NeurOptimal

Neurofeedback is any technique that intends to modify brain activity by making it detectable to the senses (usually sound or vision) as it occurs in real time. Electroencephalography (EEG) records brain waves which are then fed back as information to the brain, either through conscious or unconscious awareness, so the brain can amend ineffective or inappropriate electrical patterns. Neurofeedback does not introduce electricity into the brain, it simply picks up the energy from the scalp-like an electrocardiogram (ECG) does for the heart.

To put it very simply, neurofeedback is like biofeedback that focuses on the brain. Biofeedback can be used anywhere on the body to help an individual gain some control over involuntary functions. A classic example of biofeedback is through wearing a device that monitors the heart rate and the individual is able to learn to deep breathe to help lower the heart rate through engaging the parasympathetic nervous system. With biofeedback, the individual consciously engages with the data provided by the device to make changes.
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Neurofeedback tracks only the brain's activity, and the technician or computer can detect unhealthy patterns and adjusts, or "trains" the brain into more productive patterns. For example, if you typically start having anxiety or worry when you lay down at night, this is not productive as you want to go to sleep. Neurofeedback can help break those habitual, ineffective patterns that do not align with the task at hand (in this case, sleep). If these patterns can be interrupted, then the brain can work more efficiently! It is theorized that most of the work done by neurofeedback devices is performed by the unconscious part of the brain by changing how it automatically reacts.