Addiction

Substance and behavioral addictions, including compulsive social media use, share core features of craving, loss of control, and preoccupation with the substance or activity. Addictions often undergo unsuccessful attempts to cut back, tolerance (needing more to achieve the same effect), withdrawal-like irritability or anxiety when deprived, and continued use despite negative consequences. In social media overuse, there is compulsive checking, neglect of responsibilities, disrupted sleep, social withdrawal from in-person relationships, and heightened distractibility.

Over time, addiction erodes physical and mental health, damage relationships, impair work or academic performance, and may lead to financial and legal troubles. The compulsive cycle restructures reward pathways in the brain, reinforcing maladaptive patterns and diminishing capacity for healthy decision-making, leading to a progressive narrowing of life around the addiction.

Neurofeedback reinforces healthy brainwave patterns and inhibits maladaptive ones associated with impulsivity, craving, and poor attention control, thereby restoring cerebral balance. In substance abuse, neurofeedback improves attentional stability, reduce impulsivity, increase treatment retention, and enhances long-term abstinence.

By promoting arousal regulation and stress tolerance, neurofeedback breaks our compulsive cycle, enables emotional stability, and reopens our capacity for reward from non-addictive activities. Through repeated sessions, our brain develops healthy operating modes that generalize to everyday life and support recovery and resilience against relapse.

Recovery from addiction is not quick or easy. Because addictive patterns are deeply rooted in the brain’s reward system, progress with neurofeedback often requires many sessions and steady commitment. This is not a “fast fix,” but a gradual process of rewiring and healing. Each session helps the brain learn healthier rhythms, and over time, these new patterns support greater emotional balance, self-control, and freedom from compulsive cycles. For those who stay the course, the investment of time and effort can create lasting change and a stronger foundation for recovery.

David Kaiser. Sandra Beltran