Q - Do you start treatment by brain mapping? What is the cost of this and subsequent treatments?
A - Our fees vary depending on the level of service required. For general uncomplicated treatment for common problems like sleep, depression, ADD etc. the fees average about $105 per session. This is comprised of treatments with technicians at $95 and neurotherapists @$120. If a patient requires more service from one of the registered psychologists the fees are between $140 and $155 per session.
Initial intake assessments including brain assessment: For simple problems like depression, ADD, anxiety based problems etc, intake is $180. If full brain maps are required then fees are between about $400 and $700 depending on level of analysis required. The full brain maps are the initial intake procedure for clients with brain injury including traumatic brain injury, stroke, epilepsy and other seizure disorders and other neurological problems. For example, a young child with a simple non-hyperactive form of ADD the expectation is that the problem will be corrected within 20 sessions or so at a cost of $180 for the intake, about 5 sessions at $120 and about 15 @ $95. Some home treatment supplies might be required such as harmonic tapes at $22 each and an audiovisual stimulator at *$16/week for perhaps 8 weeks. So the total would be about $2400. More complicated problems of course can require many more visits and/or more visits with higher charges (such as several with me at $155). Our treatments are covered by extended medical plans (what they get for a registered psychologist) and what is not covered is a tax deductible medical expense. We are NOT supported by any provincial Medical Plan.
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Q - I am looking for some information in regards to a person that wishes to partake in your treatments but they are on welfare and are having difficulties getting certain medical treatments covered. Have you ever dealt with people on welfare and if so how do they go about getting the treatment covered?
A - Although they are reluctant to admit it, Social Services have paid for treatments of people on Assistance. The first step is to approach the caseworker and request coverage for the initial assessment. |
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Q - Hi Dr. Swingle and staff, I have a friend in Toronto and I told her about the success you had with me and I wasn't sure if you had any contacts in Toronto for her to look into. She is quite interested in relieving migraines that she has had for years. Can you please let me know if any a list of doctors that you would recommend or refer her to.
A - Definitely: Drs. Lynda and Michael Thompson have superb reputations. 905-803-8066. |
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Q - I am currently taking medication for anxiety - clonazepam, celexa and lamotrigne combined with some Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)- continuing problems - diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) - treatment is continuing slowly - interested in an assessment.
A - Assuming that you do not have a history of traumatic brain injury the cost of the initial brain assessment is $180. |
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Q - I read your information and have to say it sounds interesting, but I can't help but be skeptical. I am an RN and have a son who developed seizures 4 years ago at the age of 22. I would like to think something like this could work and I plan on checking with his doctor, who is the head of the neurology department at Mayo Clinic. Like I said I would like to think something like this could help but the world we live in has gotten so good at scamming people for the almighty dollar, it's always hard to know if you are being preyed upon because of your emotions. Guess I'm hoping you will respond to this.
A - I would suggest that you review the research directly. Much has been published on the neurotherapeutic treatment of seizure disorders. It is a well-documented and robust and SAFE treatment that has more than a 3-decade history. Best sources for scientific information are the peer reviewed journals available at www.isnr.org and www.aapb.org. |
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Q - I was interested in this therapy for my daughter. I would like to know how long it takes to get an appointment.
A - Our intake waiting time depends on the condition for which you are seeking treatment. For traumatic brain injury, stroke, seizure disorders and the like we see people within about three weeks. For the more straightforward problems of depression, anxiety disorders, ADD, ADHD, fibromyalgia, sleep problems, and the like our waiting time is about 8 weeks. If you are available on short notice, you can be placed on the cancellation list and you could be called for an appointment within a 24-hour time frame. |
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Q - My sleep deprived EEG came out normal, even though I had a "seizure" type reaction during the tests. I have been "altered" for 3 1/2 years now, after having the worst headache of my life. Left side of my body is weak and spasms when I exert a small amount of force. I easily get dizzy and nauseous. No one has been able to identify what is wrong with me. My short-term memory is weak. I live in Winnipeg. Would your clinic be able to help?
A - Our clinic treats many clients with disorders such as those you describe. Very often, the tests, assessments and various scans don't identify the problem. Functional EEG is very useful in these situations for we can obtain statistical indications of departures of brain functioning from normative ranges. These databases are FDA (USA) registered and compliant and provide very precise and detailed statistical indication of abnormalities. Neurotherapy then is used to normalize the aberrant brain functioning. From your description I would think that we can help but the first step is to have a brain assessment to determine the exact nature of the problem. When clients come in from long distances, they usually stay for one week in the first instance and receive 2 treatments per day. If the condition is responding well, they often return once or twice more for a further week or so of intensive treatment to correct the problem. |
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Q - I was wondering if you have had any success with cerebral palsy patients? my son is 8 and has Cerebral Palsy. He currently does HBOT (hyperbaric oxygen therapy) and suit therapy. I am wondering if this would be beneficial to him.
A - Our success with improving symptoms associated with cerebral palsy is mixed. Most clients report benefits including "better mood and stress tolerance", "better control of muscular movements", and "better body integrity". What I think they mean by the latter is a better sense of body positioning and location in space. Clients who see us for treatment of CP usually try a few sessions (e.g., 3 to 5) and if they experience benefit then they continue. We have developed several new treatment procedures that seem to be quite effective.
Editor's Note: Suit therapy (also known as the Adeli Suit, Polish Suit, Therapy Suit, Penguin Suit, and Therasuit) is a modification of a space suit, called the “Penguin” suit used by Russian cosmonauts to counter the effects of long-term weightlessness on the body while in space. The inner workings of the suit have elastic bands and pulleys that created artificial force against which the body could work to help prevent muscle atrophy and osteoporosis.
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Q - Wondering about the chance of treatment being helpful to senior (81) who has suffered slight strokes. She had carotid artery surgery to remove blockage - suffered additional slight stroke. She is very bothered by the lack of short-term memory, and inability to think clearly. Can you help?
A - We have had very good success with improving short-term memory for elderly clients and those that have had stroke or head injury. The major issue in memory is the frequency of a particular waveform that starts to decline normally as a function of age. That decline is accelerated by stoke, head injury and many medications. The age related declines can be mitigated with neurotherapy and we have many clients on our brain brightening program in which they come in about three times per year to have the critical waveform kept functioning efficiently. For those clients who are medicated with sleep, anxiety or depression medication that decline is accelerated and we first have to help them off the medication and normalize any problematic brain functioning. Similarly with stoke, we normalize any inefficiencies and then keep the critical waveform functioning appropriately. |
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Q - My son has AD(H)D, is gifted and has been diagnosed with Asperger's, although there is some question as to the legitimacy of that diagnosis. I am wondering what the wait time is for an appointment, and how many treatments are required before results are noticeable, amongst other things.
A - We see many children who have some brain inefficiencies who are diagnosed with Asperger's or ASD. Also, there is a tendency to find AD(H)D children arriving with this diagnosis as well. As you might surmise from the information on my website, I feel that the labels are largely irrelevant for they carry no useful information as to where in the brain one might expect to find inefficiencies. AD(H)D, and the ASD are grab-bag diagnoses applied to children who have some difficulties with focus, attention, interpersonal relations and learning in general. The precise way to deal with these issues is to do a brain assessment and determine what the inefficiencies are and where in the brain they reside. And then correct them with a combination of neurotherapy, behavior therapy and if needed, family therapy as well. For uncomplicated ADD, we seldom need more than neurotherapy and a bit of behavior therapy to help the child learn some study skills. Learning problems such as reading would involve having the child treated while tasking (i.e., reading while the brain areas implicated in reading are under treatment). We find this is an extraordinarily efficient and effective method for helping with skill acquisition. The waiting period for AD(H)D clients is, at present, about two months although if you are available on short notice being wait-listed for a cancellation may speed things up a bit. Parents usually report favorable improvements within about 5 sessions. |
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Q - Would like to know about the alternative programs to prescription drugs (like Paxil) that you feature. If you could, please send me some information on these.
A - Neurotherapeutic treatment of depression is one of the most successful applications of this technology. There are many forms of depression each of which has a definitive neurological pattern. Situational (reactive) depression such as grief, although it likewise has a pattern, is generally not aggressively treated with neurotherapy because the grievance procedure should process and proceed naturally although we sometimes treat to facilitate that process. By analogy, one should also never medicate (sedate) the grievance or reactive process either. Neurological patterns for predisposition to depression are treated with neurotherapy and related procedures to normalize the brainwave activity. Once the pattern is normalized and stabilized the problem is permanently corrected. That doesn't mean the client isn't going to experience depressed mood states but they will be like anyone else who has ups and downs. The worst-case situation for dealing with depression is to medicate for all of the reasons that are well known to those who look at the evidence. There are, of course, situations in which temporary medication is warranted but those situations are relatively uncommon. Further, neurotherapeutic treatment is most rapid for those clients who are not medicated since titration off the medication coincident with neurotherapy can be problematic and require many visits. The best source for information is to consult the clinical/scientific literature. Two good sources are the Journal of Neurotherapy available at www.isnr.org and the Journal of Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback available at www.aapb.org . |
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Q - Autism and persecutory paranoia: My daughter is 27 and was originally diagnosed with autism (she had 8 out of 10 classic symptoms as a child). As adulthood approached she became progressively more suspicious of everyone and has now been termed persecutory and delusional. I have never heard of this combination and am wondering if you know anything about it - an autistic person becoming paranoid.
A - People with ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) can develop anxiety, psychological and/or psychotic disorders. The susceptibility depends on many factors including the level of intellectual functioning. Because of the ASD, some of the interpersonal centers are not functioning appropriately so it may be difficult to help the client psychologically. We have found that improving the functioning of these centers neurotherapeutically can often be very helpful in facilitating some psychological/behavioral treatment for the disorder. |
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Q - Hello, I have had bipolar II disorder for 12 years. A year ago I finally smoothed out my moods but I am currently taking four different meds. I was wondering if neurotherapy is proven to help bipolar conditions, and if it does, how to go about reducing my medication. My psychiatrist is in Vancouver, would you work in concert with him? Could it possibly allow me to live medication free? Any information would be greatly appreciated.
A - Neurotherapy can be very effective for bipolar disorder and many of our clients can markedly reduce and often eliminate medication. Reducing medications takes a long time and one should do so VERY slowly under the direct supervision of your psychiatrist. You would be under neurotherapeutic treatment for several months before any medication changes would be considered. We work closely with many psychiatrists and would certainly be prepared to do so with yours. |
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Q - You come highly recommended from our friends who used your services for their daughter a few years ago. We are aware that the treatment can become quite costly; is there any way of getting a discount for a whole family? We are having a hard time deciding who is a priority. My husband has Type II Bi-Polar and chronic depression. I have Fibromyalgia and chronic pain, our youngest is possibly ADD and has struggled at school and any group setting socially and our oldest is highly anxious.
A - We often treat many family members since the conditions are often genetic in nature. Unfortunately we cannot offer discounts under these conditions. As you may be aware, extended medical plans usually have coverage for psychological treatments and each member of the family is eligible for some coverage. The treatments are also a tax deductible medical expense. |
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Q - I'm wondering if you would be able to help me with help with emotional regulation. My symptoms are suicidal depression, bipolar depression, and borderline personality disorder, to mention of few of my diagnoses over the last 12 years.
A - Neurotherapy can be very effective in the treatment of complex situations such as the one you describe. However, in such conditions, neurotherapy is not a stand-alone therapy. Certainly for the personality disorder, for example, associated therapeutic techniques would be necessary. We would commence by doing a brain assessment to determine the exact neurological condition associated with the symptoms. Treatment would then generally involve a combination of neurotherapy with some other therapies that might include hypnosis, emotional release, and various psychotherapy/behavior therapy procedures. Neurotherapy, with other supportive therapies, has been very successful in the treatment of these chronic and complex conditions. |
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