Approaches
Integral Neurotherapy focuses on PTSD and complex trauma using neuroscientifically informed approaches. Treatment may involve standard or infra-low frequency (ILF) neurofeedback, Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR), or the approaches may be used at different points in an individual treatment plan, depending on what fits you.
Psychological and emotional symptoms are not only expressed through thoughts and feelings. They can also involve persistent patterns of arousal, threat detection, attention, autonomic responding and relating to others. Neurofeedback and DBR approach these patterns in different ways, with the shared aim of supporting more flexible regulation across brain, body and emotional experience.
Adverse childhood experiences — including abuse, emotional neglect and disrupted attachment — are associated with enduring patterns in how people respond to threat and relationships, and with increased risk of PTSD, depression, anxiety, substance-use difficulties and other mental health conditions. These approaches may be especially relevant when such patterns continue even when a person understands their difficulties intellectually or has found talk therapy alone insufficient.
Dr Perkins also works with anxiety, depression, ADHD, substance use, OCD, and difficulties following psychedelic experiences. This broader clinical work should not be read as meaning that every approach offered has the same evidence for every condition.
Neurofeedback
Neurofeedback is a form of biofeedback that uses sensitive EEG sensors to monitor brain activity in real time and provide gentle visual or auditory feedback. The aim is to help the brain recognise and shift patterns associated with dysregulated arousal, attention and emotional state, supporting greater flexibility and self-regulation over time.
During a session, sensors placed on the scalp measure patterns of brain activity while you watch or listen to feedback that changes in response to those patterns. The equipment senses activity only — no electrical current is sent into the scalp.
Through repeated feedback, the training aims to reinforce more stable and adaptive patterns of brain activity. Changes in this underlying regulation may be experienced as improvements in areas such as calmness, sleep, concentration, emotional steadiness and the capacity to recover after stress.
We offer both standard frequency-band training and infra-low frequency (ILF) neurofeedback. Standard training provides feedback derived from selected EEG frequency ranges. ILF neurofeedback uses very slow EEG-derived signals and is adjusted in response to the person’s symptoms and responses during and between sessions. The form of training is selected and adjusted individually.
Sessions are individualised by a registered mental health clinician, not run by a one-size-fits-all home device.
Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR)
Deep Brain Reorienting is a trauma-focused psychotherapy that works with the rapid sequence of responses that can occur when something captures the brain’s attention: orienting, shock, and the emotional responses that follow. The DBR model proposes that distress can persist when elements of this original defensive sequence remain unresolved and continue to be reactivated by later experiences.
Rather than requiring a detailed retelling of a traumatic experience, therapist and client identify a specific moment of attentional capture. The client is first helped to feel located in the present and then to notice orienting tension — often in the forehead, around the eyes, or at the base of the skull — as attention turns towards that moment. Shock sensations and subsequent emotional responses are approached slowly, with close attention to pacing and signs of overwhelm or dissociation. By working with this sequence at its earliest bodily level, DBR aims to allow underlying patterns of defensive activation and emotional responding to change.
DBR was developed primarily for trauma-related difficulties and has been studied in people with PTSD. In clinical practice, it is also being used with complex and developmental trauma, dissociation, attachment-related and emotion-regulation difficulties, persistent grief, and some broader mental and physical health presentations.
How sessions are offered
Care is individualised. We choose and adjust approaches based on your history, goals, and response over time.
Neurofeedback uses clinical-grade EEG equipment (Bee Medic). Sensors measure activity only.
DBR is a paced psychotherapy. You stay in charge of the pace, and detailed narrative retelling of traumatic events is not usually required.
DBR sessions can be provided in person or online, depending on clinical suitability and what is practical for you.
Where neurofeedback and DBR are both used, their place in treatment is agreed individually rather than presented as a single standardised combined protocol.
This is clinical work with a registered clinician — not an automated wellness device or DIY headset.
