’s awareness of thoughts and the passage of time thereby rejuvenating the mind.  Kroger and Schneider (1959) found that LSN induced a hypnotic trance in nearly 80% of subjects within five minutes (see figure 1).

In a large well-controlled study published in Behaviour Research and Therapy, Leonard and associates (1999) found that LSN was vastly superior (p<0.0001) in triggering dissociation compared to dot staring, a common hypnotic technique.  The NeuroAdvantage™ Trainer’s ability to rapidly trigger a pleasant dissociative state makes it an ideal tool for quieting the mind & relaxing the body.

Every Trainer session includes a slow, rhythmic heartbeat sound to help clients learn to pace their breathing and thereby develop the long, graceful breathing cycles that are common in mindfulness meditation.

NeuroAdvantage™ psychologists have produced a growing library of professional recordings for clients to listen to during their Trainer sessions.  Many of these audio coaching CDs assist clients in generalizing the relaxation response into their daily lives.

References:

Freedman, S. & Marks, P. (1965).  Visual imagery produced by rhythmic photic stimulation:  Personality correlates and phenomenology.  British Journal of Psychology, 56: 95-112.
Kroger, W.S., & Schneider, S.A. (1959). An electronic aid for hypnotic induction:  A preliminary report. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 7: 93-98.
Leonard, K.N., Telch, M.J., & Harrington P.J. (1999).  Dissociation in the laboratory:  A comparison of strategies. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37: 49-61.
Richardson, A. & McAndrew, F. (1990).  The effects of photic stimulation and private self-consciousness on the complexity of visual imagination imagery. British Journal of Psychology, 81: 381-394.
Thomas, N. & Siever, D. (1989).  The effect of repetitive audio/visual stimulation on skeletomotor and vasomotor activity.  Hypnosis: 4th European Congress at Oxford.  London: Whurr Publishers.
Weiner, M., MciLveen, J., Abrams, M. & Pigott, E. (March 2008).  Neurotherapy as an adjunctive treatment for substance abuse Disorders:  A pilot study.  Therapeutic & Alcohol/Drug Interventions Conference, Las Vegas.
Williams, P. & West, M. (1975).  EEG responses to photic stimulation in persons experienced in meditation.  Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 39: 519-522.