Depression is the result of many influencing factors, including genetics, early childhood experiences, stress, social support, thinking patterns, lifestyle, neurochemicals, inflammation, and more. While there is no single cause that we can point to with certainty, we can say with certainty that depression happens in your brain, and relief can be found in your brain. Neurofeedback can help a depressed brain alter its functioning to be healthier and happier.
We all have the same fundamental brain structure; although neuronal connections, determining the activation of and communication between brain circuits, are unique to each of us. The circuits excited over and over in your brain become the go-to default patterns for you and are the result of your thoughts, interactions with others and the world, and the events that have happened to you in your life until today.
So, at the most basic level, depression is just the routine activation of certain brain circuits, in specific patterns that result in depression for you.
One way to think about it is that being depressed is a habit of your brain. Most of the symptoms of depression are reflections of your brain’s activity. In fact, there’s no brain scan, MRI, EEG or any other medical test that can definitively diagnose depression, but we can see it on a qEEG brain map.
Grey’s Plan — The Most Complete
Brain Training We Offer
If you want the most comprehensive, all-inclusive, guided solution for focus, behavior, and overall brain health—for your child or yourself, Grey’s Plan gives you everything needed to make the next 4 months the turning point.
Neurofeedback alone is powerful.
But when you combine brain training with gut testing, clinical oversight, and unlimited support, results come faster, smoother, and last longer.
Our brain advocates can interrupt your brains’ depression habit and change the brain patterns and connections that are causing depression for you. Many scientific studies have confirmed the effectiveness of neurofeedback for improving mild to treatment-resistant depression as being much better than medication. One study found the response and remission rates to be 58 percent and 50 percent respectively after only 12 weeks of neurofeedback training.¹ Professor Eun-Jin Cheon, Yeunggnam University Hospital, South Korea, project leader of the study said:
“Neurofeedback has been trialed with psychological conditions in the past, but as far as we know this is the first time that anyone has succeeded in achieving remission and overall recovery (functional recovery) with treatment-resistant depression. This is particularly important, because this is an otherwise untreatable group of patients…The most promising thing about neurofeedback is it doesn’t cause even mild side effects. It could also improve self-efficacy by participating active, voluntary treatment.”
Frequently Asked Questions
About Depression
We’ve gathered a list of commonly asked questions about Depression, for your convenience. If you don’t see the information you need, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Simply click on the question that interests you to navigate directly to the relevant section.
Depressed brains often show a specific pattern called frontal alpha asymmetry — the left side of the brain (associated with positive mood, motivation, and approach behaviors) is underactive relative to the right. Neurofeedback training can help rebalance this pattern, which is linked to improvements in mood, energy, and motivation. It is not about forcing happiness — it is about restoring the brain’s natural capacity to experience it.
They work differently. Antidepressants can produce faster short-term relief but require ongoing use to maintain the effect. Neurofeedback works more gradually but helps the brain learn patterns that tend to hold after training ends. In studies comparing the two, neurofeedback has shown results comparable to medication for some clients, with the added benefit of no side effects and lasting change. Many people do best with both.
Sleep and energy are usually the first things to improve, often within the first 5 to 10 sessions. Mood lift and motivation tend to follow between sessions 15 and 30. Depression can be a slower responder than anxiety, partly because the low-energy state makes it harder to notice small changes. Most clients settle in for a full 30 to 40 session course.
Treatment-resistant depression is actually one of the situations where neurofeedback often has the most to offer. When medication has not helped, or helped only partially, or the side effects are intolerable, the problem is frequently a dysregulated brainwave pattern that medication cannot reach. The brain map tells us what is happening, and we train accordingly.
If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, your first call should be to a mental health professional or crisis line — 988 in the U.S. — not to us. Once you are connected with appropriate support, neurofeedback can be an excellent complement to the care you are receiving, and we coordinate care with your clinical team. Our role is supportive, not primary.
Research looking at one-to-five-year follow-ups in depression clients has shown that gains from neurofeedback are generally maintained over time. Some clients come back for booster sessions during difficult life seasons. The brain tends to remember what it learned, which is the point of training it in the first place.
Medication, talk therapy, and neurofeedback are complementary approaches. Talk therapy helps you understand and process your experiences. Medication can offer symptom relief, while neurofeedback addresses underlying brain regulation. You may continue to take medication, as these methods work together rather than competing.
Sources: 1 . Lee, J., Lee, W., Seo, S., Koo, H., Kim, G., & Cheon, J. (2019). Neurofeedback Treatment on Depressive Symptoms and Functional Recovery in Treatment-Resistant Patients with Major Depressive Disorder: An Open-Label Pilot Study. Journal of Korean Medical Science, 34(42). https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2019.34.e287