Dr. Heather Davidson: Neurofeedback & Virtual Reality Alternatives to Medication

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Are you exploring alternatives to traditional medication for your child's mental health? Dr. Heather Davidson recently shed light on some progressive therapies for conditions like anxiety, depression, OCD, and ADHD. She explained the immediate benefits of Biofeedback, which leverages the mind-body connection to help patients regulate their physiological responses, most importantly breathing. Dr. Davidson shares the importance of breathing techniques as a tool to mitigate the body's stress reactions.

Furthermore, she introduced neurofeedback, a non-invasive therapy that uses audio-visual cues from movies to retrain the brain using positive reinforcement. Additionally, she highlighted the innovative use of Virtual Reality in providing exposure therapy for situations which are difficult to simulate in a doctors office.

With her extensive experience in pediatric care, Dr. Davidson also provided her perspective on the rising prevalence of mental health issues among children today, as well as realistic views on balancing technology use in their lives.
Dr. Heather Davidson is a licensed psychologist with expertise in child and adolescent treatment, specializing in ADHD, oppositional defiance disorder, anxiety, and OCD. She utilizes a unique approach combining traditional psychological testing measures with qEEG for neuropsychological assessment. She specializes in using neurofeedback, biofeedback and virtual reality to help her patients. Her extensive experience include working in psychiatric hospitals, community mental health facilities, volunteering in a Peruvian medical orphanage, and serving the underprivileged and at risk youth of New York by utilizing trauma focused CBT and by supporting these parents through the Partners in Parenting program. She is the Director of Child and Adolescent Services and Clinical Training at Behavioral Associates where in addition to her practice she created both a postdoctoral fellowship and doctoral externship program focusing on non-invasive neuro psychological therapies.

Resources and References:

To reach Dr. Davidson: https://www.drdavidsonnyc.com/

International Society of Neurofeedback and Research: https://isnr.org/

Biofeedback Certification International Alliance: https://www.bcia.org

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Disclaimer: The information provided in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. Listeners are encouraged to seek guidance from qualified professionals for their specific situations.