This blog post is about a little known concept, whose effects are further unknown in the world. It is about Neurofeedback. I aim to spread awareness of this concept, and get more people involved with reading up about it and how it works. Another major goal of mine is to spread this to congress. I will outline why in this blog.
You see, up until a certain point in time, people thought that it was not possible to change the mind. People thought it was constant, without any way to change. If you are a person who commits crimes, you have no hope of change.
Wikipedia's first paragraph for Neurofeedback explains that, "Neurofeedback (NFB), also called neurotherapy, neurobiofeedback or EEG biofeedback is a type of biofeedback that uses realtime displays of electroencephalography or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to illustrate brain activity, often with a goal of controlling central nervous system activity. Sensors are placed on the scalp to measure activity, with measurements displayed using video displays or sound."
Biofeedback, a branch of Neurofeedback that I've taken over 80 sessions of, is described on Wikipedia as, "Biofeedback is the process of gaining greater awareness of many physiological
functions primarily using instruments that provide information on the
activity of those same systems, with a goal of being able to manipulate
them at will.[1][2] Some of the processes that can be controlled include brainwaves, muscle tone, skin conductance, heart rate and pain perception.[3]"
That's just it, the ability to control processes that happen naturally and cannot be usually controlled. This is not a blog to encourage mind control. That might be the first thing on your mind after reading this. Neurofeedback is NOT mind control. It's a method to allow you to control certain emotions which normally occur naturally. When someone gets angry, normally they have to cool off in order to feel neutral, or happy. Biofeedback allows them to feel happy when they are angry, or sad. Many other things are influenced as well. You can easily conquer your fears by not allowing them to overcome your mind. Many other things are possible as well.
Lots of people have anger issues, because they simply cannot control themselves. Neurofeedback aims at taking that lack of control, and mold the person into someone that can change their life, by simply being able to control such emotions. This will allow them to no longer lash out in anger, but ONLY if they really don't want to lash out in anger. If you want to change, if you have any desire to, Neurofeedback can and will help you. It extends to all kinds of illnesses, even to such things as manic depression, and schizophrenia.
Now onto my real plea.. If Congress were to allow a reduction in prison sentence for 40 sessions of biofeedback (this amount was actually suggested from a friend who has a degree in this field), this will also benefit the criminal. They will gladly take a reduction in sentence for doing this. This will either remove, or severely reduce, the chance that a criminal will commit a second offense. The well being of their life will heavily be influenced due to Neurofeedback.
I will outline the difference in cost of housing inmates currently, and the future through the use of Neurofeedback. The outcome of this proposed system will severely reduce the cost that we Americans have to pay to keep inmates in prison. The current system involves so much cost just to house a single inmate for a year.
The following site lists how much we spend annually (at on average for the years 2008 to 2009) for a single inmate in prison: http://www.lao.ca.gov/laoapp/laomenus/sections/crim_justice/6_cj_inmatecost.aspx?catid=3
So, according to those statistics, in the year 2008-2009, we spent $47,102 per inmate. That includes healthcare, prison costs, food costs, and other thing. Imagine someone gets sentenced to 6 years in prison. We pay $282,612 just for that person, over a 6 year period.
If that person was given 40 sessions of biofeedback, at an average cost of $50 per session, that's only $2,000 that has to be paid for that person, nothing more, nothing less. They will become a changed person after these 40 sessions. Obviously, proof of this has to be met, and will most likely be met if people take this seriously. This is considering they went without a prison sentence.
My goal for congress is to pass legislation allowing these sessions to be a substitute for a reduced prison sentence. Most, if not all, prison inmates will gladly accept this. After the sessions, they will be less likely to be repeat offenders. Thus saving us Americans the cost of paying for their stay in prison.
Let's put this into perspective even more. At the end of 2009, there were a total of 7,225,800 inmates in US correctional facilities (this includes, jail, and probation). Let's take the total cost of $47,102 per inmate per year, which was the statistic for 2008-2009. That comes to a total of $340,349,631,600 per year, at 40 neurofeedback sessions, each of which costs $50. If each inmate were to take these 40 neurofeedback sessions, that would come to a total cost of $14,451,600,000. That is the only cost that has to be made. 40 Neurofeedback sessions is enough to have long lasting effects on a person. Implying that all 7,225,800 inmates are willing to go through with this, but if they were all offered this as a substitute to a prison sentence, they would gladly take it. The cost of Neurofeedback may go as high as $100 though, doubling the outcome, but that is much less, and is not required to be paid per year. I'm not saying this is the only option. Either sentence an inmate to
these sessions, sentence them to prison time, or sentence them to these
sessions and a reduced prison sentence.
Wouldn't you want this proposed system? That will reduce cost by a global factor, saving that money for use in other areas. This whole concept will spark dissension amongst some, but I'm fine with it. I'm fine with the opposition that may come my way. People will not know until they are given proof that it works.
The use of neurofeedback in my life has impacted me in so many areas, and it will impact everyone else who wants to use it. Educate yourselves, the more you know about this the better!
I have uploaded a video on youtube explaining some of this blog. It is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Kuniet1-is
