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Both work, and they work differently. ADHD medication acts within the hour and wears off every day. Neurofeedback trains the brain gradually over months, aiming for improvement that lasts after training ends. Many families end up combining them. At Journey Counseling Center in Edmond, we offer both under one roof, so here's the honest comparison we walk parents through. How ADHD medication works Stimulant medication is the most-studied ADHD treatment there is, and for most ki

If you're weighing a CEU membership — sometimes called a CE membership, same idea — against just paying as you go, the math comes down to one question: how many hours do you actually need this cycle? When paying per event makes sense You only need a handful of hours before your deadline You're picky about topics and don't want to commit to a full slate upfront You're not sure Journey's schedule will line up with your calendar this cycle When the annual membership wins You nee

You've hit the goals. The promotion, the degree, the reputation for being the person who gets it done. And somewhere underneath all of it, you still don't feel like enough. That gap between what you've accomplished and how you feel about yourself isn't a motivation problem. It's what perfectionism does to self-esteem. Why achievement doesn't fix it Perfectionism trains you to tie your worth to your output. Every win buys you relief, not confidence — a temporary reprieve befor

You spend your working hours helping other people notice their limits before they hit them. It's worth turning that same attention on yourself, on purpose, instead of waiting until burnout makes the decision for you. Why burnout sneaks up on therapists specifically The work that makes you good at this job — staying present with other people's pain, holding space without flinching — is the same work that wears you down if it's not balanced by something that replenishes you. Bu

Can neurofeedback help anxiety? The research says probably, with honest caveats. Brain training for anxiety has growing evidence behind it, though it's less established than neurofeedback for ADHD, and it works best when it's part of a complete plan. Here's what we tell clients at Journey Counseling Center in Edmond who ask whether training their brain can quiet an anxious mind. Why anxiety shows up in brain activity An anxious brain tends to run hot. Racing thoughts, a body

Hitting your CE requirement and getting something out of it aren't the same goal, even though they usually get treated like one. Here's how to tell the difference before you register for anything. The hour count isn't the point You already know your requirement, or you'll check it before you renew. What that number doesn't tell you is whether the hours you log change how you actually practice. It's entirely possible to hit your requirement every year and walk away having lear

Every neurofeedback program at Journey Counseling Center starts the same way: a brain assessment, spread across three one-hour appointments, usually completed within a week. Sensors measure your brain's electrical activity while we map your symptoms in detail. Nothing hurts, nothing goes into your brain, and by the end you'll see how your brain's patterns connect to what you've been struggling with. What happens at the appointments? You'll sit in a comfortable chair while sen

For a lot of people, the hardest part of starting therapy isn't the therapy — it's the not knowing. What will they ask me? Will I have to relive everything? Is this going to take years? If anxiety is already your default setting, the uncertainty of a first appointment can be its own hurdle. So here's a straightforward look at what anxiety therapy actually involves at Journey, and how to begin. The first session is lower-pressure than you think The first session is mostly a co

f you're searching for a sports psychology consultant or mental performance coach in Oklahoma City, you've probably noticed the options aren't always easy to compare. Titles vary, training backgrounds vary, and it's not always obvious what actually happens in a session. Here's what to look for, and what to expect. Understand the Titles "Sports psychologist" is a legally protected title that requires a psychology license — most providers doing this work in Oklahoma, including

Nerves before a big game are normal — even useful. A certain amount of pre-competition anxiety sharpens focus and gets the body ready to perform. But for a lot of athletes, that useful edge tips over into something that hurts more than it helps: racing thoughts, nausea, tight muscles, or a mind that goes blank right when it needs to be sharpest. Understanding the difference, and knowing what actually helps, makes a real difference in how an athlete experiences competition. Wh

If you've started reading about anxiety treatment, you've almost certainly run into three letters: CBT. Cognitive behavioral therapy is the approach most often recommended for anxiety, and for good reason — it has decades of research behind it and a strong track record of helping people feel meaningfully better, often in a relatively short course of sessions. But "CBT" gets thrown around a lot without much explanation of what it actually involves. Here's a clearer picture. Th

Every parent of a competitive kid knows the tired look after a long tournament weekend or a brutal two-a-day stretch. That's normal. Burnout is different — it doesn't lift with a good night's sleep, and it tends to show up in mood and motivation before it shows up in performance stats. Because youth sports culture treats exhaustion as a badge of honor, burnout often goes unnamed for months. Here's what to actually watch for. 1. Dread Instead of Excitement A burned-out athlete

Everyone feels anxious sometimes. A nerve-wracking presentation, a hard conversation, a stretch of bad news — your body tenses, your mind races, and then, usually, it passes. That kind of anxiety is normal and even useful. So how do you know when what you're feeling has crossed the line from ordinary stress into something worth paying attention to? The honest answer is that it's less about any single symptom and more about persistence, intensity, and how much it's interfering

If you've gotten to the point of looking for a therapist, you've already done the hardest part. Deciding that this is worth attention — that you don't have to white-knuckle your way through the first year — takes more courage than most people give it credit for. The next question is usually a practical one: what does postpartum therapy actually involve, and how do you start? Here's an honest picture. What the first session looks like The first session is mostly about you tell

Postpartum depression gets most of the attention, but for a lot of new mothers the harder struggle isn't sadness — it's fear. A mind that won't stop running. A constant, low hum of dread that something terrible is about to happen. And sometimes, the part almost no one says out loud: sudden, graphic, unwanted thoughts of something bad happening to the baby, thoughts so disturbing that you're afraid to tell anyone you had them. If any of that sounds familiar, please read the ne

Almost no one warns you about the crying that has no reason behind it. You finally have your baby, everyone keeps telling you this is the happiest time of your life, and instead you feel weepy, raw, and strangely unlike yourself. If that's where you are right now, the first thing worth saying plainly is this: feeling this way does not mean anything has gone wrong with you, and it does not mean you love your baby any less. It does, however, raise a question worth answering hon

If you've been researching betrayal trauma or narcissistic abuse for any length of time, you've probably read a lot about what happened to you — the cycles, the patterns, the reasons why it was so hard to see clearly while you were in it. That understanding matters. But at some point, the research shifts from clarifying to circling, and what you actually need isn't more information. It's a path forward. Therapy for betrayal trauma is that path. But for many people — especiall

Narcissistic abuse rarely looks the way people expect abuse to look. There are no visible marks. Often, there's no single dramatic incident you can point to. Instead there's a slow accumulation of small things — the put-downs framed as jokes, the way you always ended up apologizing even when you weren't sure what you'd done wrong, the persistent sense that you were walking on eggshells without ever quite knowing why. By the time most people start searching for answers, they'v

Everyone who has ever loved someone has experienced heartbreak. A relationship that ends. A friendship that falls apart. A family member who disappoints you. Heartbreak is painful, but it's a pain most people can eventually move through — you grieve, you adjust, you find your footing again. Betrayal trauma is something different. If you've been through it, you probably already know that what you're experiencing doesn't feel like ordinary heartbreak, even if you can't quite ex

There's a statistic that doesn't get talked about enough: men are significantly less likely than women to seek mental health treatment, even when they're dealing with the same levels of depression, anxiety, or stress. In Oklahoma, like much of the country, that gap has real consequences. Men die by suicide at nearly four times the rate of women. They're more likely to turn to alcohol, overwork, or isolation before they'll ever call a therapist. That's not a character flaw. It