LISTENING TO THE BRAIN:

             MIND TECH AND THE REMAKING OF THE SELF

                      by Michael Hutchison

"There must be an epidemic of depression among successful women,"
my friend told me.  Over the last year, she said, she'd heard
from half a dozen of her friends scattered around the country.
All of them were in their late 30s or 40s, well-educated,
financially secure, high achievers--"they're all just super
women," she told me, "who've had exciting, happy lives." And in
the last year, each of them had begun taking the anti-depressant
drug Prozac. "What," my friend asked, "is going on?"

Several thoughts popped into my mind. Prozac became available in
December, 1987, and very quickly became the one of the most
widely prescribed drugs in history. It is the hero of
psychiatrist Peter D. Kramer's phenomenal best seller Listening
to Prozac: A Psychiatrist Explores Antidepressant Drugs and the
Remaking of the Self. Lots and lots of people like what this drug
does for them.

Prozac is, of course, much more than an antidepressant. As
Kramer's subtitle suggests, Prozac seems to go beyond treating
depression to a transformational "remaking of the self." It works
by selectively inhibiting the reuptake of serotonin in the brain:
i.e. it effectively increases brain-serotonin levels. Serotonin,
according to Kramer, enhances "security, courage, assertiveness,
self-worth, calm, flexibility, resilience. . . ." A pretty good
wish list. It's no wonder that millions of people with no real
symptoms of depression are demanding that their doctors prescribe
this drug for them.


                  THE BIOPOLITICS OF SEROTONIN

Serotonin brought to mind a variety of studies, described in my
book Anatomy of Sex and Power: An Investigation of Mind-Body
Politics, exploring the links between dominance and serotonin.
Scientists studying primates found that in every mixed-sex band
there is one male who has far higher levels of serotonin, and in
every case that is the dominant or "alpha" male. In studies of
primates ranging from monkeys to baboons to chimps to humans,
researchers have found that:

	*dominant males have high levels of serotonin;
	*when a dominant male is removed from his position of
     	dominance, his levels of serotonin plummet by some 50%,
          and his former unshakable confidence and self-assurance
          turn into insecurity and anxiety;
	*when formerly nondominant monkeys are placed into positions
     	of dominance, their serotonin levels soar by 40 to 60%;
	*sexual activity raises levels of serotonin in formerly
     	subordinate males;
	*when domanant males are removed from access to sexual
     	activity, their serotonin levels decline sharply.

Clearly, levels of serotonin are strongly influenced by social
status. But this link between status and serotonin levels works
both ways, in what's called a bidirectional feedback loop. For
example, researchers have conducted studies in which laboratory
animals were given drugs (including Prozac) to increase or
decrease levels of serotonin. They found that, while all the
animals began with equal levels of serotonin,

	*those who had their serotonin levels boosted by Prozac
     	achieved dominance over monkeys with lower levels;
	*even in "crossover" studies, when subjects who formerly had
     	received drugs to lower serotonin and been subordinate
          were switched to drugs like Prozac that raised
          serotonin, they became dominant over subjects who had
          formerly had been dominant, but who had had their
          serotonin levels decreased, and vice versa;
	*in aggressive encounters, the high serotonin monkeys won at
     	over 85 percent and usually 95 to 100 percent of the
          time.

So while status influences serotonin levels, changes in serotonin
levels also clearly influence social status or dominance. Humans
who take Prozac, of course, have increased levels of available
brain serotonin.

There are of course other neurochemicals and hormones involved in
dominance, including norepinephrine, testosterone and the stress
hormones cortisol and ACTH.  However, levels of these
neurochemicals vary widely in individuals over time (i.e. they
are "state variables," that can vary widely, not "trait
variables," which are more like aspects of personality or
temperament that generally remain relatively stable over long
periods of time).  But serotonin levels, as Kramer points out,
"are so stable that they appear to be trait variables, and to
show that a trait variable changes according to social status is
remarkable."

In one study of college males placed in a stressful, competitive
situation, the researcher found that "serotonin levels correlate
with self-assessed social rank and leadership qualities."  The
researcher also found that very strong type A behavior
"encompassing drive, aggressiveness, mistrust and competition,
correlates with high blood serotonin levels." Other studies of
both males and females have linked low levels of serotonin to
depression and suicide.

	  "A low serotonin setting in a sense is low self-esteem . .
. to have low self-esteem is a particular neurochemical state,
one responsive both to the experience of social dominance and to
the effects of serotonergic drugs." --Kramer

Serotonin level also appears to be the key to self-esteem.  In
fact, Kramer goes so far as to assert that "a low serotonin
setting in a sense is low self-esteem--a feeling of unworthiness
or submissiveness--and leads to low self-esteem by engendering
unassertive behavior and an acceptance of low social status."
That is: "low self-esteem exists as a state of the neurons and
neurotransmitters . . . to have low self-esteem is a particular
neurochemical state, one responsive both to the experience of
social dominance and to the effects of serotonergic drugs."

There has also been extensive research into what happens to
subjects who are placed in positions of powerlessness,
helplessness or loss of control.  Among the things that happen
are distinct biochemical changes, such as drops in serotonin
levels, that cause the subjects to become depressed.

                 THE EPIDEMIC OF "THE THIRD WAY"

Evolution has produced the fight or flight response as a
protective mechanism.  But recent evolution seems to have
required that humans develop a "third way" of dealing with
threat, necessitated by our complex social environment, where
neither fighting nor active flight is a practical option. This
third way is described by Dr. James Henry of the Department of
Physiology and Biophysics, USC School of Medicine: "In a social
situation in which there is a hierarchy with a single dominant or
an establishment group in control, this third option is of utmost
importance.  It involves submitting to the demands of the
dominant animal or to the establishment and involves inhibiting
previous patterns of behavior."  This "submission," says Dr.
Henry, leads to depression "associated with the loss of control.
The depressed animal . . . no longer competes but accepts the
unpleasantness of frustration."

Most of us have experienced the physical unpleasantness that
results from submitting to a dominant animal or the
establishment--you can't fight or flee when your boss is a jerk,
or the judge ignores your requests for justice, or the IRS asks
for an audit.  Says Dr. Henry, "helplessness is a crucial
determinant of depression."  Helplessness, of course, is linked
with decreased levels of serotonin.

All this, I think, casts light on the immense popularity of
Prozac. We live in a world that in many ways can feel like a
techno-social juggernaut, massive and out of control--or at least
beyond the control of any individual. Many individuals find it
hard to experience or believe in their own power, potency or
sense of control.

In one sense we have unprecedented powers: we drive cars that are
technological marvels; but in another sense, these marvels simply
increase our powerlessness: we sit stalled in rush hour traffic,
can't find anyplace to park, are strapped to seemingly endless
monthly payments. Our mass media give us the power to know what's
happening anywhere in the world virtually instantaneously with
vivid color video images; and there we sit powerless, watching
children die of starvation and epidemic, watching piles of
headless bodies, watching genocidal armies massacre innocents--
and there's nothing much we can do about it. Clearly this
pervasive powerlessness, this sense of helplessness, of being
subordinate, not in control, must have an effect on serotonin
levels of large numbers of people.

My friend said she felt there was an "epidemic" going on. And in
fact, she's right.  Compared with earlier in this century,
depression is over 10 times more widespread, and the rate is
skyrocketing.  Also, depression strikes people on an average of
ten years younger than in the past. Recent research shows
alarmingly high, and increasing, rates of depression among
adolescents (over 7 percent of adolescents in on recent study had
suffered a full-blown episode of depression by age 14).  In
America, according to psychologist Martin Seligman of the
University of Pennsylvania, depression "has become the common
cold of mental illness. . . . It is shocking that Americans, on
average, may be victims of unprecedented psychological misery in
a nation with unprecedented prosperity, world power, and material
well-being. . . . This is enough to warrant shouting 'epidemic.'"


But while major or acute depression is clearly widespread and
increasing rapidly, there is an even more widespread discontent
that I think my friend was talking about that seems less severe
or acute than clinical depression, but which is experienced by
even greater numbers of people.

For while we're living in a world that seems out of control, and
with increasing evidence of our own powerlessness, at the same
time, paradoxically, we are living in times of unprecedentedly
high self expectations--when we are being told we can "have it
all," that we can have, in the words of Tony Robbins, "Unlimited
Power," that we have not just the capacity but a responsibility
to seek independence and self-fulfillment. For many this means
that if they are not completely satisfied with their lives, if
they don't feel unyielding self-esteem, if they are
insufficiently assertive, if their social status or dominance is
unsatisfactory, then something is wrong with them, that they have
failed, that they're not quite as happy as they should be.

Since our world and modern life is almost by definition out of
control, highly competitive, and pervaded with conspicuous
displays of wealth, status, and power, virtually everyone who
judges his or her life, status or personal power by these
distorted standards must feel somehow faulty, deficient. We may
have a nice house, for example, but when we compare it with those
on "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous," or in the Sunday Times
Magazine or Architectural Digest, or possessed by people like
O.J. Simpson, we are made to realize what a paltry shack we live
in.  The result is a pervasive malaise that is not major or acute
depression, but the result of simultaneously heightened and
frustrated expectations, what Kramer calls

	a new category of mental disorder, dysthymia (ill spirit . .
     .), lying at the periphery of depression . . . . a chronic
     condition in whgich a person has periodic intervals of
     depressed mood that are briefer or less severe, or involve
     fewer deranged functions, than episodes of major depression.
     Dysthymia sits in the penumbra of depression. . . .

This epidemic of dysthymia, I believe, rather than the epidemic
of acute depression, is an explanation for the enormous
popularity and effectiveness of Prozac. Serotonin, as Kramer
notes, enhances "security, courage, assertiveness, self-worth,
calm, flexibility, resilience," all of which have the effect of
making one "feel safe." And, in Kramer's works, "many things will
go right whan an animal, including a human animal, feels safe."


            BRAIN TOOLS AND COSMETIC PSYCHOTECHNOLOGY

In this light, it's intriguing to note the evidence that mind
machines have a direct and profound effect on serotonin levels.
For example, studies by neurosurgeon C. Norman Shealy, M.D.,
Roger Cady, Saul Liss and others have shown that cranial electro-
stimulation (CES) produces rapid and significant increases in
serotonin levels.

Shealy, Cady and others have also found that ten minutes of
simple photic stimulation, such as that produced by light-sound
systems, produce significant and almost instantaneous increases
in serotonin (as well as other biochemicals such as growth
hormone, melatonin, oxytocin, beta endorphin, and luteinizing
hormone).

There are strong indications, in the form of pronounced and
lasting personality shifts in subjects who make regular use of
mind tech, that changes in serotonin levels are durable and
maintained after periods of regular mind tech use. Ray Smith
investigating brain changes as a result of CES use, Eugene
Peniston investigating alcoholics using EEG alpha-theta feedback,
Shealy and others investigating users of flickering light devices
have all found that lasting personality shifts take place,
frequently after about 2 to 3 weeks of daily use. Dr. Nancy
White, for example, has sent me a statistical analysis of changes
in MMPI and Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) scores of
depressed clients she has treated using brain tech therapy: the
mean Depression scale of MMPI dropped from 63.4 to 52.7; on MCMI,
the mean Dysthymia score dropped from 59.1 to 33.9; the mean
Major Depression score dropped from 55 to 29.8--all of these
changes are statistically significant, and suggest a powerful
therapeutic effect on depression.

There are indications that other types of brain technology,
including EEG feedback, acoustic stimulation (such as that
provided by binaural beats tapes and CDs and sound-table
systems), motion systems, flotation, and devices that increase
oxygen in the brain (such as the Breathwork Explorer) also
increase serotonin levels. It's significant, I think, that sales
and use of these devices are increasing rapidly.  Robert Austin,
head of Synetic Systems, maker of some of the most popular light-
sound devices, has estimated that in 1994 alone, as many as
175,000 light-sound machines were sold worldwide. Others have
estimated that there may be more than a half-million light-sound
devices in use by several million people.
Tapes and CDs that use psychoacoustic techniques to alter
brainwaves, are consistent best-sellers, and sales by such
psychacoustic practitioners as Steven Halpern, Dr. Jeffrey
Thompson, Doc Lew Childre, and Robert Monroe's Hemi-Sync series
increase year by year. Literally scores of millions of these
psychoacoustic tapes and CDs are sold each year.  While the FDA
regulations prohibit the manufacturers and creators of these
mind-altering tools from mentioning anything about their effects
on brain chemistry in their advertisements, it's clear that these
light-sound and psychoacoustic products actually "do" something
for large numbers of people, or else there would be no market for
them.

	  One reason for the rapidly increasing popularity of these
     devices is that they are working, like Prozac, to eliminate
     dysthymia and increase feelings of control, self-confidence,
     self-esteem and power among users.

So, the fact that mind machines clearly can boost serotonin
levels, and the fact that there is a growing market for and use
of these devices in the cultural mainstream suggest to me that
one reason for the rapidly increasing popularity of these devices
is that they are working, like Prozac, to eliminate dysthymia and
increase feelings of control, self-confidence, self-esteem and
power among users.

There is a substantial body of evidence that brain tools work--in
many cases with unprecedented effectiveness--against major
depression and depression-linked problems. Norm Shealy, among
others, has used these devices, including CES, light-sound, and
EEG feedback, with great success in treating depression, anxiety,
alcoholism and drug addiction. Neurofeedback practitioners such
as Eugene Peniston, Siegfriend and Susan Othmer, Len Ochs, Jon
Cowan, Nancy White and many others, are finding that such EEG
techniques as alpha-theta training, beta training, and
"Disentrainment Feedback" are producing remarkable successes with
depression (for more information about EEG feedback therapy see
the articles by these practitioners elsewhere in this and the
preceding issue of Megabrain Report). Hundreds of other doctors
and therapists are now making clinical use of these devices. Many
thousands of other individuals are probably using the devices to
self-treat or self-medicate for the same purposes.

And, of course, just as a substantial number of the millions of
people take Prozac are doing so not to treat illness but to
enhance or slightly "improve" their personalities or
temperaments--what Dr. Kramer calls "cosmetic
psychopharmacology"--so are many of those using mind machines
doing so because they find the devices useful for helping them
"tune" their brains and make them feel better--what we might call
cosmetic psychotechnology.


         FROM BUNS OF STEEL TO BRAINS LIKE A STEEL TRAP

There's an interesting parallel with the physical fitness boom.
Beginning in the 1970s, Americans found that physical fitness was
not just for jocks, but could improve their appearance and the
quality of their lives, and boost their own self-esteem and sense
of control. Simple jogging and aerobics led to the development of
new advanced fitness technologies: Nordic Ski tracks,
computerized jogging tracks, ergometers, and specialized Nautilus
devices.

Not too long ago, people accepted their genetic physical
configuration as a sort of given: skinny, unathletic guys, for
example, tended to stay skinny and unathletic throughout their
lives. Today, they can use Nautilus and other technologies to
build slab-muscled torsos that would have been considered
extraordinary only a few decades ago. Today, physical fitness has
become a means to increased power, status, self-esteem. We've all
been witnesses to the transformation drama of many former wimps,
wusses, weasels weaklings and lawyers who by dint of computerized
Stairmasters and gleaming weight machines, have turned themselves
into supercharged spandex-clad hardbodies with Buns of Steel,
ready to stand up to any bullies who might kick sand in their
faces.

It's no coincidence, I think, that the widespread obsession with
personal fitness has emerged out of the same post-60s
technocharged mass-media-fused amalgam and at the same time as
the explosive epidemic of dysthymia and depression.  The same
feelings of individual powerlessness, helplessness, insecurity,
lack of control and loss of self-esteem that produce dysthymia
also trigger the need for a sense of personal power, strength,
control, dominance and security that can be fulfilled by pumping
iron, armoring yourself with slabs of protective muscle,
conquering the marathon.

	 It's no coincidence that the widespread obsession with
     personal fitness emerged at the same time as the explosive
     epidemic of dysthymia and depression. Psychologically,
     there's no doubt it's a powerful antidepressant to have the
     body of a superhero.

As anyone who has spent time in prison knows well, prison is an
evironment expressly designed to crush self-esteem and induce
powerlessness, helplessness, loss of control; so it makes sense
that so many inmates spend hours every day pumping iron, getting
buff and tough, building up a permacote of protective personal
armor, and nurturing a feeling of control and self-esteem.

Over the last 20 years there has been a continuing stream of
research proving that regular physical exercise is not only good
for your body but has powerful beneficial effects on depression.
One reason for this is surely the effects exercise has on
serotonin--numerous studies of exercise techniques ranging from
running to weight lifting show substantial serotonin-boosting
effects (as well effects on many of the other neurochemicals
associated with depression, including cortisol, ACTH and
norepinephrine).

Psychologically, there's no doubt it's a powerful antidepressant
to have the body of a superhero. The world may be going to hell
in a hand basket, you may be losing your job to a robot or a
foreigner, but as long as you can get to the gym each day and
squat 700, bench press double your weight, and keep your body fat
under 10 percent, then you can keep your self-esteem buffed to a
high gloss, with the assurance you've got everything under
control.

Not coincidentally, paralleling the rise in the popularity of
physical fitness, and in the use of drugs like Prozac for what
Kramer calls in the subtitle of his book "The Remaking of the
Self," has been the widespread acceptance of and explosive
increase in the use of cosmetic surgery (Ms. magazine, for
example, announced that plastic surgery is a way of "reinventing"
oneself, and is "for women who dare take control of their lives,"
while feminist novelist Fay Weldon proclaims that plastic surgery
is a tool for self-transformation, and issues a call to arms:
"Sisters, to the clinics!").

But of course the 90s, as Congress has decreed, is the decade of
the brain.  Most of us work with our brain, not our brawn; push
keyboards not plows; cultivate and harvest knowledge not crops;
weave ideas not cloth; work in information factories not steel
mills. Social status and dominance derive not from physical
strength and assertiveness, but from mental strengths like
confidence, imagination, optimism, intellect, resilience,
quickness, concentration, flexibility, wit, stability. What use
is the body of a Greek god or goddess if your brain is too
flabby, sluggish or puny to permit you to be just as assertive,
dominant, in control and powerful in the mental realms as you are
in the physical? Who wants to have the brain of a 98 pound
weakling?

Millions of people over the last two decades have found their
genetic physical endowments unacceptable and pumped themselves
into physical embodiments of power, dominance, and assertiveness.
In the same way, millions are now concluding that their genetic
mental or temperamental endowments are no longer satisfactory:
they are no longer willing to accept that by nature or nurture
they may be shy, introverted, unaggressive, or insufficiently
assertive, confident, creative, smart or potent. And so, just as
millions have used the best available technology and pharmacology
available to build muscles--ranging from Nautilus machines to
steroids to peptide-bonded amino acid power drinks--people are
now willing to use the available technology and pharmacology to
build or develop those desired qualities.

The most widely used technology or pharmacology of this sort is
Prozac. Vast numbers of people who meet none of the criteria for
depressive disorders, and who would never consider themselves
mentally ill, have demanded prescriptions for Prozac from their
doctors simply to increase their feelings of energy, optimism,
self-confidence, social fluency and mental agility. This
widespread use of prescription medication in the absence of any
illness to increase mental agility--what Kramer calls "cosmetic
psychopharmacology"--leads him to suggest that in that sense
Prozac and its cousins may be seen as "steroids for the business
Olympics."

The enormous interest in "smart drugs" is also part of this
phenomenon--everyone who has taken ginseng or ginkgo biloba to
increase memory or alertness, choline or lecithin to increase
brain function, or tried Hydergine, piracetam or other cognition
enhancing drugs to boost their brainpower is clearly engaged in
cosmetic psychopharmacology.

While less widely known or used, mind machines also show evidence
of being effective for such cosmetic psychopharmacology (or
cosmetic psychotechnology) applications. So far I've only
mentioned the evidence that brain machines boost serotonin. There
is substantial research evidence that the devices have equal or
greater effects on other neurotransmitters, peptides and
hormones. For example, research in recent years into the
biochemical effects of cranial electrostimulation (CES) devices,
light-sound systems, flickering light-color machines, ganzfeld
masks, psychoacoustic sounds such as some binaural beats tapes
and CDs, sound tables and sound beds, motion systems, flotation
tanks and others have proven that these devices can produce sharp
alterations in such biochemicals as:

	*GROWTH HORMONE: just 10 minutes of stimulation with
     	flickering lights, for example, produce significant
          increases in this hormone, which is the key to
          maintaining youthful vitality and maintaining a strong
          body and immune system.

	*BETA ENDORPHINS: effects include producing rapid increases
     	in these natural opiates to reduce pain, anxiety and
          induce states of profound comfort; on the other hand,
          there's evidence that regular long-term use of mind
          tech with recovering alcoholics reduces overall levels
          of beta endorphins; since elevated beta endorphin
          levels are linked to high levels of stress, the
          researchers believe this indicates that these subjects
          are recovering more easily and comfortably, with
          reduced levels of stress, in contrast to control groups
          of alcoholics receiving traditional treatment, who show
          elevated levels of beta endorphins;

	*DOPAMINE: CES, light-sound and other brain technology
     	produces increases in levels of this neurotransmitter
          which is crucial to cognition, sex-drive, fine motor
          control, motivation, and immune function (increased
          levels of dopamine bring about feelings of increased
          energy, vitality and euphoria);

	*MELATONIN: brain tools have been found to boost secretion
     of 	this crucial hormone, which influences sleep and waking
          patterns, reduces stress, directly influences memory,
          learning, alertness and concentration, and is being
          investigated as a treatment for depression, jet lag and
          cancer.


There is additional evidence that mind machines alter levels of
such other biochemicals as luteinizing hormone, norepinephrine,
cholinesterase, progesterone, prolactin and oxytocin (the "love
hormone," linked to human bonding).

Pharmaceuticals are the treatment of choice under the prevailing
chemical-mechanistic paradigm of the medical establishment: drugs
produce changes in brain and body chemistry that can at least
temporarily ameliorate symptoms. Prozac fits right in.  While
medical professionals may disagree about how widely it should be
prescribed, and what its side effects may be, everyone agrees
that it has its effects by altering levels of brain-serotonin.

The beneficial effects of brain tools can also be explained by
this paradigm: the devices produce changes in brain and body
chemistry that can ameliorate symptoms.  The major difference is
that instead of producing biological changes by putting some
synthetic substance into the brain and body, mind machines seem
to stimulate the brain/body naturally to produce the biological
changes.  Since there is no synthetic substance entering the
system, there is little chance of producing harmful or upsetting
side effects, or of producing addiction.  In that sense, the use
of brain tech to naturally produce biochemical changes seems
preferable to the use of pharmaceuticals.

But changes in biochemistry are only a part of a wide spectrum of
psychobiological effects produced by brain machines. It's been
well established, for example, that various types of brain
technology ranging from flickering lights to binaural beats to
EEG feedback produce rapid and profound changes in brainwave
frequencies. It has also been well established for decades that a
variety of disorders are linked to abnormal brainwave activity.
The use of mind tools for brainwave "entrainment" or "driving"
has enabled therapists to produce increased brainwave activity in
desired ranges and thereby to "normalize" formerly abnormal
brainwave activity and associated disorders.

The use of brain technology to alter brainwave activity now
includes boosting activity in the beta range of 15-18 Hz (with
dramatic and even unprecedented therapeutic effects for Attention
Deficit Disorder/Hyperactivity, PMS, depression, brain injury and
a huge variety of brain disorders); in the alpha-theta range
(with unprecedented effects in treatment of alcoholics and drug
addicts, as well as treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
[PTSD]; and in other frequency bands, such as the Sensorimotor
Rhythm (SMR) and the "Tansey" frequency.  Most of the articles in
this issue of Megabrain Report deal with the beneficial effects
of using EEG feedback or light-sound machines linked with EEG
feedback to increase brainwave activity in certain frequencies--
Julian Isaacs explores the benefits of beta, Seigfried Othmer
also discusses beta training, Eugene Peniston and Nancy White
explore alpha-theta training, etc.

In addition to altering brainwave frequencies and patterns, there
is now evidence that mind machines seem to produce more general
"optimizing" effects on brain function that include regulating
the communication and interaction of the hemispheres, and between
the cortical and subcortical regions of the brain.  For example,
Seigfreid Othmer, in his articles in this and the preceding issue
of Megabrain Report suggests that the enormous range of benefits
noted from EEG training is a result of "improved cortical
regulation . . . accomplished by activation of the brain stem and
thalamic activating system, and inhibitory feedback circuits
involving both nonspecific and specific thalamic nuclei. Hence,
we are in all likelihood effecting change subcortically."

Julian Isaacs, in his article elsewhere in this issue, suggests
that EEG training permits the development of "a thalamo-cortical
locus of control operating independently from the limbic system.
The thalamic system is responsible for the overall management and
control of the higher brain centers and the cortex.  Thalamic
control of the cortex allows rational thinking, logical
sequential processing and all the cognitive and cultural goodies
we associate with being human."

Lester Fehmi, in his interview in this issue, asserts that "with
EEG training you're paying attention to how you pay attention.
And that changing brain waves is changing attention: brain wave
training is attention training. . . . Becoming aware of how
you're paying attention, becoming aware of when to choose what,
and then having the actual capacity to manifest the appropriate
attention--that, I think, is what makes a realized human being."

Len Ochs, who wrote in the last issue of Megabrain Report about
his success in using a system that links EEG and light-sound
feedback, which he calls EEG Disentrainment Feedback, suggests
that by  "There appears to be such a thing as optimization of
one's EEG. . . . As the patient learns to 'cruise the
frequencies' and do 'nothing' under the stimulation of the lights
and/or sounds, i.e., gets better at not directing or processing
consciousness but instead lets go and permits it be pulled
however it goes, the activity observed in each of the bands
becomes minimized, equalized, and reduced in variability. . . .
It is important to say that except for the skills involved in
desensitizing the individual and remaining comfortingly present
and yet unobtrusive, it is the interaction between the EDF system
and the individual's brain that is most intelligent.  That is,
the therapist does not need to pick out helpful frequency
stimulation strategies: the floating relationship between
stimulation and brain activity becomes the program."

As Thomas Budzynski explains this disentrainment process in his
article in this issue, "We know that when the brain is injured
physically or even psychologically some sort of process, a sort
of 'rigidification' takes place.  The brain becomes less
adaptable, flexible, less able to allocate resources to changing
tasks or multitasking. The EDF seems to break up these 'rigid
patterns' and allow a more adaptive reorganization of the
cognitive process."

There are numerous other explanations for the effectiveness of
this type of EEG and light-sound technique, as well as for brain-
stimulating devices in general, including:

	The Dissipative Structure or Chaos Model, which sees the
     brain 	as an "open system" or complex structure, in which
               brain tools produce greater instability,
               perturbations or "chaos," thus breaking up rigid
               structures and causing the brain to "escape to a
               higher order" of greater flexibility,
               interconnectedness and power;

	The State Dependent or "Desensitization" Model, based on the
     	fact that during childhood our dominant brainwave
          frequency is theta (and later alpha), and that by
          returning us as adults to these childlike brain states
          we gain access to and can "process" and integrate
          traumatic material and experiences  from childhood;

	The Brain Growth Through Stimulation Model, based on the
     	neuroscientific evidence that increased brain challenge
          and stimulation in the form of novelty and "enriched
          environments" causes actual brain growth in the form of
          increases in dendritic length and size, related to
          increased density and richness of neural connection
          (this may explain why light-sound systems, CES, and EEG
          feedback are proving so effective in treating and
          remediating brain damage--researchers such as Harold
          Russell and John Carter, of the University of Houston,
          and Ken Tachiki, of Sepulveda VA hospital, Sepulveda,
          CA, use brain technology to treat brain damage and
          establish new neural connections around lesioned areas
          resulting from stroke and closed head injuries.

	The Increased Metabolism Model. As Robert Fried points out
     in 	his article in this issue, the brainwave activity
          revealed by the EEG is a product of brain cell
          metabolism.  The changes in brainwaves produced by
          light-sound devices and EEG feedback, then, are clearly
          indicating changes in brain metabolism. And in fact,
          there is evidence of this: one group of researchers
          used a PET scan to map cerebral blood flow and found
          that when subjects used a flickering light device the
          cerebral blood flow increased by as much as 40% (there
          were increases at all frequencies, by the way, but the
          greatest increase was at a flicker frequency of 7.8
          Hz). Increased blood flow to the brain means increased
          oxygen, glucose and other brain building nutrients, and
          boosted activity in parts of the brain that may have
          been injured or disordered--this could explain many of
          the benefits of brain technology.




I started out by exploring why Prozac was so popular, theorized
that it may have to do with a widespread cultural malaise or
feeling of lack of control and/or self-esteem combined with an
equally widespread desire to increase feelings of power, control
and self-esteem.

I think there's a lot of evidence that many of the brain tools
now widely available can have equally powerful anti-depressant,
anti-dysthymic effects, but with several obvious advantages over
Prozac and similar drugs.  Mind machines are non-invasive and
have shown no dangerous side effects.  Another clear advantage
over both Prozac is that these devices are available without
prescription. Further, they are, comparatively speaking, dirt
cheap.  One light-sound machine, for example, at a cost of a
couple of hundred dollars, will provide daily brain training
sessions for years, while a normal dose of Prozac approaches
$1000 a year.

It's also the case that while Prozac may help the brain function
better temporarily, it does not appear to "cure" any problems,
and does not appear to heal the brain or produce optimal
functioning that continues after the drug is discontinued. On the
other hand, there is now evidence that brain technology works by
healing brain disorders--by moving the brain into its optimal
state--and that once this optimal state is achieved, the brain
has a natural homeostatic mechanism that tends to keep it
functioning optimally, without further brain stimulation or
medication.

"Anything Prozac can do, we can do better," according to
neurotherapist Siegfried Othmer, describing the powers of
neurofeedback. "You don't have to keep taking it. Prozac works
over a wide spectrum of problems, but it isn't the answer to all
these problems--it temporarily pushes the brain into a place
where it manages better. But brain tech, neurofeedback, can train
the brain to live there. Permanently.  With no side effects.
Neurofeedback intrinsically takes you toward homeostasis--toward
where you belong."

The possibility that mind machines could be a safe and effective
non-invasive alternative to pharmaceuticals such as Prozac raises
some interesting questions.  Since these devices and technologies
are inexpensive, easily purchased and easily used, they could
present a challenge to the medical and pharmaceutical interests.
In recent months, in fact, the FDA has gone so far as to seize
the inventory of Synetics Systems light-sound machines, arguing
that these are "medical devices," and must be registered with the
FDA as medical devices, which would restrict their availability.


TYPESETTER: SAVE ONE-HALF PAGE FOR CONCLUDING PARAGRAPHS

































Recent research has focused explicitly on LS as a treatment for
anxiety, with excellent results.  Much of this research has come
from clinical psychologists Dr. Juan Abascal and Dr. Laurel
Brucato, at the Miami-Dade Community College and at Mindworks, a
psychotherapy and stress reduction center in Miami. They have
conducted a variety of controlled studies comparing LS groups
with control groups that just rest and hear relaxing music, and
have found that LS clearly produces significant increases in
"coping resources," measured by a Coping Resources Inventory.
This suggests that the LS group perceived themselves as being
less stressed by events after the series of LS sessions than
before.

More significantly, Abascal and Brucato found substantial
evidence that the LS users not only felt less stressed, they
really were: the LS groups showed clear decreases in both state
and trait anxiety. State anxiety is the level of anxiety
experienced right at the time the questionnaire was administered,
so it might be expected that a LS session would lower this
measure. But trait anxiety is the long term disposition of
individuals to experience anxiety, and is generally fairly stable
over periods of time. So the fact that LS reduces this measure
over several sessions suggests that there is a cumulative anxiety
reducing effect to the LS experience.

KRAMER:
low self-esteem an expression of low serotonin:

low serotonin in brains of suicides, in depression

"self-esteem, or the tendency toward assertigerness, is
maintained by the serotonin system, and . . the setting of the
serotonin system is important in predisposing to lebvels of both
self-esteem and certain knds of social success."  215  . . .


Kramer: "saerotonin levels are so stable that they appear to be
trait variables, and to show that a trait variable changes
acfording to social status is remarkable."  356

serotonin is assertiveness, but not agressiveness: aggression
assertiveness correlates with high brain serotonin levels,
aggression--uncontrolled or rageful violence, correlates with low
brain-serotonin levels