East Carolina Brain Center

A Functional Brain Disorder (FBD) is a neurological disorder that can impact a person's ability to function at normal levels, which in turn can detract from an individual's ability to perform at their highest potential on a daily basis. FBDs can result from physical or emotional trauma, poor brain development, genetic or environmental influences, degeneration of brain cells, or interruption of the communication between the brain areas, to name a few.  There is nothing visibly wrong with how the brain looks on an MRI/CT scan, however symptoms like those listed above might be experienced or present. Our human abilities, behaviors, and experiences are shaped from the electrical activity of our brains, so it isn't surprising that faulty brain activity can lead to unwanted experiences, bothersome behaviors, and substandard abilities.

Neurotherapy is the clinical application of neuroscience. By examining the structure and function of the human brain and nervous system a map of the networks in the brain is created. Neurotherapy focuses on understanding how FBDs occur and which areas of the brain aren't functioning properly. After answering these questions on an individual basis, personalized neurofeedback therapy is used to guide the brain back to an optimal state of functioning. Neurotherapy uses the brain's own natural capacity to learn (neuroplasticity) through positively reinforced experiences to correct brain function with the goal of alleviating the symptoms experienced from FBDs.