A familiar feeling?
Signs you might recognize.
- Being easily startled or constantly on guard
- Flashbacks, intrusive memories, or nightmares
- Avoiding people, places, or reminders of what happened
- Feeling numb, detached, or cut off from people you love
- Trouble sleeping or concentrating
- Irritability or anger that flares out of nowhere
- A nervous system that feels stuck in overdrive
Trauma does not stay in the past. Long after the danger is gone, the nervous system can keep bracing as if it is still happening: jumpy, worn out, never quite able to stand down. If that is what your days feel like, you are not broken and you are not weak. Your brain learned to survive something, and it has not yet learned that it is over.
Neurofeedback for PTSD is a drug-free way to work on that stuck-on-alert pattern. At Source Neurofeedback in Clarksville, TN, we start by mapping what your brain is doing, then train it, gently and over time, toward steadier regulation. In a session you relax in a chair with a few sensors on your scalp while the feedback rewards calmer patterns. Clarksville and nearby Fort Campbell are home to a lot of service members, veterans, and military families, and this page is written with you in mind.
If you are in immediate danger, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. If you are in crisis or having thoughts of harming yourself, please reach out now. In the US, call, text, or chat 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Veterans and service members can call 988 and press 1 for the Veterans Crisis Line, text 838255, or chat online. Neurofeedback is not crisis care or a substitute for trauma treatment.
What the research shows for post-traumatic stress
Research on neurofeedback for post-traumatic stress has shown meaningful reductions in symptom scores, with effects that held at follow-up. In a randomised trial of EEG neurofeedback in 52 adults with chronic PTSD who had not responded to at least six months of trauma-focused therapy, and who continued any ongoing therapy or medication during the study (van der Kolk and colleagues, PLoS ONE, 2016), clinician-rated symptom scores fell more than in a waitlist group. A 2024 systematic review in Frontiers in Psychiatry, covering 17 studies and 628 patients, reached a similar conclusion, though its clinician-rated results came mostly from fMRI-based protocols.
Most of those studies did not blind patients or clinicians, and the van der Kolk trial compared against a waitlist rather than sham training, so some of the effect is likely expectation. The 2023 VA/DoD clinical practice guideline for PTSD, like the American Psychological Association and the UK’s NICE, found insufficient evidence to recommend for or against neurofeedback.
How a qEEG brain map fits into post-trauma care
After trauma, the brain’s threat system can stay switched on, treating ordinary moments as if they carry the same danger. That is part of why the smallest thing can set off a wave of alarm that has nothing to do with the present.
A qEEG brain map records your brain’s electrical activity. It is a map, not a diagnosis. It can show where activity looks unusually fast or slow, which helps us decide where to focus training.
How neurofeedback works for PTSD
Neurofeedback is brain training, not brain stimulation. Small sensors on your scalp read your brainwave activity. Nothing is sent into your brain. When your brain drifts toward a calmer, more regulated pattern, the system rewards it in real time through sound or video. Because nothing in a session asks you to revisit what happened, it can sit alongside trauma-focused therapy, medication management, and VA care.
The goal is to give an over-alert nervous system practice at settling, so a sense of safety starts to feel a little more reachable.
What training looks like at Source
Everything starts with a qEEG brain map. It is painless and takes about an hour. We record your brain’s electrical activity and turn it into a color-coded picture of where things look overactive or underactive.
Then Dr. Cindy Morrey sits down with you and goes through the results in plain language. You see your own patterns on the screen, and we build a training plan around your situation and your goals, at a pace that feels manageable.
After that, the sessions themselves are simple. You relax in a chair while the feedback guides your brain toward steadier patterns. If anything ever feels like too much, we slow down or stop.
Is neurofeedback right for you?
Neurofeedback works best alongside the rest of your support: a good therapist, the people you trust, and any care you already have. Post-trauma stress rarely shows up alone, and it often travels with anxiety and broken sleep. For a closer look, see our page on neurofeedback for veterans and military families.
Book a brain map. It is painless, and Dr. Cindy Morrey will go through the results with you in plain language.
A little more clarity
Your questions.
Answered directly.
Can neurofeedback help with PTSD?
Research on neurofeedback for post-traumatic stress has shown meaningful reductions in symptom scores, with effects that held at follow-up. Neurofeedback is a drug-free way to help an over-alert nervous system practice regulating itself, and it works best as one part of trauma care. We start with a brain map, so the training is built around your own patterns.
How does this work with trauma therapy or VA care?
Alongside it. Neurofeedback is a non-drug training approach that can usually be done alongside trauma-focused therapy and the medical and mental health care you already have. We will never tell you to stop a medication or step away from treatment that is helping, and we are glad to coordinate with your therapist, prescriber, or VA provider.
Is neurofeedback FDA approved as a treatment for PTSD?
Neurofeedback is a procedure, not a drug, so it is not something the FDA approves. The EEG equipment used in biofeedback is regulated as a Class II medical device and is cleared for uses such as relaxation training. Neurofeedback is not FDA approved as a treatment for any specific condition, and it is not a cure.
Do I have to talk about or relive the trauma?
No. Neurofeedback does not ask you to retell or relive anything. During a session you simply relax while the system gives your brain feedback. That makes it different from trauma-focused talk therapies, and the two can complement each other.
Is neurofeedback safe?
Neurofeedback is non-invasive: we record your brain's activity through sensors placed on the scalp, and nothing is sent into the brain. It is generally well tolerated. Some people notice temporary tiredness, mild headache, or restlessness after a session, usually early in training. If anything ever feels like too much, we adjust or stop.
What if I am in crisis or having thoughts of suicide?
Please reach out now, this is not something to wait on. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room. In the US, you can call, text, or chat 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, any time. Veterans and service members can call 988 and press 1 for the Veterans Crisis Line, or text 838255. Neurofeedback is not crisis care. We are glad to be one part of your support once you are safe and working with the right care.