What types of services are available?

Psychotherapy, often referred to as counseling, is a process in which the therapist helps the patient cope with anxiety, stress, or other symptoms. These types of problems often cause changes in appetite, sleep, pain, or functioning at work or school. As the patient discusses the problems, the therapist provides input as to how the patient may be able to change how he or she thinks, feels, or acts, in order to cope with life's stressors in a better way.

Group therapy includes principles of psychotherapy. Patients in group therapy may have a similar problem or condition, and often benefit from learning from each other and in hearing how others perceive them.

Marital and couples therapy allows participants to learn to identify their assumptions, values and expectations of themselves and their partner, to communicate effectively, to listen, and to negotiate to resolve differences.

Family therapy provides an opportunity for the roles and responsibilities of all family members to be clarified and to enable the family to function in a healthy manner. Therapy enhances communication and reduces dysfunctional behavior.

Relaxation training is a behavioral technique that is taught to the patient to be able to reach states of calmness that go beyond everyday relaxing. It often involves biofeedback and related services described below.

Traditional biofeedback is a treatment that enables the patient to "see" and "hear" the effects of stress and pain on their body and to use these computerized cues to learn to reduce them with physiological self-control skills. Through hand warming, muscle relaxation training or skin response training, which is done by computerized monitoring of the body, patients may reduce tension and chronic stress related physical problems or anxieties. Traditional biofeedback may help reduce headache, pain, blood pressure, tooth grinding, stomach upset, attention deficit, hyperactivity, Reynaud's syndrome (cold hands/feet), stroke, and other disorders occurring in childhood or adulthood. Biofeedback involves the placement of harmless and painless probes on the skin, which enable the computer to receive the body's signals.

Brainwave biofeedback(also called EEG biofeedback or neurofeedback) is used for a variety of conditions which appear to be associated with irregular brain activity, including hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder, Asperger's disorder, specific learning disabilities and conduct problems, sleep disorders, depression, anxiety, chronic pain, minor head injury, and seizure disorders. Alpha-theta training is an approach that trains the individual how to overcome craving and painful emotional states associated with drug and alcohol addiction and psychological trauma by promoting emotional self-healing. Similar to traditional biofeedback, brainwave biofeedback involves the placement of a sensor on the scalp for monitoring brainwave activity with sound and visual displays on a computer.

Hypnosis can be described as a state of relaxation in which the therapist's suggestion to change attitude, feelings and behavior can skip over the part of us that resists change. Patients are aware and in control of their feelings, beliefs and behavior.

Neuropsychological Treatment and Cognitive Rehabilitation- People who have closed head injuries and seizures often suffer from problems with headaches, memory loss and concentration and confusion. EEG Biofeedback can help change maladaptive brain wave patterns caused by trauma and cognitive rehabilitation is used to help patients re develop cognitive skills.

Pain management techniques teach different strategies to reduce pain, pain perception, the stress/pain cycle, and to divert attention from pain. These techniques help the patient to reduce reliance on addictive pain medication.

Medication or other medical services may be provided by a physician when the patient's need is not met by behavioral services.

School advocacy, behavioral modification and parent training helps parents deal effectively with inappropriate behavior and encourage positive behavior. School advocacy services can assist parents and education professionals in a coordinated approach. (See Programs for more information).

Psychological testing and evaluation is a formal method of obtaining information about the patient for the purpose of helping the treatment team to understand the nature of the patient's areas of strengths and areas where help is needed. Depending on the nature of the problem, evaluation may include questionnaires, interviews, observations, skill assessments, and monitoring of bodily signals via computer. Types of evaluation include:

• Psychological evaluation
• Neuropsychological evaluation
• Gifted evaluation
• Attention Deficit Disorder evaluation
• Vocational evaluation
• Psycho-educational evaluation
• Neurological evaluation
• Nutritional evaluation
• Psychiatric & Homeopathic Consultation
• EEG evaluation

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