Rhythmic Stimulation Procedures in Neuromodulation

James R. Evans, Robert Turner

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9780128037263
• eBook ISBN:
  9780128037478
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Neuroscience
• Index: Biological Sciences

Rhythmic Stimulation Procedures in Neuromodulation offers a unique approach to rhythm-related stimulation as it pertains to modulating neural functioning, with the goal of alleviating symptoms of mental disorder. Rhythm and related concepts (frequency, resonance, entrainment) are thought by many to be closely linked to human health and disease. Neurologists and clinical psychologists facilitate neuroplasticity by using pulsed (rhythmic) sensory or electromagnetic stimulation—a group of techniques broadly referred to as neuromodulation. This edited volume describes details of rhythm-related neuromodulation techniques, and experts in the field have detailed the pros and cons of each approach, citing both clinical and scientific support. Each technique chapter provides a detailed description of the procedure, a rationale for application with specific populations, discussion of similarities/differences relative to other approaches, and support for efficacy. This volume offers readers a historical overview of the roles of rhythm and dysrhythmia in health and disease, including examples of past and present therapeutic uses of rhythmic stimulation, entrainment, and/or modification. It also facilitates speculation about potential developments in rhythm-related methods for the future of mental health. Few books published in the general area of rhythm have focused on the scientific study of the significance of biological rhythms. - Discusses features of the generally unknown early history of using rhythmic stimulation procedures in treating various disorders - Provides an overview of the extent to which rhythmic stimulation of various types are basic to the majority of alternative and complementary medicine fields - Provides details of several of today's more commonly used stimulation techniques for neuromodulation, discussing the theoretical foundations and limitations of each, and providing clinical and scientific research evidence for their treatment efficacy in specific applications - Discusses current directions in which stimulation techniques are moving and speculates on the promise they hold for major changes in mental health care

Chapter 1

Historical Overview of Rhythmic Stimulation Procedures in Health and Disease

James R. Evans Sterlingworth Center, Greenville, SC, United States

Abstract

There are rapidly proliferating numbers of procedures claimed to be effective for neuromodulation and alleviation of symptoms of a large array of mental, physical, and learning disorders. A great many, if not most, involve intentional application of rhythmic stimulation of various sorts, including auditory, visual, electrical, and electromagnetic or some combination thereof. While many of the procedures are advertised as new, clinically proven and evidence-based, the fact is that in most cases very similar procedures have been used for decades, or even centuries, and the evidence for their efficacy largely is anecdotal. Their proliferation presents a confusing situation for clinical practitioners and consumers alike in attempting to understand, recommend, or use them. In this chapter the author attempts to clarify some of the confusion by presenting an historical overview of relatively specific procedures using rhythmic stimulation for healing purposes from antiquity to present day. Some details of each are provided and support for efficacy of each is discussed when available. Summary comments are provided regarding various subcategories of procedures, underlying mechanisms of their effectiveness, and reasons for their increasing popularity despite continuing skepticism or rejection by mainstream medicine.

Keywords

rhythmizing

rhythmic stimulation

resonance

alternative & complementary medicine

Greek aesculapia

neuromodulation

Royal Rife

neurofeedback

Neurofield

Introduction

There are a great many different types of rhythm and stimuli; therefore, many definitions of “rhythmic stimulation” are possible. In this chapter, as in this book in general, “rhythm” basically will refer to a flow, or movement, of stimuli characterized by regular recurrence of features or elements alternating with different elements or patterns of elements. Since “different” may include presence–absence of an element, then even simpler vibrating (oscillating) stimuli are included. “Stimuli” refers to any agent that causes, or modulates, activity in an organism; and the term “rhythmic stimulation” as used herein will refer more specifically to procedures involving deliberate application of rhythmic stimuli known (or presumed) to incite changes in the functioning of bodily systems. Many familiar rhythms known to affect bodily systems are referred to as infradian, recurring (cycling) less than once a day, or circadian (c. 24 h). Examples include, seasons, planetary movements, and the day–night cycle. However, the rhythmic stimulation procedures discussed in this chapter deal exclusively with ultradian rhythms, that is, those with features which recur (cycle) with a frequency (periodicity) of more than once a day. Their recurrence can range from several times (cycles) a day, to several times per second, to millions or more times per second.

Readers may wonder why this chapter concerns “rhythmic” stimulation and not simply “stimulation”. Some may cite findings or conclusions of physicists and others that all matter, and even apparently nonmaterial “energies”, are vibratory in nature, thus making superfluous the adjective “rhythmic” (e.g., Green, 2003; Cole, 1985). They have a point, and a chapter, such as this might as accurately be entitled something like “Energy Procedures in Health and Disease” and follow a path more or less parallel to texts such as Vibrational Medicine (Gerber, 2001), and Energy Medicine (Oschman, 2016). However, in this author’s opinion it is not only the vibratory nature of matter (or nonmatter) that is of importance, but also the unique patterning of the stimulation such that simple rhythmic vibrations (oscillations) embedded, or “nested” in and dynamically interacting with a matrix of multiple other vibrations emerge as the complex rhythms likely to be of greatest importance in influencing health and disease. If such is the case, then relatively simple rhythmic and vibratory stimulation procedures, such as involved in earlier auditory–visual entrainment procedures (see Chapter 3), and many “energy medicine” approaches may not be as universally powerful as, for example, music-based approaches with their complex structures including melody, overtones, harmonics.

Historical Highlights

Antiquity

It is easy to speculate that the earliest humans were soothed by deliberately attending to the rhythmic flickering of campfire flames, or the sounds of primitive musical instruments. And, for millennia humans necessarily lived in synchrony with the rhythms of the seasons and the night–day cycle in regard to planting–harvesting, sleeping–working, and so on. Whether due to astrological beliefs or direct rhythmic influence, exposure to planetary movements in the smog-free atmosphere of ancient times also may have played a role in health and disease. However, it is largely from the written records of early Greek and Roman civilizations that we know of deliberate application of rhythmic stimulation in the treatment of disease. Information relevant to the latter is summarized in the following paragraphs, with its primary source being Chapter 3 of the book Music and Medicine (Schullian & Schoen, 1948).

The Greek and Roman God, Apollo is said to have had among his many functions the cleansing of the body and soul of disease, and, via his rhythmic movement through the skies, the production of harmony in the universe. He was seen as the God of healing, poetry, dancing, and music, and regarded by many as the founder of medicine. In Greek/Roman mythology Apollo’s son, Aesculapius, subsequently became the God of healing and medicine, with his temples, or Aesculapia, serving also as “hospitals” of the time. Therapeutic procedures used are reported to have involved not only patient belief in the divine powers of the Gods Apollo and Aesculpius, but also “natural” remedies, such as nondistracting, healthful surroundings, gymnasia, theaters, thermal springs, and, of special significance here, singing, poetry, and dancing. Main components shared by the latter procedures included harmony, melody, and rhythm. Since there was belief that disease is a lack of harmony of elements composing one’s “psychical” and physical nature, and that health requires that the elements be in harmony, it is not surprising that those music-related procedures were important aspects of what today might be termed holistic or psychophysiological therapy.

As cited in Schullian and Schoen (1948), both Plato and Aristotle were influenced by work of the philosopher/mathematician Pythagoras. The latter, believing that order, proportion, and measure were the essence of life, studied the physics of sound, and, using a monochord, developed the ratios of his “perfect musical consonances” (Schullian & Schoen, 1948, p. 56), the octave, fifth and fourth intervals which remain basic to our present tonal system. He is said to have held the view that music, poetry, and dance help insure emotional stability, and to have composed specific melodies to treat psychotic disorders and restore persons with physical ailments to former health. Similar views were expressed by the Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle. Plato is quoted in Schullian and Schoen (1948), as, “Music was bestowed on man for the sake of effecting harmonious revolutions of the soul within us whenever its rhythmic motions are disturbed. Thus, when the soul has lost its harmony, melody, and rhythm, assist in restoring it to order and concord” (p. 57). Related to this, Aristotle is quoted as, “Anyone seems to have an inborn affinity with harmonious sounds and rhythms; therefore many wise men assert that the soul is harmony, whereas others say that it has harmony. And, since the soul rules the body and music is akin to the soul, appropriate melodies, harmonies, and instruments must affect both soul and body” (Schullian & Schoen, 1948, p. 59).

Especially if the term “mind” is substituted for “soul”, ancient Greek and Roman attitudes, such as those cited previously are very similar to beliefs underlying modern music, dance, and poetry therapy, as well as a great many of today’s alternative and complementary medicines and “stimulation” approaches to neuromodulatuion.

Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

Mesmerism and Hypnosis

During the late 1700’s and throughout much of the 19th century there was great interest in the purported healing powers of magnetism, perhaps culminating in the concept of “animal magnetism” as espoused by Mesmer and other practitioners of what today would fall under the heading of hypnosis. According to many practitioners of animal magnetism (or mesmerism), a magnetic fluid exists, which emanates from the “magnetizer” and is willfully communicated to the magnetized person, usually via the hands and eyes. Most practitioners eventually came to realize that “trances”, and passes of hands over client’s bodies, and so on, were not necessary for results, and that mental factors, such as suggestion, belief, or sustained attention sufficed for desired results. The latter, of course, is a conclusion still made by many critics of today’s alternative medicine procedures.

From an historical perspective the practice of animal magnetism was a “stimulation procedure”, albeit based on faulty theorizing, and not necessarily rhythmic in nature. However, hypnosis as practiced throughout the 19th century (and later) remained a powerful therapeutic technique, and often did involve rhythmic stimulation in the tone and cadence of the hypnotist’s voice, rhythmic movement of his or her hands and arms, and so on, sometimes deliberately aimed at “getting in synchrony with” a client’s rhythms or moods to help effect desired change. Thus, many hypnotic techniques could have been, and still can be, classified as rhythmic stimulation procedures.

Homeopathy

The early 1800s saw the rapid rise in popularity of homeopathy as a means of treating disease. Founded by a German physician, Samuel Hahnemann, in the late 1700s, this approach was based largely on the notion that administering tiny doses of substances known to produce symptoms of certain diseases in healthy persons could cure persons actually suffering from those diseases, that is, “like cures like”. The substances administered often are diluted to the point where none of their original molecules remain, leaving no active chemical ingredien...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• List of Contributors
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Historical Overview of Rhythmic Stimulation Procedures in Health and Disease
• Chapter 2: Cranio-electro Stimulation: An Effective yet Simple Technique for Calming the Mind
• Chapter 3: Audio–Visual Entrainment: Physiological Mechanisms and Clinical Outcomes
• Chapter 4: Photobiomodulation and Other Light Stimulation Procedures
• Chapter 5: Nexalin and Related Forms of Subcortical Electrical Stimulation
• Chapter 6: The Use of Music for Neuromodulation
• Chapter 7: Noninvasive Transcranial Magnetic and Electrical Stimulation: Working Mechanisms
• Chapter 8: Toward a Frequency-based Theory of Neurofeedback
• Chapter 9: Cultural Factors in Responses to Rhythmic Stimuli
• Chapter 10: Speculation on the Nature and Future of Rhythmic Stimulation
• Index