Epilepsy Treatment Options - Mind Control Techniques

The psychological component of seizures is widely recognized, with many people having more seizures when angry or upset. At its most negative, this can easily become a stick to beat yourself with: 'I must have a quiet life.' It can also be used by others: 'You must have a quiet life!' On the positive side, it can be used to advantage in that some people may be able to train themselves out of having seizures. Research at London's Maudsley Hospital has estimated that around a third of people can sometimes stop seizures using mental techniques. One study of people with difficult-to-control epilepsy found that, using self-control methods as well as their usual medication, they could reduce their seizures drastically - 68 percent managed an 80-100 percent reduction, and 12 percent had a 60-70 percent reduction of seizures.

The training fell into three main parts which are common to many mind control techniques:

* Helping people identify the warning signals of a seizure;

* Helping people identify factors likely to trigger a seizure (such as strong stress);

* Helping people develop counter measures to ward off a seizure, including distraction methods and learning how to relax.

Some people learn to do this spontaneously.

Anthea would recite the times table as a form of distraction if she felt a seizure coming on. If the aura was gradual, Bronwen could sometimes make it subside by focusing on an object in the room such as a piece of clothing on the floor, and forcing herself to get up and put it away. Alan would brush his teeth, and also found music helpful to listen to as it helped to concentrate his mind.

Obviously, this kind of treatment is only going to work if you have some kind of warning of seizures, that is, if you have partial seizures or secondarily generalized seizures that begin with some kind of warning or aura, so that you have time to take action. Some people also have typical pre-seizure moods, so that if you don't recognize your pre-seizure mood yourself, you could ask family or friends to warn you. Keeping a seizure diary is a good way of recognizing seizure triggers, again perhaps with the help of a friend or partner.

One of the main forms of mind control techniques is biofeedback, which is really a kind of reward therapy - the reward being the 'feedback' which comes as visible or audible proof of how well a person is controlling the brain's electrical activity. Biofeedback acts on the principle that it is easier to gain awareness and control of physical processes if we can see or hear the 'feedback'. Biofeedback uses various instruments to measure the information the body is giving out, and convert it into a readable signal such as a light or bleep. Biofeedback for epilepsy uses EEG to measure brain activity, which may then be shown as a computer image which the person has the power to change using mental techniques which also control brain activity. This has around a 33 per cent success rate, according to Dr. Peter Fenwick, consultant at the Institute of Psychiatry, London, and leader of much research into epilepsy and biofeedback. German and American studies have also found that people were able to lower seizure frequency and strength significantly after 20-25 sessions of biofeedback training.

Source: Epilepsy and the Family: A New Guide‎ by Richard Lechtenberg, M.D.