First Steps

The rule I use in looking at the TQ is very simple: look at the brain through the window of what the client wants to change.

If you look at the Analyze page, beginning with the section entitled Heads (the Heads page), there are a series of categories we look for (Disconnect, Hot Temporals, Reversals, etc…) Each of these categories is briefly defined (in terms of EEG markers) on the Analyze page.

So first understand what THIS brain is doing by looking at the displays. Is it dominated by slow or fast activity? Is there a hump of alpha in the middle or not? Does the alpha drop down strongly when the eyes are opened or the client is performing a task?

In the Reports and Histogram sections, you can get a sense of relationships among the frequencies from the ratios. Theta/Beta tells you about the main processing style of the client (creative/intuitive vs. logical/rational). Alpha/Theta tells you about the client’s ability to observe him or herself. If alpha is flat, the client can’t observe his own thoughts and feelings and bring them into full awareness. If the alpha is very high, she may be stuck in the observer mode, not actually experiencing her own life.

There is a lot of information about the brain in a TQ–and a lot of ways of looking at it.

My rule of thumb in the assessment process is to look for what is there rather than looking for any specific thing. I recognize that anyone has a tendency to focus attention on one or a few particular issues that seem to be most problematic, but it is important in the assessment to (in the Subjective, the Symptom Checklist, etc.) describe the behavior/mood/performance in as much detail as possible. Then we are more likely to identify the real brain issues that underlie a whole set of issues and be able to help the client move to change them all.

Ratios

The Theta/Beta ratios are roughly based on Monastra’s work, using primarily targets for adults. The Alpha/Theta ratios are based on some targets I learned many years ago when just starting. Peak frequencies and coherences are somewhat the same in terms of where they came from. Again, take the blue and red as descriptive indicators–not diagnostic.

When a ratio is red (higher than expected) that suggests that the top number is dominating (alpha in the case of the A/T ratio); when it is blue (lower than expected), that suggests that the bottom number (theta) is dominating.

1. A/T ratios low and T/B ratios high: suggests Theta is high (vs. alpha and beta); train theta down

2. A/T ratios low and T/B ratios low: suggests Alpha is low (alpha low vs. theta; beta is not); train alpha up

Theta/Beta Ratio

Most adults will have a relationship of theta (4-8) to beta (13-21 Hz) around 1.2-2.0 with eyes open,

Theta/Beta ratios are a way of comparing a brain’s preference for creative/intuitive image-based thought versus logical/rational language-based thought. The higher the ratio, generally, the more difficulty a person will have with getting detail by listening and reading, staying focused on such material and doing tasks in steps and sequences.

The ratio in an adult will often run from 1.2 to 2.0, and the person will be able to attend effectively to most any type of task. The ratio that is higher suggests the person will have difficulty not drifting off into his thoughts. The ratio that is lower often indicates a person may be anxious or obsessive, perhaps with racing thoughts, though language processing will not usually be a problem.

The Theta/Beta ratio is a power ratio, with theta defined as 4-8 Hz and beta as 13-21 Hz. These are the definitions we used for the article on Theta Beta ratios in Neuropsychology back in 99 headlined by Lubar and Monastra. They’ve become a standard.

So, yes, Lubar/Monastra, for example, identified cutoff points for the Theta/Beta power ratio that separated ADHD (a rather broad diagnosis to start with) from “normal”. Problem is that I’ve rarely seen a creative person, a psychotherapist, an artist, etc. who didn’t–by that definition–come out ADHD. Slow wave activity (as represented by theta in the ratio) represents subconscious access and memory access. That might not be of much benefit to an accountant, but intuition and creative thought are pretty important to many other people. By their definition, people with VERY low Theta/Beta ratios should have fabulous attention; but they don’t. They may be very anxious, have noisy interior monologues going on or be hyperactive and distractible (see the discussion of Filtering vs. Processing forms of attention problems in the Level2 workshop on the categories we use in the TQ).

We would ordinarily look for these patterns with eyes closed, not necessarily eyes open, because eyes closed is where we would hope to see middle frequencies dominate the EEG. In addition to looking at SMR levels with eyes open at C4, I would also pay attention to theta/beta ratios to identify Filtering and Processing issues. Filtering clients often have LOW theta/beta ratios (lots of fast activity as well as lots of slow–just very little in the middle bands) that often RISE (but into or closer to the target range) at task. Processing clients usually have HIGH T/B ratios and/or they “reverse activate”–rise out of or further out of the target range–at task. The scoop pattern with eyes closed–inability to produce the middle frequencies–is another indicator of Filtering problems.

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Theta/Beta ratios are calculated based on 4-8 Hz for theta and 13-21 Hz for beta. The ratios are squared (since that’s what the research did that was done on them.) The research was done with readings at Cz, but we use the values at all sites as an indication not (as in the research) of ADHD but as a way of characterizing the style of the brain between creative/intuitive thought (theta) and logical/rational thought (beta).

The important things to look at are the levels and how they change when the client goes from eyes open to task. If the ratios are low (below 1.2), which is related to ADHD hyperactive or anxiety, and they go up into the target range of 1.2-2 at task, that indicates the person is able to stop the internal noise when there is something to focus on. If they go down when above 2 (inattentiveness), that indicates the person is able to activate at task, which is a good thing. If they are high with eyes open and go up at task, that’s a metabolic problem, and training should focus on increasing capacity to produce and sustain faster states.

Alpha-Theta Ratio

I judge alpha adequacy in relation to theta. If alpha/theta ratios in the parietals are around 1.5 or higher with eyes closed, that’s pretty good alpha–enough to support the functions back there if you choose to try reducing beta. Also training down beta and up alpha if the ratio is a bit lower than 1.5 may work okay.

Low Peak Alpha

Alpha peak frequency can be lower than 10 and still be “normal” in children. The same is not true for adults. As peak frequency in alpha begins to slide, we expect to see semantic memory issues, losses in short-term/working memory, fogginess, difficulty with learning new material. If you choose to believe that these are “normal” changes in adults over 50, then there’s no sense training them. But if an adult has this EEG pattern and these problems, then training to speed up the peak alpha frequency will usually help to resolve the target issues. The slow peak frequency, and the dropping overall peak frequencies at task, both suggest a brain that is tired. If there are emotional drive issues, stress, etc., then over a period of half a century, they are likely to result in a tired brain.

Alpha Reversal

Having alpha reversals in the frontals (or in all homologous site pairs–F3/F4, C3/C4, P3/P4 and T3/T4–for alpha and beta reversals) does not mean that a person is “depressed”. It means there is perhaps a predisposition to move toward lower energy states, darker moods, a tendency to see the world through dark glasses, threats as opposed to opportunities. If those are issues, then training to deal with the alpha reversal can be helpful. Beta reversals are more likely to relate to irritability, anxiety and agitation. Finally, poor alpha blocking (failing to shift out of alpha when the eyes are open or the client is at task) can be an artifact of slow alpha (some of the alpha is actually down in the theta band, so it behaves as alpha would, thus the ratio of alpha/theta does not show much change). It can also mean that the client is staying in the auto-pilot state when he’s supposed to be landing the plane. Failure to de-synchronize from alpha generators so the neurons in the cortex can actually do their job has a significant effect on cognitive processing.

Rigidity and compulsiveness can be related to frontal midline issues (what we call Blocking) or to high levels of coherence in faster frequencies (the Locking pattern), among other things.

It’s mostly because those sites are so far apart that the coherence would be expected to be almost nil, and because I don’t have any basis for knowing what values we should use in comparing them.