Four kinds of neurofeedback, and how to tell which one you need

Neurofeedback is a category, not a single therapy, and the four approaches under it work in genuinely different ways. IASIS microcurrent is entirely passive: you sit, sensors are placed, and nothing is asked of you. EVOX works through voice and what surfaces while you speak, so it involves you actively. HeartMath is a technique you learn once and can then use anywhere without equipment. Tapping — Emotional Freedom Techniques — is a physical practice you also take away with you. So the useful question when choosing is not which one is best in the abstract. It is how much you want to participate, whether you want something that happens to you or something you learn to do, and whether you want it to end when the appointment does. Those preferences narrow it faster than any comparison of mechanisms.

IASIS microcurrent — the passive one

You sit in a chair, sensors go on your head, and the session is uneventful to experience. No exercises, no concentration, no talking.

That is the appeal, particularly for anyone who has already tried approaches that asked for effort they did not have. It is also the one most often chosen for children, because it asks so little of the person in the chair.

EVOX — the one that involves you

EVOX works with your voice. You speak about a subject, and the session works with what surfaces while you do.

It suits people who want to engage with something specific rather than sit through a general session, and it is a different experience from IASIS in almost every respect despite sharing a category.

HeartMath — the one you take with you

HeartMath is a technique rather than a treatment. You learn it in a session and then you have it — no equipment, no appointment, usable in a car park before a meeting.

The techniques come from the HeartMath Institute, which is a research organisation in its own right. The published work behind them is theirs, and they publish it openly if you want to read before deciding.

Tapping — the other one you take with you

Also called Emotional Freedom Techniques, which is worth knowing because that is what most people search for. It is a physical practice, learned in a session and used on your own afterwards.

Like HeartMath, its value is largely in what happens outside the appointment, which makes it a different proposition from the two that happen in the chair.

How to actually choose

Start with how much you want to be involved. If the honest answer is "as little as possible", that points at IASIS. If you want to work on something specific, EVOX. If you want something that keeps working when you leave, HeartMath or Tapping.

You do not have to decide before you come in, and plenty of people use more than one. The first conversation is for working this out — and being able to change approach without changing practice is most of the reason all four are here.