Physical Resilience

Have you or a loved one experienced a chronic illness or a debilitating injury? Perhaps you have a child who was born with a seizure disorder or other life-altering malady. Has your family been forever changed? What would you say are the most helpful things for the overall functioning of the family? For the injured member? Have you been able to find a good rehab counselor?

Factors Contributing to Coping Well

Rehabilitation psychology is a field of study that investigates, in part, the factors that contribute to an adult or child’s recovery, ability to cope, or resiliency after the injury or the onset of the illness. Folk wisdom has fostered the idea that positive emotions are beneficial to one’s health. Growing empirical evidence is offering support for this anecdotal insight. Tugade, et. al. (2004) found that “positive emotions play a crucial role in enhancing coping resources in the face of negative events” through two studies conducted using psychophysiological evidence and experience sampling.*

Quale and Shanke (2010) were able to identify 4 important factors that “account for psychological resilience after injury or chronic illness.”**

These include:

• Optimism
• Affect
• Social Support
• Pain

Overall quality of life prior to and after the onset of the illness or disability were measured by Bishop (2005) to have important implications for rehabilitation counseling and for psychosocial adaptation.*** Bishop emphasizes four components to be evaluated by the family, the patient, and the rehab counselor.

These include:

• Overall satisfaction with quality of life
• Perceived sense of control
• The actual impact of the illness or the disability and its treatment
• Level of significance of life domains impacted by the illness or disability

Where Does NeurOptimal® Fit In?

NeurOptimal® offers the following, no matter the circumstance in life:

• Helps the injured family member, whether adult or child, live within their limitations better
• Helps parents (if the diagnosed family member is a child) to better contribute to overall happiness and stress resilience of the family  
• Increases flexibility and resilience which makes coping easier
• Improves concentration, resource management, problem solving, and logic
• Neurofeedback aids in relaxation which contributes to improved sleep habits. The diagnosed, as well as family members and caregivers, experience the joy of deep sleep and profound rest.

Overall, NeurOptimal® promotes the emotional fitness and healthy life style choices of not only the injured but also the entire family (should they participate in the neurofeedback sessions themselves), which Harvard Medical School identifies as an important part of living with chronic illness and/or disability.****

Here’s what some of our renters had to say about his neurofeedback training 9 years after a stroke:

“After a month of using NeurOptimal® I have logged about 30-35 sessions. The results were very positive including feeling like I have more control over my left side, like 50% more! It just seemed to come naturally. My overall energy seems to be up quite a bit. Also, I’m not so foggy all the time. It’s made me happier. Knowing it’s actually working has been a big boost. I would definitely recommend! It worked very strongly for me.”                                                                            

-Willie, Fort Collins, CO

“My wife has no seizures on the days she does the training. This down from a dozen small seizures a day. I feel a lot better about going to work knowing she is in a good place at home.”

–Jim, Utah

“The drugs my daughter was taking to control her seizures had been making her seem absolutely numb. It was so hard to watch. The brain training is not only helping her have a life again, I’m able to be a lot less worried about her. My own stress level has gone down. It’s been so great for our relationship!”

–Alicia, Kansas

*Tugade, MM; Frederickson, BL; Feldman Barrett, L; “Psychological Resilience and Positive Emotional Granularity: Examining the Benefits of Positive Emotions on Coping and Health” Journal of Personality; Vol 72, Issue 6, Pages 1161-1190.

**Quale, A. J., & Schanke, A.K. (2010). Resilience in the face of coping with a severe physical injury: A study of trajectories of adjustment in a rehabilitation setting. Rehabilitation Psychology, 55(1), 12-22.

*** Malachy Bishop; “Quality of Life and Psychosocial Adaptation to Chronic Illness and Disability”; RCB 48:4 pp. 219–231 (2005)

****https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/10-steps-for-coping-with-a-chronic-condition

Maybe you’re about ready to start your brain training experience but still have a few questions.