The Mood Elevator: A Major Advance Based on
New Research on Treatment-Resistant Depression
A large clinical study (183 patients) showed an 84% success rate in producing major improvements (> 50%) in depression that could not be resolved by other methods, including drugs.   These patients actually became better–had lower scores on their depression scales–a year afterwards than immediately post treatment!
Perhaps the most amazing thing is that it took only two hours of brainwave biofeedback training, spread over six 20-minute sessions, to completely change the lives of the 154 successful participants.  Its very possible that the results would have been even better with a few more sessions for the most highly depressed clients, who were not quite as successful, but these are still amazing results.  Both of the authors are  very highly qualified neurofeedback specialists with many years of experience.

Simple, Energizing Training

The training is very simple.  You sit in front of a computer, wearing a headband with gold-plated Sensors that pick up your brainwaves from three specific locations on your head.  You watch to see how the display on the computer changes and listen to the sounds.  When you succeed, a DVD or CD plays.  The better you do, the bigger the picture is and the louder the sounds are.  This neurovideofeedback guides you to really perk up and energize your brain and body.  It also turns on the  most civilized part of your brain–the part that is in charge of restraining the more impulsive limbic system, improving your emotional self-control.

The Mood Elevator Package

Peak Achievement Training has developed a suite of 11 display screens which make up the Mood Elevator package, along with a a Manual and a Report Form for summarizing the data in a session.   The display screens develop from simple to more complex, and include the ability for your brainwaves to control DVDs, videos, CDs, and audio tracks.  At present, the Mood Elevator is purely a software package, only available as a supplementary package to the Peak BrainHappiness Trainer Pro, which includes the headband and electronics, as well as a more encompassing system that teaches how to control Focus, Alertness, and Neureka!  The Neureka! Protocol measures the brain system that responds to making new discoveries by enhancing awareness and memory, and provides positive feelings (such as happiness and satisfaction) as a reward for it.  Several of the screens allow you to compare the Mood Elevator to Neureka!, measured side by side.  Our preliminary data indicates that these are two very different types of feelings.
The basic training ideas are very similar to the approach that we have taken in developing the Peak BrainHappiness Trainer, so adapting the study’s methods into our software was not very difficult.  We have been in touch with the authors of the original study, who have filled us in on some of the details not specified in the paper, and helped us to think through the tweaks we have made to provide even better neurovideofeedback.

Depression as an Illness vs. Depression as a Mood

Unfortunately, the first clinicians who described the disease of depression did not see fit to give it a separate name from the mood that characterizes it, so there is a lot of confusion about the word.  The illness is very common, affecting 9.1% of the US population.  Worldwide, it is the #2 cause of disability.  Twenty to thirty percent of of depressives are treatment resistant, and many more are not treated very effectively.  Most mental health clinicians spend a large part of their time dealing with depression in its many forms.
This new approach appears to be a long-lasting treatment for a very difficult problem.  The researchers state that ” These results suggest that [this] training is more likely to significantly decrease depression in a sustained fashion in such patients than the following treatments: switching medications, psychotherapy, electroshock therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, LENS, vagus nerve stimulation, deep brain stimulation, or frontal alpha asymmetry training.”    The paper also reported that it was ” not associated with any significant side effects or complications”.   Clearly, there is a high benefit to risk ratio here for individuals, and society will also benefit from the return of many people to productive endeavors.  There is a huge need to make this protocol available to a wide variety of practitioners and individuals in their homes.
Due to the fact that all the necessary studies for FDA approval haven’t been completed, we cannot make any claims about improving the illness of depression.  However, the Mood Elevator clearly energizes and improves mood, whether or not it was depressed enough, and accompanied by other symptoms, to justify a clinical label.  This training can improve the mood of a much larger group of people than the 9.1% with the illness of depression. To be clear, we are not making any claims regarding the disease of depression, just calling your attention to these powerful results, which speak for themselves.

Success from Thinking Outside the Box

The success of this new training protocol is due, in large part, to thinking and measuring outside the box.  It was the insight of another colleague, Dr. Carol Schneider, that led to this remarkable advance.  Based on her reading of Dr. Allan Schore’s remarkable synthesis, “Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self”, she suggested that neurofeedback be performed at a location outside the normal bounds of the 10-20 electrode system that is used for most clinical EEG and Quantitative EEG.  In fact, it’s outside the limits of the researcher’s 128 channel system.  However, it makes perfect neurophysiological sense, because the neurofeedback activates the part of the pre-frontal cortex that is in charge of regulating the limbic system–controlling it to keep it within bounds.    We are very fortunate that this measurement site is actually within the reach of our current headband.  This site is clearly described in the Mood Elevator Manual.

A Professional System That Can Also Be Used At Home

The combination of the Peak BrainHappiness Trainer Pro and the Mood Elevator are clearly targeted for the professional who has a wide variety of clients that can be helped by the four types of neurovideofeedback Protocols–Focus, Alertness, Neureka! and the Mood Elevator.  The system is the easiest professional neurofeedback system for both the professional and the client.

  • The set-up is simple.  You can be learning how to use the system from the four Training Videos within a half hour of opening the box. 
  • Everything that you need to do the neurovideofeedback is included in the kit, except for the computer, which is available preconfigured by special order.  You will save a tremendous amount of time in your ramp up. 
  • The dry electrodes are a pleasure to use, eliminating goopy electrode paste and preparation. 
  • The wireless connection means there are no wires to untangle.  
  • The four Neurovideofeedback Protocols are very easy to understand and control, usually taking less than two minutes each.
  • This leads to much faster progress in training and quicker mastery.  The research indicates 5 to 12 sessions produces major advances, compared with the typical 30 to 50 sessions.
  • There are no legal or certification requirements for performing neurovideofeedback with an educational instrument like the Peak BrainHappiness Trainer Pro.   
  • These highly effective procedures are much less demanding on the practitioner, who takes the role of a coach making occasional suggestions, while watching wonderful videos. 
  • It is very likely that this approach will supplant many traditional therapeutic modalities.  Those who start early will have a definite advantage in the market. 

Are you ready to have the power to improve your mood?

To order please call us at 1-800-886-4228 or 502-228-0605 , or email us (info@peakachievement.com) to set up a Skype call or Zoom session.

If you need to learn more, please INQUIRE TODAY and get access to Dr. Cowan’s recent Zoom recording describing the Happi Trainer and Happitation, so that you can learn the principles and research behind them. This will also subscribe you to our e-mail list.

You will also receive a special report, ” Understanding and Activating Your Brain’s Pleasure Centers ” . Learn about the relationships of dopamine to reward, pleasure, and addiction.

    This website is primarily focused on the Happi Trainer, but it also contains background information on the Peak BrainHappiness Trainer, its predecessor for professionals with 77 designs and the Alertness protocol, which is still available, and other current Peak Achievement products.  As you browse the site, you can find the emphasis of the page by the logo in the upper left corner.
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