Ways to monitor the EEG - can you spot the change?

If you're not familiar with EEG - if you've had zero training, you may not quickly spot the differences between the two sets of EEG we'll show you below.  First, we'll show you a couple of examples of the way an EEG may be displayed.

There are many clinicians who never really learn how to use the EEG as information.  They respond by tuning in to the client.    However, there are many others who learn to use this additional information. How the EEG is behaving - and changing, can give you a lot of clues about the client and the training process.

Spectral EEG horizontal  (1 channel of EEG)
 

Each bar represents a 1 hz band of frequency.  The first bar within the graph on top represents from 0-1 hz (dark red), the second bar is 1-2 hz, then 2- 3 hz, etc.  The last bar on the bottom in yellow is 44-45 hz.  In the software above, these bars - the frequency distribution of the EEG - are being calculated once ever 1/2 second.

Remember that EEG reflects brain states.  So when you see a change in EEG patterns, it is reflective of a shift - perhaps very subtle, in brain state.  In the example above, it shows 2 different snapshots.  The left graph is earlier in the training session while the client was in the middle of an intense migraine.  The right side was taken as the migraine subsided over 20 minutes of training.  Note this client said that these migraines normally last for hours and never subside in a short time. What stands out?  Notice the green bars sticking out on the left graph. That's alpha activity.  It's not sticking out later in the session. Excessive alpha is often noted in migrainers.  This was one of the targets of training - to reduce that activity.

NOTE:  Since these are being recalculated and displayed once every 1/2 second, and since there is a lot of change from moment to moment in the EEG, you can get variations like the ones above even randomly  in the EEG. In watching the patterns, your goal is to see the patterns change over time.  We picked in the example two graphs that represented the change in pattern that was occurring. Over the training, you saw much more alpha popping up early in the session, and it quieted way down later in the session.

See other examples below:
EEG spectral in horizontal form (1 channel of EEG)

 This is a version of spectral in a vertical form. It is like the previous example. It can display one channel (both sides represent the one channel) or two channels (each side of the spectral displays different information).  This example for simplicity is only one channel. Both sides will be mirror images of each other, and can quickly identify variations in frequency distribution of the EEG.

EXAMPLE.  These again are all from the same migraine client and the same session as the example above. In this case. the one in the middle and the one on the right represent a typical pattern seen earlier in the session while still in migraine.  Lots of alpha (green popping out in the middle spectral).  and some consistent bursting of high beta (lots of yellow popping out in the right spectral).

 As the client's migraine started to settle down, the EEG on the left was more typical - it settled down.  Everything got smaller and steadier, much less bursting in the alpha and high beta band.

 Click here for examples using a full EEG screen