Transformative Neurotherapy Podcast

Dr. Heather Putney Discusses Brain Reset, Without The Guesswork

• Dr. Heather Putney • Episode 3

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How Does Neurotherapy Support Aging Well?

Ever wish your brain had a reset button you could trust? We sit down with Dr. Heather Putney to unpack a practical, science‑backed path to better focus, calmer emotions, and steadier energy—without guesswork. Using 19‑channel EEG and neuromodulation, we explore how to pinpoint where your brain runs too fast, where it runs too slow, and how to nudge each area toward balance so you can feel clear, present, and productive.

Together, we map the real differences between neurotherapy, neurofeedback, and traditional approaches like talk therapy and medication. You’ll hear how EEG assessment guides highly customized protocols, why plug‑and‑play devices miss the mark, and what happens when targeted frequencies help a wired system downshift or lift a sluggish one. From ADHD and anxiety to depression and trauma, we share concrete examples of how calming fight‑or‑flight unlocks learning, strengthens sleep, and makes psychotherapy more effective. If you’ve ever felt stuck—working hard in therapy while your nervous system stays in overdrive—this conversation shows a path forward that respects your biology and your goals.

We also dig into integration: how neurotherapy works alongside medication or offers a non‑pharmacologic path, how progress is measured through reassessment, and how protocols evolve with your life. The takeaway is simple and hopeful—your brain is adaptable. With the right data and the right inputs, it learns to settle faster, focus longer, and recover better, turning relief into a repeatable habit.

Ready to take the next step toward clearer thinking and calmer days? Follow the show, share this episode with a friend who needs a brain reset, and leave a quick review to help others find it. If you’re curious about your own EEG‑guided plan, schedule a free consultation at TransformativeNeurotherapy.org or call 412‑204‑7397.

To learn more about Transformative Neurotherapy visit:
https://www.TransformativeNeurotherapy.org
Transformative Neurotherapy
570 Lincoln Ave.
Bellevue, PA 15202
412-204-7397

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to the Transformative Neurotherapy Podcast with your host, Dr. Heather Putney, founder and executive director of Transformative Neurotherapy. This is the place where healing happens faster. Because let's face it, your brain doesn't come with an owner's manual until now. Here we take a holistic approach to brain health, bringing together science, mind-body harmony, and the tools you need to optimize your well-being. Whether you're a high performer, executive, athlete, longevity hacker, or just someone tired of your brain working against you, Dr. Putney is here to help you unlock your full potential. From brain fog to chronic stress, we're covering it all. So you can finally experience brain health, mind harmony, and total well-being. Ready to get on stuck? Let's get started.

SPEAKER_01:

Ever wish your brain came with a reset button? In this episode, we explore a science-backed method that helps you retrain your brain for better focus, emotional balance, and overall well-being. Welcome everyone. I am Millie M, co-host and producer here in the studio with Dr. Heather Putney, founder and executive director of transformative neurotherapy. Dr. Putney, how are you? Doing all right. How are you? I'm doing quite well. So glad to be here with you. Let's dive right in. What is neurotherapy and how does it work?

SPEAKER_02:

Neurotherapy is utilizing cutting-edge technology to help balance and optimize your brain. It's short and sweet.

SPEAKER_01:

So can you explain how neurotherapy differs from other traditional like therapies, like talk therapy and medication-based approaches?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it actually works in conjunction with both of those approaches, but it's completely different angle. So I mean, I got into this because I my my other business is untethered therapy, and it is a talk-based psychotherapy approach. And even with utilizing the best technologies or the, I mean the best modalities like EMDR and IFS, you know, we still had clients that got stuck. And so neurotherapy is um it's an adjunct, it's a support to help people, you know, function better or do better, even in their talk therapy. And what's beautiful about it is that it also works in conjunction with clients that are already on medications. There's no contraindications. So if clients are already on medications, or we also get a lot of holistic clients that don't want to go the medication route. And so it gives us an alternative to medications for a way to balance your brain. So, for example, medications, you know, tend to have multiple effects on the brain. It can speed it up like with stimulants or kind of calm it down, you know, with some of the other medications. Um, but what happens when part of your brain is running a little fast and part of your brain is running a little slow? Those are the clients that tend to not do well with medications. What's beautiful about neurotherapy is that we can actually um, you know, tailor the types of frequencies to kind of soothe the part that's running a little fast and maybe speed up the parts that are running a little bit slow to help optimize and balance the brain. So it's pretty neat like that.

SPEAKER_01:

I love that you can pinpoint those things and specialize the treatment. So, what role does brainwave monitoring play in the process?

SPEAKER_02:

So, brainwave monitoring actually comes in more at the assessment stage and then the reassessment stage. So we use 19-channel EEG modality. And if people don't know what that means, it's an electrocephalograph. And basically, what it is, it's a I should grab one of my little caps and bring it over here. But it's basically a hat that you put on your head that's got 12, that's got 19 little discs, and it's it's sitting on the scalp and it's collecting the electrical activity that's being emitted from different parts of the brain.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow, that sounds fascinating.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. And so utilizing, you know, different high-end really technical modalities, we can, you know, analyze those brain waves and figure out and kind of pinpoint what you know, where the brain is kind of out of sync with itself. And then we can send very, very specialized treatments to try to balance those areas. So it's highly technical, it's highly customizable, it's not one of those. I mean, you do see some of these different types of modalities out there that are sold that are like a kind of a plug and play thing. Oh, you've got anxiety, put this on, and you can do it's usually more neurofeedback, which is a little different, which is different than what we do, but it's a brain-based approach. But this is not plug and play. This is, you know, we do that EEG, we we collect very in-depth background, medical, biological, psychosocial, and and all that stuff. And we're trying to kind of understand why your brain is doing what it's doing based on all the all the that's going on. And then we create a very customized plan for you to help optimize your brain and also reach the goals that you want for yourself.

SPEAKER_01:

That's amazing. I love a customized plan because we are all so different and we all have different brains that operate different ways. So I love that you can uh customize it in that way. So, how quickly do clients typically see conditions or symptoms change or improve with neurotherapy?

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, so I do a form of neurotherapy called neuromodulation. Neurotherapy is kind of like an umbrella term that basically is just different treatments for the brain. So one that people know the most about tends to be neurofeedback. And that is not uh neurofeedback, is basically giving it a way for your brain to kind of coordinate with the you know, with the technology and to kind of give feedback so that you can basically train your brain to work in a certain way. So that's so that's neurofeedback, and it does work, and I'm not gonna poo-poo it, it just tends to be slower than the technologies that we use, which is more neuromodulation. So, neuromodulation is actually kind of teaching the brain by experiencing. So, if the brain, for example, we've got clients that can be really anxious, and then the brain is kind of running like really super fast. Yeah, these little fast beta spindles in the frontal lobe, and maybe the clients that are trying to fall asleep and all those racing thoughts and they're having trouble calming down, you know, and so that's a common thing that we'll see. And so what we can do is we can give some more soothing frequencies that the brain already produces, but maybe isn't producing enough in this particular client to help them kind of soothe, you know, soothe and kind of calm down that that brain that's running just a little too fast. So it's kind of in that more kind of centered, more zen space, you know? And when we when we're when we can think in that place, then and it's not going too fast, then we can kind of be in flow, you know, we're kind of too fast. Or it's just it's too much to process, and we can't, it's you know, it feels a little bit anxiety-producing in and of itself. It's kind of like when you're going and you're pushing yourself too far, you know, and you can run fast for a little bit and then you collapse. Or it's like you want uh versus like what we want to do is push your brain to, you know, to run optimally so it can go, you know, we want to run hard and work well, but we don't want it to collapse and exhaustion. We want to go as far as we can for as long as we can and you know maximize the utilization of the resources.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my goodness. So are there specific conditions or symptoms that respond especially well to neurotherapy?

SPEAKER_02:

Um what's amazing is that we all have brains. And so um, and neurotherapy is a is a is a way to fine-tune your brain. So it it responds. I mean, clients respond super well with all different types of conditions. What we see in our clinic, we get a lot of ADHD, anxiety, depression, trauma. Trauma can be is is one of the ones that kind of cause me to want to add in this extra modality because talk therapy is great, but if our nervous system is so dysregulated, it's really tough to even stay present with you and get what you're saying because I'm so dysregulated. And neurotherapy has with some of the different modalities we use, like vagus nerve stimulation and some of those slower protocols, can help reset the nervous system so that we can kind of calm down. And once you know, and once we can kind of get in that more calm place and we can receive more, you know, when we're in fight or flight, we you know, we're running away from the, you know, from the trauma, you know, we don't have time to sit and analyze, you know. So when our nervous system is stuck in fight and flight, you know, it's really tough to kind of receive, you know, that talk therapy. And so once we can kind of calm it down a little bit, talk therapy works so much better. So, like I said, this is not in lieu of it's meant to be, you know, a supplement and support too. And so, like I said, I've got a whole nother branch that specializes in talk therapy, but we use them both interchangeably, we use them together for optim for optimal results for clo for those clinical clients.

SPEAKER_01:

It is so encouraging that it's not an either or, it's an and. And like you said, once you get that nervous system regulated, it's like then we can really dig in and do the work. Dr. Putney, thank you for breaking that down so clearly. We'll see you next time for another deep dive into brain health. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00:

You've been listening to the Transformative Neurotherapy Podcast with Dr. Heather Putney. Remember, your brain isn't supposed to hold you back, it's supposed to power you forward. So stop letting it crash your party and start letting it do its job. If you're ready to optimize brain health, sharpen your focus, and age like a fine wine, schedule your free consultation today at Transformative Neurotherapy.org. Or call us at 412 204 7397. Because here, healing happens faster. See you next time.