PILLAR announced it has implemented a new kind of technology for therapy to help to alleviate individuals’ post-trauma symptoms, depression and anxiety. This therapy could help many individuals struggling with mental health.
LENS therapy, or the Low Energy Neurobiofeedback System, is a software program, but it’s also a treatment designed to alter brain waves.
According to Making Headway Center For Brain Injury Recovery, some people struggle because they seem to be perpetually stuck in overdrive — unable to wind down at the end of the day or even to sit still for very long without excessive fidgeting, foot tapping, knuckle cracking or frequent smoking breaks.
Other people seem to be perpetually shut down emotionally and physically, with a sad, downcast appearance, low energy and minimal interaction with others.
By connecting these individuals to these electrons to this program, it has a tendency to improve symptomology for individuals dealing with depression, anxiety, ADHD and trauma.
LENS helps make the brain more flexible, and therapy provides the support and coaching for how to make changes and develop new patterns in how people deal with thoughts and emotions.
Manny Sanchez, cofounder of PILLAR, assures that this can bring relief for many and plans for the organization to have it available this month at PILLAR for the community.
“It is designed on dealing with people that after a series of sessions — 10 to 15 sessions, maybe even more or sometimes less — data shows us that exposing somebody to this treatment approach makes a difference in reducing symptomology and improving people’s emotional state,” Sanchez said.
“As a clinician myself, there’s nothing more frustrating than just being able to offer a certain modality or approach to treatment. Most of the efforts that we put forth with our clients is involving talk therapy. Well now we have something else to offer to complement the talk therapy, so you should only strengthen the possibility of being able to help somebody even more effectively. Instead of just one approach, now we have multiple approaches to help somebody, so it’s very encouraging for us that we’ve put ourselves in a position that we can better serve the community with their behavior health needs by using this LENS system.”
Sanchez said this therapy was first introduced to the system by a company and a clinician from California, as they came to Laredo to offer training to other area clinicians using this system.
“From the beginning, therapists involved from the PILLAR side in the training recognized its value,” he said. “Based on the recognition of what they saw was going to be therapeutically valuable, they came back and pitched it to the organization, and we saw right away that this was going to be an opportunity for us to better serve the public by being able to not just offer talk therapy but to be able to offer this approach as well. By using these electrodes that send these energy waves into the person’s body to alter brain waves (and provide) better health outcomes, why not take advantage of it? That’s exactly what we want to do, be able to expand the way we treat people’s behavioral health issues.”
It is expected for patients to have less severe symptoms, overcome the issues when it comes to trauma, help with disruptive symptoms they are dealing with and contribute with patients who perhaps are not on medication to improve their quality of life.
“It is very exciting that PILLAR is on the forefront with this technology to help people, because we’ve always felt that Laredo has been behind the curve when it comes to being able to provide cutting edge services in this area,” he said. “Now with the advent of this system, I feel that we’re bringing that other closer with the most updated technology that exists to help people with their behavioral health issues.”
