ANXIETY – Joe consulted me about anxiety that was so severe he had trouble putting together a straight sentence, and he hadn’t had a girlfriend in 15 years. He was not someone to admit weakness and he had never been treated for this. He had been successful in his own terms career wise. However he could admit to being rather lonely. After hearing about the characters that raised him, we used EMDR to go back to some paralyzing traumas of childhood. Things improved in his manner of speaking and thinking, but he still wasn’t dating. We tried neurofeedback next. After two sessions of that, he asked to stop the work. I came to understand that his anxiety had reduced so much, he felt he had lost the rudder his life had run by. In talking about this, he came to realize that he was a good person, who could trust himself. Within a week he was not only dating, but talking to strangers during his commute. He is now in a mutually satisfying relationship with a woman.

ANXIETY (and addiction)– Manual reported that he had been in psychotherapy at least three other times in his life. His primary problem was anxiety so severe that at times he felt like he was “losing my mind”. He had been heavily involved in drugs and alcohol most of his adult life. After listening to the stories of the worst five days of his life, we used EMDR on memories of neglect and abuse. Then we started using neurofeedback. After two months in treatment, Manual could say that he was not anxious anymore. He changed jobs, cut down his alcohol use and enjoyed his commitment to his family.

STRESS – Dolores called me because she couldn’t go to work. She had been robbed at home the day after her supervisor at work had told her she had to improve or she would be on the carpet. She was so anxious; she couldn’t even focus on the events of the robbery enough to do EMDR. I taught her stress management techniques. We talked about all of her options. She decided to get medication from her family doctor. We also used Neurofield to stop the anxiety cycle and clear her brain fog. After two weeks, we did process the robbery with EMDR which led to looking at older traumas invoking helplessness. I was then able to help her see the ways she wasn’t helpless at work and coach her on conflict resolution techniques. She went back to her job after a month off, even though she was now sure that at some point she would want to transition to a more rewarding job site and function.

STRESS (and addction)– Mary said that managing her children’s school work, her home and her husband’s expectations that she entertain his work associates and customers at the drop of a hat had stressed her to a breaking point and she couldn’t let them all down. I listened to her talk at rapid pace for about 35 of our allotted 50 minutes together. I then said, “It’s a wonder you aren’t alcoholic.” For the next 10 minutes she told me what she drank each night and how badly she felt about it. In the last five minutes I told her what she could do. Her life changed for the better exponentially from that point on.

DEPRESSION – Jim consulted me on the advice of a therapist for his depression. He had been working with another psychologist for two years and been deteriorating. His psychiatrist, who was prescribing medications, insisted that he go to an outpatient hospital treatment and see a CBT therapist. It was the CBT therapist who sent him to me. After hearing about his childhood, with an alcoholic father and passive mother, I used EMDR to release his ability to care for himself instead of the stuck, ill people around him. We then used neurofeedback for his mood disorder. He was able to move on and set limits with the people he loved enough to take care of himself. He stopped needing anti-depressants.

DEPRESSION – Linda hadn’t known a day when she wasn’t thinking about killing herself. She had tried once while in college and felt so guilty about hurting her family, she knew she would never try again. However the thought was a constant companion that kept her from enjoying her accomplishments or even picking up a book t read for pleasure. Using neurofeedback and talk therapy she began to release the self destructive instinct that had her punishing herself for being angry at anyone. She began to set better limits with her family. She was able to look forward and plan activities that would please her, even if others were inconvenienced or derisive.

MIGRAINE ( and Head Injury) – John consulted me initially about depression. In taking a history I discovered that he had suffered from migraine headaches increasingly over the last several years. At the time I met him, he would have 2 or more headaches that confined him to bed, a week. I also learned that he had several head traumas in his life; the most severe when four wheeling and his vehicle went over his head luckily in muddy ground. We made an EEG map of his brain and right where the vehicle had struck him there was an area of high amplitude and instability. We continued with neurofeedback treatment and after two weeks his headaches had disappeared.

HEAD INJURY – Thea almost bought the farm bicycling in Italy. Luckily she was wearing a brand new, high tech helmet when her bike went down. She hit the right side of her head on the pavement so hard, she bounced back up and over to land, still on her bike, on her left side in the road. Luckily there were witnesses as she would never regain memory for the event or the next two hours. She received excellent care at the Italian hospital and decided to come back home immediately to where the doctors spoke English. Her own doctor told her there was nothing to do but wait and see how she healed. Two years later, when I met her, she back at work and doing well enough. She consulted me out of curiosity about neurofeedback, she said. After a map (which showed the initial blow and the counter coup) and a round of treatment she said she was amazed how much clearer things were and how much better her memory was. She hadn’t noticed that her plateau was so far below how she had functioned before. She also said that it felt like she was living more fully in her body and that in comparison it was like she had been hovering two inches above her shoulders. She felt more present than she had since the accident and maybe even before that.

ADDICTION – Bill* had a hard time seeing a psychologist as he thought that they were all quacks. Bills brother, a client of Dr. Smith, thought Candia could help him. Bill was convinced by his brother to see Candia. Bill and his wife were on the verge of divorce over his substance abuse issues. He would do his days work and then smoke pot or crack. He was not involved in the family and fights were constant. Both partners like to drink regularly. Under threat of the loss of his wife, Bill went cold turkey. Candia helped him understand what he was going through in this transition and stick to it. He quickly saw how much more rewarding his life was without the drugs. He and his wife then were able to make progress on the ways they talked to each other and dealt with life. Even though there was a brief (productive) separation, they are more happily married now than ever.