The EMDR Therapist Weekly aims to provide a weekly dose of insights, tools, and opportunities for EMDR therapists; designed to support your growth, sharpen your practice, and connect you with what's next. To achieve this, we occasionally invite subject matter experts as guest writers. I'm excited to introduce another guest writer this week: Travis Pollard, LPC.

Travis is a Licensed Professional Counselor who has been practicing in Metairie, Louisiana since 2021 as a full-time Counselor and Certified EMDR Therapist, where he integrates LENS neurofeedback and even offers it as a stand-alone intervention. I've personally started exploring neurofeedback as an additional option to support clients and have been seeking as much insight as I can from practitioners who are trained in both EMDR and various neurofeedback approaches. Travis answered my call-to-action and graciously offered to share his learning with us.

Without further ado, Travis Pollard writes:

Integrating EMDR with LENS neurofeedback

Neurological approach to change

EMDR therapists are trained to conceptualize the theory of change from a bottom up approach, meaning that if one works to heal the nervous system, the cognitive effects of change will follow. Neurofeedback echoes this same theory by looking intently at the neuro-electrical signals of the brain and training them to work more optimally.

If we can help the brain oscillate more naturally with healthy electrical patterns, then the brain and body will be less likely to experience adverse symptoms. It is to the benefit of EMDR therapists to take interest in the field and practice of Neurofeedback since the modalities have great ability to support the same mission of changing the nervous system toward health.

One brain, Two approaches

Neurofeedback is an approach that, unfortunately, has suffered a lack of recognition within the scientific and clinical mental health fields. The current lack of integration between EMDR and Neurofeedback practitioners unfortunately underscores a diminished focus on contemporary collaboration and shared practice. While this is the case more generally, there are still many practitioners that are blazing the trail and advancing our understanding of how these two modalities can work together and increase the efficiency of positive client outcomes. By utilizing both in my practice I have noticed that each modality supports the other rather well, especially when it comes to regulating the nervous system and preparing clients for more intense trauma work.

Neurofeedback has been around even longer than EMDR, yet we have far more evidence to support EMDR in the literature. However, I think we will see a shift in our career where these two approaches will be shown to support one another with great efficacy. Each human has one nervous system and the basic goal of these two therapeutic modalities is to enhance the function of that designed system.

One unique commonality between these two approaches is that they are both seeking to utilize natural functions of the brain in order to help the brain function within the scope of health. Having a more rounded brain based approach to healing can expedite the client’s experience of reaching wellness.

A little about Neurofeedback

Electroencephalogram (EEG) Biofeedback, also known as Neurofeedback , is a branch of biofeedback that reads and records brainwaves and reemits them back to the client’s brain in order to increase the likelihood of a desired neurological outcome. The field of Neurofeedback is rather broad and comprises many different types of Neurofeedback systems, theories, and approaches. In the field, there are two main umbrellas under which it is helpful to categorize the approaches: traditional and non-traditional. Traditional Neurofeedback, which usually requires the client’s active engagement in session, largely follows the principles of operant conditioning to reinforce desired neurological patterns based on normative data. Non-traditional Neurofeedback catches all of the other approaches that have been developed, such as Dynamical Neurofeedback, Infra-Low Frequency Neurofeedback, or Hemoencephalographic (HEG), with the basic commonality of optimizing brain function and neurological health through a passive approach.

LENS as a standalone intervention

I practice a specific type of non-traditional Neurofeedback called Low Energy Neurofeedback System (LENS), treating a wide variety of presenting symptoms with underlying neurological issues. LENS is known for helping the nervous system reorganize itself into a more optimal pattern by receiving its own information through electrical feedback. It functions as a neuro-disrupter, meaning LENS utilizes your own neurological information to interrupt your brainwave patterns thus allowing them to optimize. It does this by measuring your brainwaves and highlighting the dominant frequency of those brainwaves associated with the dominant amplitude, then it feeds back a subset of the same information your brain is producing all in real time.

This concept can seem rather complex but you can picture it this way: If you walk past a mirror and see that your hair is out of place or your collar is turned up, you may reach up to correct it automatically. The mirror serves as a source of information, showing you what is already there. Without any thought, you are likely to reach up to correct the now visible misplacement, simply because you desire to look optimally. Your brain functions the same way when it is quietly shown what it “looks” like through the reemission of electrical activity. The mirror reflects hair and collars, the LENS reflects frequencies and amplitudes.

LENS works very well as a unilateral approach to treating things like migraines, concussions, TBIs, seizure disorders, and various symptoms of ADD/ADHD, pain, and inflammation. In my practice, most people seeking LENS treatment on its own have one of three goals: improving their functioning enough to cease the use of stimulant medications, finding relief from chronic migraines, or optimizing their brain function as an executive or high achiever. The majority of clients I see within these subgroups of the population find that LENS helps them in brain optimization and symptom reduction or resolution.

LENS to support EMDR

Having been trained in LENS and being an EMDR Certified Therapist, I have the unique position to offer both forms of therapy to my clients. Both LENS and EMDR work well as stand-alone approaches of intervention, though they often can be found working as close companions. Learning the overlap between both modalities has been very interesting to me as a clinician. I often describe EMDR as a more comprehensive approach to holistic healing as it addresses multiple parts of the person and works on various fronts toward change. While LENS may only address one’s physiology, this does not mean it is more limited in the change it can offer. This is because many presenting symptoms can be attributed to the functionality of the Central Nervous System, which LENS targets directly. This is where LENS truly shines in supporting EMDR work, by helping the nervous system to relearn how to regulate itself.

Where I am in my practice now, I often encourage clients to utilize LENS before or during Phases 1 and 2 of EMDR. I treat many cases of complex PTSD and presentations of high levels of dissociation. For this portion of the population, I find they have a much harder time regulating their nervous system once they become activated. Before I had LENS as a tool, I found myself spending extended periods of time in these earliest phases of EMDR to help clients stabilize, learn behavioral and somatic methods of self-regulation, and teaching containment techniques. While the EMDR techniques I have learned over the years are certainly helpful and have empirically-supported efficacy, I have found that LENS is faster at achieving the desired result of self-regulation and stabilization. When paired together, one may find that even the most dysregulated nervous systems can achieve adequate experiences of neurological change.

Conclusion

By adding LENS to the process of EMDR, I generally observe a noticeable shift in pace in the therapeutic process. EMDR is already one of the most efficient forms of therapy for most people, so adding LENS as a catalyst has shown to offer greater enhancement. As a clinician, I have seen this become a special and gracious process for my clients. Most of the time someone comes to see me, they have likely already tried many remedies to see symptom resolution for whatever malady they are suffering. The majority of these cases find that LENS is what they need to progress forward with EMDR for holistic resolution.

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Travis Pollard, LPC

Learn more about Travis' neurofeedback practice here: www.parakletenola.com​

Thanks for reading Helicon's EMDR Therapist Weekly, where we aim to provide a weekly dose of insights, tools, and opportunities for EMDR therapists; designed to support your growth, sharpen your practice, and connect you with what's next.

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Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for informational purposes only. This is not legal or clinical advice and we make no guarantees about the outcomes or results from information shared in this document. Proceed at your own risk and discretion.​
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