Institute for Applied Neuroscience 90 Acton Circle, Candler, NC 28715

"Regretfully, my experience here, specifically with Mary Ammerman, was disappointing and unfruitful. Though Ms. Ammerman did make efforts to help me, her approach was often condescending and defensive, regularly answering some of my queries about neurofeedback (NFB) with comments about it being too difficult to explain because the brain is complex and I wouldn’t understand. Other times, when I felt the treatment wasn’t going terribly well, she would immediately suggest that if I didn’t want to do the treatment, that I didn’t have to. This sort of dismissiveness of both my difficulties with the treatment and of my attempts to make it work made me feel less like a participant in my own care and more like someone who needed to kowtow unquestioningly to her particular execution of this treatment. At times she would claim that in order for the neurofeedback to work I had to believe it would work. Is this how a scientifically backed mental health treatment establishes the efficacy of its modality? Just believe hard enough that it’ll work and I'll start seeing gains? This kind of reprimand is insulting to one's intelligence. Combine that with the other conditions Ms. Ammerman laid out as being key to good mental health—work with a therapist (I am), exercise (I am), eat right (I am), sleep enough (I’m not because of my condition that NFB is supposed to address), and do neurofeedback—and one begins to notice a pattern where the practitioner appears to be insulating themselves from failure to deliver on the efficacy of the treatment by putting the entire onus of wellness on the client while simultaneously retreating to the unprovable accusation that the client simply isn't believing the treatment will work. And if one did start feeling better? One would be justified in wondering whether it's the NFB sessions that are making the difference in wellness or if it's just the belief that it's working that's making the difference. What does it matter as long as I'm feeling better (as Ms. Ammerman once asked me)? The pseudoscientific basis of such a response should be evident to anyone who understands that healing crystals apparently only work if you believe hard enough they will. Same for laying hands and praying. Same for handling snakes and speaking in tongues. But I digress. If I am doing all the things I need to be doing in addition to driving 3hrs everyday for my appointments, logging my results with as much clarity and nuance as I can muster, and asking Ms Ammerman to show me how this treatment is supposed to actually work, then why was I always treated as if I wasn't pulling my weight? I did my level best to be a curious and committed participant in this process, only to be condescended to, at times castigated, other times invited to leave the practice, and finally bald face lied to. Enough. I had hoped to receive the care I needed from Ms. Ammerman for combat related PTSD, brain trauma, and associated symptoms, but instead wasted my time and came out less mentally healthy than when I started. I do want to acknowledge that I did receive a refund for the cost of my sessions and was offered them at a discount on account of my disabled veteran status, however I cannot recommend this place due to the less than professional and incompatible approach to care that I experienced with Ms. Ammerman."

"Extensive knowledge and experience. Dr. Hamlin is a leading expert in the field and the office has assisted us in numerous ways. Thank you"