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A therapy launched in 2017 by Kumaar Bagrodia, NeuroLeap uses neurofeedback via electroencephalography that maps brainwaves to assess your brain activity

Can NeuroLeap help you deal with your mental health?

The answer isn’t quite so simple, but it’s perhaps worth going down the rabbit hole

We are at a point in time where it’s become easier to talk about not feeling well mentally. Some of us are even open to talking to someone about the state of our minds and  are willing to seek help.

But what happens when talk-therapy or mental health therapy fails? Therapy is dependent on several unpredictable factors—the dynamic between the therapist and the patient, the resistance or acceptance levels of the patient, and the capacity and efficiency of the therapist to apply multiple therapies for individual issues. And it can still not be enough. Of course, the patient is responsible for following through, but the onus of regulating their own emotions can often feel as burdensome or challenging as the issue itself. 

In Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)—one of the most common therapies to treat anxiety and depression—those suffering from anxiety have to constantly reframe their thought patterns. Image: Pexels

In Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)—one of the most common therapies to treat anxiety and depression—those suffering from anxiety have to constantly reframe their thought patterns. Image: Pexels

Scientists believe reframing your thoughts and perspectives boils down to the power of the subconscious mind. But to reframe the conditioning that has happened over decades without your realisation is easier said than done. Image: Pexels

Scientists believe reframing your thoughts and perspectives boils down to the power of the subconscious mind. But to reframe the conditioning that has happened over decades without your realisation is easier said than done. Image: Pexels

Almost 95 per cent of our brain activity takes place in our subconscious mind. This includes habits and patterns, emotions and reactions, beliefs and values, and cognitive biases. All of these form perspective, which is ultimately what traditional talk-therapy or psychiatry aims to change when you’re dealing with a mentally challenging time. For example, in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)—one of the most common therapies to treat anxiety and depression—those suffering from anxiety have to constantly reframe their thought patterns. It’s a short-term therapy and proven to be incredibly beneficial, providing a tool kit for those who find it difficult to regulate their emotions. The medical fraternity is also keen on prescribing drugs for mental health issues, and while their efficacy has been proven in most cases and provides much needed relief, and even new leases on life, recent studies have disproved the theory that a chemical imbalance causes depression.

Scientists believe reframing your thoughts and perspectives boils down to the power of the subconscious mind. But to reframe the conditioning that has happened over decades without your realisation is easier said than done. Traditional therapies are definitely one way to do it, but what if there was an easier way?

 NeuroLeap is a type of therapy launched by Kumaar Bagrodia in 2017, that uses neurofeedback (using electroencephalography or EEG that maps your brainwaves) to assess your brain activity. Image: Unsplash

NeuroLeap is a type of therapy launched by Kumaar Bagrodia in 2017, that uses neurofeedback (using electroencephalography or EEG that maps your brainwaves) to assess your brain activity. Image: Unsplash

Realigning brainwaves 

Enter NeuroLeap, a type of therapy launched by Kumaar Bagrodia in 2017, that uses neurofeedback (using electroencephalography or EEG that maps your brainwaves) to assess your brain activity. The science is sound on paper—neurofeedback practitioners read the results to draw conclusions about which brainwave patterns point towards possible mental health issues like depression or anxiety, as well as identifying dysregulated brain patterns (pointing towards causes behind addictions or even hurdles that might be holding you back from better performance or focus). The actual therapy is around realigning those errant brainwaves using images and sounds, to bring about a better regulated nervous system. Of course this raises questions—firstly, is it really that easy, and secondly, is it safe? “We follow a global norm, set after years of research by neuroscientists,” explains Bagrodia.

Neurofeedback is now almost commonplace with dozens of operations across India offering to map your brain and give you life-changing insights about yourself. “Ours is much more nuanced; we have more sensors, a minimum number that improves the quality of the data. The nuance is telling, especially when you consider no one person’s anxiety is the same as the other. The triggers might be similar, but what it does to the individual brain won’t be so,” says Bagrodia. Combined with an incredibly fast software, he says it is “really just by reading your brainwaves, we can tell what’s going on in terms of your mental faculties, both cognitive and emotional. Cognitive faculties include memory, attention, your executive functions, decision-making, your emotional faculties in terms of your mood, addictions, obsessions, anxiety and how you react socially. Our report is so exhaustive, without asking the person a single question. In one reading, we take billions of data points, putting it through the most exhaustive method of understanding what that data is telling us.” 

Identifying behavioural patterns 

And that, perhaps, is the best part. For 26-year-old Anushka Mehta, it was the first step in removing her skepticism around what sounded too good to be true. Mehta had been on anti-depressants for a few years, spent even more in counselling, and had yet to find a reprieve from the anxiety she had been experiencing since she was six years old. Exacerbated when she went to university abroad, she was diagnosed with depression and found herself in a mental limbo, living life, not necessarily enjoying it. “My father heard about NeuroLeap, and I was immediately skeptical. I did my Bachelor’s in Psychology with a minor in Biology and Public Health—I understood Kumaar’s work on paper, and it was sound. While it was too good to be true, I had nothing to lose at this point,” she says.

Kumaar Bagrodia has an MBA degree from the University of Oxford, and a Masters in Applied Neuroscience and has interacted with over 1,200 authors, thinkers and CEOs. Image: Twitter/KBagrodia

Kumaar Bagrodia has an MBA degree from the University of Oxford, and a Masters in Applied Neuroscience and has interacted with over 1,200 authors, thinkers and CEOs. Image: Twitter/KBagrodia

According to  Kumaar Bagrodia, it can be disrupted if “you get a major jolt on your spinal cord or the brain that can disrupt anything—brainwaves or memory.” Image: Pexels

According to  Kumaar Bagrodia, it can be disrupted if “you get a major jolt on your spinal cord or the brain that can disrupt anything—brainwaves or memory.” Image: Pexels

Mehta was asked to skip her morning coffee (no stimulants) and found herself on a chair for half an hour with sensors attached to her scalp. There were no images or sounds. All she had to do was… nothing—and also not fall asleep. “The assessment told me all my problems,” says Mehta. “He was able to pinpoint things that I didn’t know he could help with. He said, ‘You’ve experienced immense amounts of some form of pain’. And I said, ‘Yes I have extremely painful periods.’ My brain told him that! He said, ‘Oh, you tend to isolate [yourself] from people a lot.’ How the hell did he get that from my brainwaves?” 

Breaking it down

“I’m an applied neuroscientist, but I didn’t start out that way,” explains Bagrodia. “I was very interested in enhancing human performance.” NeuroLeap was born from that drive—to make people better versions of themselves, whether that’s tackling mental health challenges, addictions or improving their focus and performance. 

Bagrodia has an MBA degree from the University of Oxford, and a Masters in Applied Neuroscience. When he started his research before setting up NeuroLeap, he was parallelly helping individuals and corporations on “achieving change and transformation”. Bagrodia was invited to speaking engagements across the world, and has interacted with over 1,200 authors, thinkers and CEOs. “I still do a bit of this now, even though I don’t have much time. The underlying aim has always been to understand the human brain and help it change. Since the last six years, I have had the technology to do it safely and effectively. I also conduct research across Indian knowledge systems, on merging ancient Indian thinking and technology for better human performance and mental health,” he adds.

Almost 95 per cent of our brain activity takes place in our subconscious mind. Image: Unsplash

Almost 95 per cent of our brain activity takes place in our subconscious mind. Image: Unsplash

Scientists believe reframing your thoughts and perspectives boils down to the power of the subconscious mind. Image: Unsplash

Scientists believe reframing your thoughts and perspectives boils down to the power of the subconscious mind. Image: Unsplash

Bagrodia’s interest in improving human performance is reflected in NeuroLeap’s testimonials like that of Aayushi Jain, 30, an entrepreneur who found “improved focus, attention, less chatter, definitely better decision-making abilities,” after her sessions with Bagrodia. “More restful sleep and I am calmer in stressful situations.” Jain came across NeuroLeap at a business event and was fascinated by their background and “the science was solid and logical”. “I think of it as an ‘investment in one’s personal transformation and growth’. I have done some sessions with counsellors/coaches before this, but the NeuroLeap Brain Enhancement programme gives amazing results which are impossible to get with therapy. It’s completely private and objective. It really helped me just up my game personally, mentally, emotionally and at work for sure,” she shares.  

So what does each session involve? “All we’re going to tell you is that every time your subconscious brain performs better, you will be rewarded. You will be given feedback, and validated. Your brain does something because your brain is constantly doing stuff, and we are mapping it as close to real time as possible—that’s the beauty of it,” says Bagrodia. “Your conscious mind is not going to play games. There is no filtering there, and you can’t fake it. It’s your subconscious mind. We are simply helping your brain retrain it. So through the session we keep raising the bar every few minutes.” And you have re-conditioned your brain. 

The line that greets you on the website says it all—'“Upgrade your brain”. There is no medication involved, no side-effects, it’s private and you don’t need to word-vomit your entire life to a stranger. Better mental health also translates to better physical health and vice versa. Bagrodia will ask clients to improve their lifestyles—follow circadian rhythms, eat healthy, rethink their caffeine and alcohol intake, move around, and work on self-discipline. Often, clients just need the assessment, and not the therapy; being ‘seen’ can be liberating enough.

Bagrodia will ask clients to improve their lifestyles—follow circadian rhythms, eat healthy, rethink their caffeine and alcohol intake, move around, and work on self-discipline. Image: Pexels

Bagrodia will ask clients to improve their lifestyles—follow circadian rhythms, eat healthy, rethink their caffeine and alcohol intake, move around, and work on self-discipline. Image: Pexels

I have done some sessions with counsellors/coaches before this, but the NeuroLeap Brain Enhancement programme gives amazing results which are impossible to get with therapy, says Aayushi Jain. Image: Pexels

I have done some sessions with counsellors/coaches before this, but the NeuroLeap Brain Enhancement programme gives amazing results which are impossible to get with therapy, says Aayushi Jain. Image: Pexels

For Mehta, an assessment session made her feel that someone finally understood what she was going through. However, it wasn’t enough to remove her skepticism. That diminished with the first session—where her pattern of overthinking suddenly shifted. “I don’t know how to describe it, but all my life I felt like I’m at this party where everyone is talking loudly and it’s so overwhelming. And then suddenly, it all drowns out and I’m talking to just one person. It’s… a feeling of calm I never felt,” says Mehta. Over the next 50 sessions, Mehta would change, eventually weaning off her prescriptive medication completely (sans withdrawal symptoms), and now, almost a year later, is a changed person. “Through the sessions I would keep asking, I’m feeling weird. Until it was pointed out that that was what it felt like to not have anxiety or depression or constantly having to overthink.”

Kumaar Bagrodia’s therapy targets the brain waves and re-conditions the subconscious mind. The images and sounds that he uses to help you realign your brainwaves does the heavy lifting. Image: Pexels

Kumaar Bagrodia’s therapy targets the brain waves and re-conditions the subconscious mind. The images and sounds that he uses to help you realign your brainwaves does the heavy lifting. Image: Pexels

Covering a vast spectrum

Bagrodia’s therapy targets the brain waves and re-conditions the subconscious mind. It’s what therapies like CBT do as well, or even affirmative thinking. But it’s hard when one has to do it as a conscious exercise. Here, the images and sounds that Bagrodia uses to help you realign your brainwaves does the heavy lifting. 

“But remember, I am not doing anything. It’s your subconscious brain—you are doing the work. Let me clarify again—this is not a medical diagnosis. We will not label somebody saying that they have an anxiety disorder, or depression, because I genuinely don’t believe in those pharmacological labels,” says Bagrodia. “I’m telling you that because your brainwave patterns reveal that your anxiety network is performing in such a manner where triggers which would not trigger other people are triggering you at a very low level. It doesn’t mean that you have to live like that (that’s not to say we do away with anxiety, because human beings need it to survive; it’s what keeps us from standing in the middle of a busy road).”

That’s a liberating thought, especially for those who have been told that they have to live with anxiety, just manage it better. “It’s similar in the case of improving attention levels, for decision-making, procrastination, addiction or chronic pain, autonomic nervous system issues, social anxiety, social issues and interactions. We have pretty much covered everything in our analysis.” 

Neurofeedback is a relatively new space and, like all new spaces, unregulated. In spite of NeuroLeap’s success stories, it’s not clear how long these effects will last. According to Bagrodia, it can be disrupted if “you get a major jolt on your spinal cord or the brain that can disrupt anything—brainwaves or memory. If it concerns substance abuse, then we will tell people to try and extricate themselves from that environment. Lastly, we will train people to get back to a certain lifestyle. So it’s not possible for any brain to behave normally if they are not getting the right diet, exercise, and hydration.” 

Using neurofeedback or brainwave activity is unchartered territory—exciting, promising and depending on who and how it’s being used, even dangerous. In the case of NeuroLeap, it’s also incredibly expensive. An assessment will set you back by ₹25,000 and each session costs ₹10,000.

In the case of NeuroLeap, it’s also incredibly expensive. An assessment will set you back by ₹25,000 and each session costs ₹10,000. Image: Unsplash

In the case of NeuroLeap, it’s also incredibly expensive. An assessment will set you back by ₹25,000 and each session costs ₹10,000. Image: Unsplash

NeuroLeap isn’t eliminating anxiety, or negative emotions, instead it’s keeping the loop of overwhelm away. Image: Twitter/KBagrodia

NeuroLeap isn’t eliminating anxiety, or negative emotions, instead it’s keeping the loop of overwhelm away. Image: Twitter/KBagrodia

At the same time, reforming mental health is complicated. The reductive narrative of social media has made being in therapy a ‘green flag’. However, there’s no guarantee that the therapy is helping, as this piece in the New York Times purports. In many cases, people prolong their own suffering; in some cases, getting worse. 

Traditional therapy can be exhausting. It’s why most people give up halfway. While the meaning of life is derived from all experiences, and we are meant to be challenged to grow, what if all of this could happen without medication and talk-therapy?  

NeuroLeap isn’t eliminating anxiety, or negative emotions–we need them to survive, to grow, to appreciate. Instead it’s keeping the loop of overwhelm away. It’s freeing that space metaphorically so the regulation that was a challenge earlier, happens effortlessly. For someone with anxiety and depression, it’s so new that many are instantly suspicious of the feeling of freedom. But for that promise alone, it’s perhaps worth a try.

Also Read: How Instagram has destigmatised the mental health conversation

Also Read: Does your company care about your mental health?

Also Read: This Ayurvedic morning ritual will keep your mind and body balanced


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