What is QEEG Brain Mapping ?

Whilst radiology imaging techniques such as CAT or MRI scans can provide information on the structure of the brain, they provide little information on the function of your brain.

Advanced QEEG Brain Mapping (AQBM) is based on the electrical activity in your brain, and can provide information on brain function.

NOTE: QEEG Brain Mapping is AQBM is NOT suitable for young children – the minimum age it is suitable for is 9 years old.

What Are the Benefits of QEEG Brain Mapping?

Good brain function is dependent on the integrated operation of multiple brain functions through different networks.

QEEG Brain Mapping can identify how well your brain is integrated, and identify the source of issues, not just the symptoms.

QEEG Brain Mapping can identify the neuro-physchological causes of mental health disorders and neurological disorders at a level of detail not possible with radiology imaging, blood tests, psychological assessments, traditional neurological investigations or previous approaches.

How Does QEEG Brain Mapping Work ?

QEEG Brain Mapping takes Electroencephalography (EEG) readings of your brainwaves at 19 positions on your head. Initially, we capture several minutes of brainwave data under multiple conditions, e.g. Eyes-open, eyes-closed.

We then edit these recordings by removing any ‘artifacts’ caused by muscle tension or movement such as eye blinks, and submit the recordings for software analysis and interpretation.

We offer two versions of QEEG Brain Mapping. The costs of each QEEG Brain Mapping service include the report.

1. QEEGPro Report

The QEEGPro service costs £299. We take a sample of your EEG and ask you to complete a questionnaire on your symptoms.

The report compares your symptoms with ‘markers’ in your EEG for these symptoms. These ‘markers’ are from the EEGs of others with those symptoms.  The report is usually available the next day.

An example report is here.

2. Advanced QEEG Brain Mapping Report (AQBM)

The AQBM service costs £449. This report is based on Dr David Kaiser’s Kaiser Neuromap Institute’s Brain Mapping Service.

The report assesses the sensory input and response systems. The rate at which you sample the world, how efficiently and effectively you integrate that information, and how well balanced your response system is. The report is available about a week after data capture.

The software assesses brainwave activity and communication for 55 brain areas, 7 cortical networks and 1400 connections between and within corticolimbic networks, focusing on those networks and areas most responsible for our behaviour.

Corticolimbic imbalances are correlated with neuromarkers including, for example, trauma, physical stress, emotional stress, issues with authority.

We determine the extent to which the limbic system (reptilian brain) is integrated with the cortex (mammalian brain) – how well balanced our emotional and thinking brains are, and to what extent we act on a healthy balance of instinct and reason, or swing towards the extremes.

We evaluate the maturity of each brain area including our executive system in the frontal lobes involved in decision-making, impulse control, and judgment.

We evaluate the presence of more than 20 neuromarkers including self-attention, verbal and emotional stress, PTSD and anxiety.

Comparison

	QEEGPro	AQBM
Price	£299	£449
Age range	Age 9+	Age 18 +
Symptoms questionnaire to compare with your EEG	✓
EEG Band relative activity assessment	✓	✓
Arousal level assessment	✓
Resting-state network assessments	Default Mode Network (DMN) Dorsal Attention Network (DAN) Emotion-Regulation Cortex (ERC) Sensory-Motor Cortex (SMC) Memory Network (MN) Visual Cortex (VC)
Sensory sampling rate & dominant frequency1		✓
Sensory integration maturity, efficiency, effectiveness2		✓
Cortico-limbic integration3		✓
Includes Cognitive Assessment	✓	✓
Neuro-Markers	Markers associated with self-reported symptoms of: ADHD Depression Anxiety Autism Schizophrenia Memory disorder Insomnia Dyslexia Tinnitus OCD Markers associated with traits of: Hypervigilance	Markers associated with history/traits of: PTSD/Developmental trauma Hypervigilance Attachment issues Physical/verbal stress Emotional/social/sexual stress Excessive self-attention Reward deficiency Certainty of perspective Blocked learning Excessive suspicion/distrust Social anxiety OCD Excessive ‘What-If’ ing Distractibility Hyperactivity Impulsivity Risky behaviours Personal boundary issues Social boundary issues Unrewarding/abusive person/situation Physical/social sense of safety Fear/anxiety Rages Response to authority
Most suitable for	Clients with symptoms of the above conditions who want to see if their brain wave patterns match.	Clients with a history of trauma who want to see how their brain may have adapted in response to life events.
Electronic copy of Report	✓	✓
Telephone de-brief of report		✓
Questions answered via email	✓	✓

It should be stressed that the reports do not provide any form of clinical or medical diagnosis.

¹Sensory Sampling Rate

This measure is the rate at which we sample the sensory world before it is passed to conscious awareness.

Most people sample the sensory world 10 times a second. Some people draw information from their senses faster, or at different rates across the brain, which places a high load on our brain to organise this increased information and can result in stress.

Others are slower, which can impact their ability to interact with others and understand experiences.

²Sensory integration

The efficiency and effectiveness of our sensory integration, the extent to which we take a bottom-up approach to sensory processing (good) or we tend to take a top-down approach, making expectation-based judgements and jumping to conclusions (not so helpfiul).

³Cortico-limbic Integration

We evaluate how well your brain transfers information across major cortical regions. We identify brain areas that are underactive and under-contribute to conscious awareness, as well as those areas which are overactive, burdened with too great a role in our thinking and may result in a skewed focus or understanding.

Booking

QEEGPro Reports are currently available in our Farnborough Clinic, and you can book an appointment directly here or contact us here.

There is more information on Advanced QEEG Brain Mapping here. To book an Advanced QEEG Brain Mapping Report, please contact us here.

How Does BrainTrainUK’s QEEG Brain Mapping Reports Compare With Other QEEG Methods?

All QEEG reports provide lots of data, but many are short on information, and provide very little in terms of analysis and insight:
Our reports provide unprecedented levels of information, analysis and insight specific to your brain.

This individualised approach gives unique insights into your particular brain.

Below is a summary of the key features and differences between standard brain mapping (for example those provide by New Mind Maps or NeuroGuide) and our QEEG Brain Mapping Reports

Feature	Standard QEEG Brain Mapping	QEEGPro Brain Mapping	Advanced QEEG Brain Mapping
Data capture:
Eyes open	✓	✓	✓
Eyes closed	✓	✓	✓
Data:
Absolute Power	✓	✓	✓
Relative Power	✓	✓	✓
Amplitude Asymmetry	✓	✓	✓
Coherence	✓	✓	✓
Phase Lag	✓	✓	✓
Peak Frequency			✓
Theta Unity			✓
Structural Source Imaging (e.g. LORETTA)	✓	✓	✓
Functional Source Imaging		✓	✓
Information, Analysis & Insight:			✓
Sensory sampling rate and dominant frequency			✓
Sensory integration maturity			✓
Resting-state network assessments		✓
Cortico-limbic integration assessment			✓
EEG Neuromarkers		✓	✓

What Can I Use BrainTrainUK QEEG Brain Mapping For ?

QEEG Brain Mapping can be helpful in several ways;-

1. To help clients to understand and accept that their brains are working in a particular way, which can motivate them to investigate options to improve function.
2. For clients with trauma, we can show them how their brain has adapted in order to protect them. Their brain is not ‘abnormal’, it has adapted as it is designed to. Just as their brain has adapted to respond to past events, events, it can adapt again. Their past does not have to define their future.
3. To provide measures of brain pattern function before, during and after an intervention such as neurofeedback. This is most relevant to scientific research.

Our Brain Mapping reports often provide clients with immediate validation, relief and encouragement that there is something identifiably different within their EEG and the neuroscience can explain this in terms of their symptoms or challenges.

What’s involved in QEEG Brain Mapping Data Capture ?

Before you arrive your hair should be washed, completely dry and without any products. You should also drink plenty of water the day before and the day of the map. This helps us get the best possible connection with your head, and therefore the most accurate Map.

Since recreational drugs affect the brain and therefore the EEG, please refrain for 24-48 hours before the map. If you have taken any please let your practitioner know.

Medicinal drugs can also affect the EEG, so only with your doctor’s permission if you are able to suspend the use of any such drugs for 24-48 hours this will improve the accuracy of the map.

The practitioner will need to fit a ‘swimming cap’ that holds the 19 electrodes in place, and add some paste through holes in the cap to get good connections. This is completely painless.

Then you will be asked to look at one spot, staying as still as possible with your eyes open, for several minutes.

Then you will be asked to close your eyes and sit still for another few minutes. All this time nothing is going into the wires, our equipment is just ‘listening’ to your brainwaves. This process will be repeated 3 times, so ensure we get a good selection of data. You may also be asked to visualise happy memories and stressful memories (not too stressful), and potentially other scenarios,  as data is recorded.

In total this should take about 40-60 minutes per person.

It is likely that some of the paste used to attach the electrodes will still be in place afterwards, so you should anticipate washing your hair afterwards.

Questions ?

It is important that you are fully prepared for your QEEG Brain Mapping and your expectations are met. Please do not hesitate to contact us by email or phone if you have any further queries.                        

Checklist

☐  Directions to BrainTrainUK Brain Mapping Centre

☐  Hair washed on the day or day before and thoroughly dried

☐  No products on hair

☐  Well hydrated – drink plenty of water the day before and the day of Brain Mapping

☐  Refrain from recreational drugs 24-48 hours before Brain Mapping

☐ (Only with doctor’s permission) suspend medicinal drugs 24-48 hours before Brain Mapping

☐ Take details of any medicinal or recreational drugs taken

☐ Remember hair will require washing afterwards to remove remnants of paste