*2.2.2 Attention/focus*

Most of the research in the field of neurofeedback has centered around its benefits for improving executive functions in people who have been diagnosed with ADHD [60, 65, 66]. In fact, in 2013, the American Association of Pediatrics endorsed neurofeedback at level 1 effectiveness for the treatment of ADHD, which is the same level endorsed for ADHD medications [70]. Due to the fact that the literature is oversaturated with these reports on the efficacy of neurofeedback for ADHD, the reader is directed to some excellent, recent reviews [71–73]. The main point is that neurofeedback has been used to improve symptoms of ADHD, particularly executive dysfunctions such as inattention and difficulty shifting tasks, etc., but also hyperactivity and impulsivity [71–73]. Improving symptoms of ADHD, however, is merely the tip of the iceberg of what neurofeedback training can achieve.

*Training the Conductor of the Brainwave Symphony: In Search of a Common Mechanism… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98343*

#### *2.2.3 The multitudes of symptoms improved by neurofeedback*

It's truly difficult to describe all of the symptoms, behaviors, and other effects that neurofeedback has affected, and even more difficult to show evidence of these effects via randomized, controlled trials (RCTs), which are the gold standard for determining evidence-based practice in our Western healthcare system. However, despite the challenges of designing, obtaining funding, implementing, then publishing such studies, the field of neurofeedback has continued to progress due to the very real benefits that clients continue to gain from it, spreading the word to others who then try it and also witness its benefit [74, 75]. Of course, the issue is that this method of utility and expansion of the field is unsustainable in a healthcare system dependent on insurance where insurance will only pay for what the Western medical establishment considers evidence-based practice.

Clearly, evidence-based practices are ideal in order to demonstrate efficacy and build trust in the field, but the only way to get evidence is to practice. It's been a bit of a Catch-22 to reach the level of evidence-based practice when grant lending agencies have been reluctant to fund studies in the field of neurofeedback, but in order to get funding, the clinicians need to establish some level of efficacy of the practice to recruit enough subjects for the gold standard RCTs. In the meantime, the clinicians have done their best on their own to optimize neurofeedback for its benefits to their clients in the absence of funding for these gold standard studies [66, 74, 75].

In addition to its benefits in reducing seizures and improving ADHD symptoms, some of the multitude of benefits of neurofeedback training are reductions in headaches, migraines, anxiety, irritability, post-traumatic stress symptoms, etc., and improvements in sleep regulation, pain management, mood, peak performance, etc. Most of these effects have been documented in case studies and/or experimental trials that are less rigorous than RCTs [61–63, 74, 76]. Essentially, any function of the brain can be modulated using neurofeedback, which theoretically means that everything we do, think, and feel can be improved using neurofeedback.
