SMC TREATMENTS and PROTOCOLS

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Types of Treatment | Our Approach | The SMC Protocol | Healing Journeys | Q & A

The Stone Mountain Center (SMC) offers the following types of treatment:

Psychotherapy Biofeedback Neurotherapy Combination treatments

Selecting a treatment:

Stone Mountain Counseliing Center and Biofeedback/Neurotherapy Services Offers a unique combination of services for individuals and/or families. Which exact treatment will work best is determined by the individual client's needs, and that particular situation. For example:

• We offer Psychotherapy for:
  • Relationship Problems
  • Bereavement Problems in personal growth and creativity
    
• We offer Biofeedback for:
  • Headache and Muscle spasms
  • Psychophysiological problems including:
    • Asthma
    • Hypertension
    • Sleep disturbance
    • Performance anxiety
    • Anxiety problems and phobias
• We offer Neurotherapy specifically for:
  • PTSD or Post-traumatic-stress disorder
  • Closed-head and spinal injury
  • ADD / Attention Deficit Disorder
  • Child and Adult Depression
  • some kinds of Chronic Fatigue
• Combination treatments for family and child-related problems:
  • Adolescent problems and oppositional-defiant behaviors
  • Estrangement and bereavement
  • Accident, or family stress that affects more than one member

	Our Approach is Holistic and Synergistic

Our experience has shown that for some of the above problems, especially post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety disorders, a combination of psychotherapy and biofeedback / neurotherapy, is indicated.

We are experienced in both domains, and offer all of the traditional biofeedback modalities, with a specialty in EEG, and LENS, the Low Energy Neurotherapy System of Dr. Len Ochs. This is often combined with transpersonally-oriented psychotherapy using dreams, sandplay or art-therapy. (When the central nervous system (CNS) activity is quieted and balanced, the soul is, in effect, freed to explore the realms of self-knowing and creative exploration that lead to higher forms of health and well-being.)

We welcome working interactively with other health professionals: physicians, therapists, chiropractors, nutritionists, homeopaths. Because of the complex ways in which dysfunctions manifest in human lives, no single treatment can address all the problems; but we do feel that our own approach offers one key ingredient often lacking in other treatments: the balancing of the CNS. When we are freed from the grosser distortions of our minds and emotions, we may more discerningly grapple with the meaning dimensions of our lives, and life becomes more spiritually rich as well as enjoyable.

LENS:  The Low Energy Neurotherapy System
(formerly Flexyx or FNS)   developed by Dr. Len Ochs:

Stone Mountain Counseling Center is licensed by Dr. Len Ochs to employ the Low Energy Neurotherapy System (LENS), a particular form of neurotherapy. SMCC is the major treatment facility in the NY area, with three locations and four clinicians trained under Dr. Ochs. This treatment has shown itself to be dramatically effective with a variety of problems involving dysregulation of the Central Nervous System.

This treatment consists of feeding-back to the person, through extremely low energy fields, a gentle EEG-driven signal based on the dominant brainwave rhythm. No special effort is required of the recipient; merely to sit quitely and allow whatever experiences emerge. Jagged, low frequency, high amplitude, brainwaves soften and diminish with each training session. Most clients acquire a greater sense of clarity, of self-control, of being in balance.

LENS may also be combined with other forms of biofeedback, and / or psychotherapy (See Stone Mountain Protocol). LENS, as a "disentrainment" procedure, seems to "till the soil" of the brain and nervous system, gently preparing it for change and new growth. (In combination with Jungian-oriented therapy it stimulates dreams, and facilitates the integration of complexes.)   More details about LENS can be found at www.ochslabs.com

See our list  of Upcoming LENS Professional Training Seminars

	The Stone Mountain Protocol

The Stone Mountain Protocol includes the following elements (singly, or, more usually, in combination):

	Evaluation of Central Nervous System functioning; brain map; and spectrum evaluation of brain waves.
	Low Energy Neurotherapy System (LENS) for brain flexibility and quieting (also restoring pre-traumatic levels of brain functioning.) Uses cortical map and "site-sort" of brain locations for most trouble-free treatment course.
	Multiple Biofeedback Training for physical relaxation and control: This may include EMG (muscle), temperature training and EDR (skin-resistance/conductance), singly or in combination. EMG (muscle) helps with physical relaxation and poise. Temp. Training helps with autonomic (ANS) functions. overcoming anxiety, and emotional control (EDR, or GSR). EDR (skin).
	Standard EEG protocols: Alpha-Theta training for addictions and "access to the unconscious" Beta training for intellectual ability and focus SMR for concentration and inner composure.
	Life-enhancement skills: SMC therapists are trained in a variety of skills to help you improve your life outside the treatment sessions: These include Autogenic Training, Open Focus training, Yoga and Qi Gong, along with breath training, and the use of mindfulness approaches in behavioral problems.
	Psychotherapy/Counseling: Our therapists are informed by Transpersonal and Depth-psychology approaches. Stone Mountain Counseling Center is unusual in that it offers these psychotherapeutic approaches along with biofeedback therapies. Together, they aim at a balancing of a relaxed and poised body, a quiet mind, and an unfolding sense of soul-life.

Ask us about our treatment programs for:

	Peak Performance in Sports
	Optimal Functioning in Daily Life, (For people who wish to improve an already functional lifestyle.)
	Creativity Enhancement: Unlocking the Unconscious

	Development of the Stone Mountain Protocol

Directing a college-based biofeedback program for 25 years, Dr. Stephen Larsen gave over two thousand students hands-on exposure to biofeedback, and had them monitor the results in detailed psychological journals kept over the course of the semester. His observation was that practice with EMG (muscle-based) machines helped them to become more physically relaxed, and in combination with temperature training, to overcome a variety of problems, from headaches to asthma, allergies, or stage-fright. Students who did EEG (brainwave) training became more alert and flexible in their mental functioning; their minds wandered less in class; they could take on complex tasks and complete them.

In 1996 Dr. Larsen retired from active teaching and set up a state-of-the art center that featured the major modalities of biofeedback. During that year he and several other staff members received training from, and became Research Partners with, Dr. Len Ochs, the innovator of LENS. Seeing the amazing beneficial effects of the LENS process on ourselves as well as clients, we quickly moved it to the heart of our treatment protocol.

When the Central Nervous system is in balance, all kinds of other things become possible. Our protocol outline shows how LENS and our other treatment modalities are tailored and arranged to fit individual needs and circumstances.

	Benefits of Treatment

When global cognitive problems and emotional disturbances come from head injury, accident or psychological trauma, it is most heartening to see people recover lost abilities, and sometimes approximate or exceed their pre-trauma level of functionality. We'll let our clients' success stories speak for themselves:

• One professional man who had problems with depression, anxiety, and disorganization observed "It feels like (the lift I got from) Prozac, but I'm more, well, myself." A year after concluding treatment, he felt the benefits still held. Some people's high inner level of mind "chatter" or unwelcome mental activity seems to subside with this treatment.
• A computer professional who had been a Vietnam-era fighter pilot said: "Hey! Guess what; you just offed the Committee!"--referring to the nattering inner voices that had beleaguered him every day for years.)
• One woman, even before we had even finished a complete map of the cortex (in the LENS system mapping includes a very light treatment) said: "Wow! It feels awfully quiet in here!" (pointing to her head).
• Another woman reported, with some some astonishment, "I have lived in a chronic mess. It's been there all the time; it's what I go home to. After my second treatment I found myself getting up at 5:30 AM, and just attacking it. Within about four hours, my space was livable. And it didn't hurt! Why couldn't I do that before?" (The answer is, that no amount of good intentions avail, when your brain and nervous system is dysregulated!)

There are many stories like the above, involving the subtle, but sometimes the most obvious effect of CNS disorganization on behavior:

• One mother had been urging her teenage son--diagnosed with ADD--for four years to clean up a courtyard behind a Manhattan brownstone. Each year, all her cajoling, bribing, and exhorting had produced "nil". Our 21 site brain map showed an area of severe dysregulation in the parietal occipital zone, where the brainwaves looked like he was deeply asleep. The mother confirmed that as a high-forceps delivery, her son had had a hematoma there at birth, and borne a huge conical swelling in that area for the first few months of life.
  After about 12 LENS treatments, the mother was so excited she made a special call: The courtyard had yielded to a single heroic "tour-de-force", and was now beautifully organized. Not only that, but her son was able to study uninterruptedly for four hours one evening the following week--behavior previously unknown to him.
• Two patients with extreme bereavement (loss of a child) were treated with a combination of LENS and psychotherapy. The neurotherapy didn't change their realities, but helped ease the agonizing ache that accompanied their loss. This treatment allowed a mother who had suddenly lost a much-loved eleven-year old to emerge after four years of inner numbness, and to finally "work-through" her previously catastrophic feelings. (See my article The Other Side of Life for more on this subject.)

Seeing such great results with our patients has encouraged most of our SMC staff to undergo LENS treatment as well. Among us are advanced martial-arts practitioners, meditators, artists and musicians. We all agree that the biofeedback can't replace the effects of consistent, applied discipline. But it can and does enhance those activities to a high degree of mindful control--and then the effect seems to multiply, and to spread to other activities and tasks of life. What has been called "peak performance" in sports can be brought into everyday life, as what we call "optimal functioning".

When our brains and nervous system are in balance, we can live our lives with clarity, flexibility, and with a joyful heart!

Treatment Facilities:

HOME OFFICE -- Our home office is on Stone Mountain Farm, located near New Paltz, in the Hudson Valley of New York. Our home office offers Psychotherapy, Biofeedback, Neurotherapy, and combination treatments. Phone: 845-658-8083 to schedule a pre-treatment consultation. FAX us at 845-658-3874. Or send E-Mail.

New York City Office -- Our satellite office is in New York City, at 19 West 34th Street, (between 5th and 6th Ave.), Penthouse, Room 33 in the offices of the Sociometric Institute, a complex of therapeutic clinicians. Here we offer neurofeedback as well as other biofeedback techniques. Phone: 212- 947-7111 Ext. 346. Neuropsychological evaluations are also available here from our associate, J. Lawrence Thomas, Ph.D.

Affiliate Offices – We also have practitioners with whom we work as affiliates who offer the LENS neurofeedback. These include Dr. Theresa Yonker in Red Hook, NY and Kristen Harrington in Kingston, NY.

	Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is Biofeedback?
A: A gentle, non-intrusive method using electronic machines to monitor and "feed-back" information to the person's mind. This self-regulating procedure provides immediate information about your body/mind system, allowing your brain and body to readjust and create a new balance.

Q: What is Neurotherapy?
A: Neurotherapy is a biofeedback-like procedure directed to the healing or balancing of the brain and central nervous system.

Q: What is CNS dysregulation?
A: CNS dysregulation is a type of condition that may underly the following symptoms:

• Difficulty in concentration
• Mood swings that seem hard to control
• Sleep disturbance
• Low mental and emotional energy
• Memory problems
• Difficulty with organization
• Problems beginning and ending projects.
• Major Depression
• Anxiety or Panic Attacks

If a person has three or more of the above symptoms, there is a likelihood that CNS dysregulation is present, and that one would benefit from LENS Neurotherapy and/or biofeedback.

Q: How long does treatment take?
A: It depends on the nature of the dysregulation. For problems of recent origin, in a fairly healthy nervous system, treatment may be short -- 10-20 sessions. For problems of longer duration, a longer course of treatment, 20-40 sessions. For deeply entrenched problems that are similar to ones your parents or even your grandparents had: still longer, commensurate with the amount of time the condition has existed. Serious disorders such as Cerebral Palsy, Stroke, and Paralysis, may require many treatments, but over time, there is usually a steady gradient of improvement, rather than decline.

Q: Are there any dangers?
A: LENS and neurotherapy have never been known to cause any new problems. However, like homeopathy, and other subtle and energy-based healing methods, they may cause a temporary intensification of symptoms that have plagued the person in the past--as part of the process of the condition being resolved. The best preventative is to let your clinician know at each visit how you have fared in the 24 hours following each treatment. An optimal level of stimulus intensity and duration of treatment can then be found that operates within your own level of comfort.

Q: How Do I Find Out More?
A: You have many options:

• Call or fax us for a packet of information related to neurotherapy, biofeedback, or psychotherapy.
• Attend an SMC Open House or an introductory lecture on personal development.
• For more information specifically about our LENS treatment, visit www.ochslabs.com
• Make an appointment for a complimentary fifteen-minute interview Dr. Stephen Larsen, to see if our services might be helpful for you. (See contact info)

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