Dr. Gary Schummer spent 35 years treating ADHD with neurofeedback โ so when a major study concluded neurofeedback was "no better than placebo," he sat down and took it apart. This week he joins host Pete Jansons and Joshua Moore (MA, LMHC, BCN) to explain why he believes the study's "placebo" group wasn't a placebo at all, but a second active treatment โ which changes what that headline result actually means.
From there the conversation goes deeper than one paper: Barry Sterman's NASA cat studies and why animals can't fake a placebo effect, Gary's account of helping hundreds of children reduce or discontinue medication, the epilepsy data that still gets ignored, and the panel's debate over insurance, reimbursement and treatment incentives. Then it turns inward โ Gary admits neurofeedback has no agreed standards of care and no shared training curriculum, and Pete makes a pledge on camera to help fix it. "We start today."
๐๏ธ Panel: Dr. Gary Schummer (35-year clinical neurofeedback; author of the 2024 NeuroRegulation critique) and Joshua Moore (MA, LMHC, BCN โ Neurofeedback Care) โ host Pete Jansons.
๐ง WHAT WE COVER:
๐ง 0:00 โ "They didn't have a placebo group": the cold open
๐ 0:56 โ Welcome: Gary Schummer & Joshua Moore
๐ 1:50 โ The two ADHD studies & Gary's JAACAP critique
๐ 3:13 โ Why is neurofeedback held to pharma's standard?
๐ 5:35 โ How Gary found neurofeedback โ meeting Barry Sterman
๐ฅ 8:09 โ 35 years in practice, specializing in ADD
๐ด 10:07 โ Barry Sterman: father of clinical neurofeedback
๐ 11:22 โ NASA, jet fuel and the cats
๐ฑ 14:35 โ The SMR-trained cats that resisted seizures
๐ฌ 17:31 โ Why cats can't have a placebo effect
๐ฐ 19:52 โ Insurance, incentives & why neurofeedback got sidelined
โ๏ธ 20:20 โ Why Gary wrote the critique
๐ง 21:10 โ Gary on getting kids off medication
๐ 23:03 โ Sterman's 2000 epilepsy meta-analysis
๐ฏ 28:11 โ Gary's core argument against the Arnold study
โ 29:54 โ Not a placebo โ another treatment group
๐
32:56 โ From the back of the room to most-improved
๐ 33:31 โ Cure vs. remission
๐งฉ 39:58 โ Neurofeedback's standards problem
๐ 40:54 โ No agreed training curriculum
๐๏ธ 45:42 โ "Why isn't there a board?"
๐ 50:01 โ Pete's pledge: "We start today"
๐ต 52:55 โ $180 vs $60: the economics of access
๐ง 59:50 โ Should kids get a brain baseline?
๐ Updates & Links:
๐ Gary Schummer โ 2024 NeuroRegulation critique: https://www.neuroregulation.org/artic...
๐งฉ Joshua Moore โ Neurofeedback Care: https://neurofeedbackcare.com
โ ๏ธ Educational content only โ not medical advice.
๐ช Help keep NeuroNoodle Neurofeedback Therapy Podcast going!
๐ Support on Patreon: / neuronoodle
๐ Like, subscribe, share & hit the bell for weekly episodes
