The Drake Institute now offers remote treatment for ADHD, autism, and other brain-based disorders. With the help of our trained clinicians, you can get the help you need from the comfort of your home.
Learn More >>The Drake Institute now offers remote treatment for ADHD, autism, and other brain-based disorders. With the help of our trained clinicians, you can get the help you need from the comfort of your home.
Learn More >>Our Irvine office is located in the Stonecreek Plaza, 4330 Barranca Parkway, Suite 130 in Irvine and is close to both the 405 and 5 freeways. It is just a short drive from the ever-popular Irvine Spectrum Shopping Center.
The Drake Institute of Irvine offers non-drug treatment for ADHD, Autism, Asperger’s, and a variety of stress-related disorders such as anxiety disorders, panic attacks, depression, insomnia, migraine headaches, and high blood pressure.
Using advanced treatment technologies such as qEEG brain mapping, Neurofeedback, Biofeedback, and Neuromodulation, patients that undergo treatment at the Drake Institute can experience not only symptom relief but symptom relief that can be experienced long after treatment has ended.
To schedule a free consultation with our ADHD Doctors near Irvine, please give us a call at 800-700-4233 or fill out our contact form.
Over the last 4 decades, the Drake Institute has successfully treated over 10,000 patients for ADHD, Autism, Asperger’s, and stress-related disorders—becoming one of the most experienced treatment facilities in the world for these disorders, utilizing the treatment technologies that we are known for.
While these disorders manifest different symptoms, they all have one thing in common: the patient’s brain function is the origin of their symptoms.
To uncover this brain dysregulation, our medical director, David Velkoff, M.D., M.A., oversees the use of FDA registered qEEG brain mapping technology to find the exact regions of the brain that are over or under-activated, or in other words, dysregulated.
Once identified, these regions are targeted with clinically proven Neurofeedback and Neuromodulation treatment protocols, which help shift the brain back into more normalized brainwave patterns. As this change occurs, patients clinically improve as symptoms of the disorder typically reduce.
Best of all, the treatment protocols used by the Drake Institute are always non-drug and non-invasive, so patients never have to worry about experiencing negative side-effects that can occur with the use of anti-depressants and stimulant ADHD medications.
And since symptom reduction doesn’t depend on the use of stimulant ADHD medications, symptom reduction can be experienced long after treatment has ended.
Unlike drug-based ADHD treatments which can cause unwanted side-effects, the Drake Institute’s brain-map guided neurofeedback therapy rarely causes even minor side effects.
Because neurofeedback results are produced by the patient’s own self-generated efforts through the learning process known as “operant conditioning,” the patient can achieve long-term improvement.
As many individuals afflicted with ADHD know, the symptom reduction from taking stimulant ADHD medications can be temporary, and if the individual stops taking their medications, the symptoms are likely to return. What’s more, drugs used to treat ADHD symptoms have a potential for abuse and dependence. It is an unfortunate occurrence today that some adolescents and college students may illegally distribute their ADHD medications to peers.
By undergoing treatment at the Drake Institute, patients learn how to develop the improved neurophysiologic functioning patterns and skills needed to succeed and reduce their ADHD symptoms, and can have the opportunity of producing long-term symptom reduction.
Our Orange County ADHD/ADD clinic has been so successful, that patients have flown in from around the world to receive treatment in our accelerated treatment program.
Finally, our ADHD specialists in Orange County also provide support to parents and spouses throughout the treatment process, ensuring that the family is enabled to help support and facilitate patient improvement.
In 2013, the National Geographic Channel recognized the Drake Institute’s pioneering expertise in the treatment of Autism spectrum disorder by selecting our medical director, David Velkoff, M.D., M.A., to be the medical consultant for their special documentary on Autism.
Our Autism treatment center in Orange County uses non-drug treatment protocols that enable patients to reduce not only their Autism symptoms but also frequently co-occurring symptoms of ADHD, anxiety, depression, and auditory/language processing disorders.
We use the same treatment method and technology for Autism that we use for ADHD (qEEG brain mapping & Neurofeedback), since both disorders are generated by abnormal brain functioning and can be improved through this treatment.
Our Autism treatment typically leads to a reduction of symptoms with improved behavior, language skills, social awareness, cognitive abilities and quality of life. Thus, making our Irvine location one of the most effective Autism clinics in Orange County.
Since 1980, the Drake Institute has been utilizing the mind-body connection as the underlying foundation of our stress disorder treatment programs.
In that time, the Drake Institute has pioneered clinical medicine using Biofeedback and Neurofeedback and therapeutic technologies to help patients improve disorders and diseases brought on or made worse by stress.
One of Drake’s first major breakthroughs goes back to a clinical research study conducted with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in the early 1980s. The Chief of Police and a number of deputy police chiefs participated in the study, and the positive results were commended by Mayor Tom Bradley at a joint news conference.
This clinical research was instrumental in providing additional insight into how stress damages a person’s health, and most importantly, how reversing the psychophysiological stress restores one’s mental state and physical health back to healthy functioning.
Fast forward to 2015, and a study published in Nature announced that researchers had found a direct connection between the brain and lymphatic vessels, identifying one mechanism of how the brain and immune system are connected.
This discovery further supports a basis for our clinical results on improving disorders or illnesses involving stress and the immune system through our stress treatment involving the mind (brain)-body interaction. Our record of clinical success for treating stress disorders far exceeds the performance and success rates of many existing therapies.
Presently, the Drake Institute provides treatment for a number of stress-related disorders, in addition to disorders worsened by stress, including:
The Drake Institute uses FDA approved treatment technologies that can produce symptom reduction with long-term improvement.
What’s more, all of the treatment technologies used by the Drake Institute are drug-free and non-invasive, so patients do not have to worry about experiencing common negative side-effects that frequently accompany typical ADHD treatment medications.
Finally, the Drake Institute also explores new and advanced treatment technologies, and if proven safe and effective, these technologies are integrated into existing treatment protocols.
Below you’ll find the core technologies of our current treatment plans:
Brain mapping is at the core of nearly everything we do at the Drake Institute.
With the help of qEEG brain mapping, we have a window into the patient’s brainwave patterns that tell us where the dysregulation is occurring.
Indeed, qEEG brain mapping is analogous to a physician doing a bacterial culture on a patient ill with an infection to determine which antibiotic would be most specific and best to treat the infection. In addition, the brain map informs us if the symptoms are neurophysically linked. When the symptoms are neurologically linked, then Neurofeedback can be an effective treatment.
To record a qEEG brain map, 19 sensors are placed on the surface of the head and brain wave activity is recorded over those 19 areas. Please note that brain mapping is non-invasive (unlike a SPECT or PET scan) and painless. The recordings are then processed through the FDA-registered normative database so that they can be compared to “normal” results, allowing us to identify abnormal brain functioning.
Sometimes, the qEEG brain map will show that an area or areas of the brain are under-activated due to excessive slow brain waves that cause impaired functioning and symptoms. On the other hand, a smaller percentage of patients will exhibit symptoms due to an area or areas of the brain that are over-activated, showing too many fast brain waves. Both abnormalities are disruptive to normal or optimal brain functioning and can cause clinical symptoms.
Based on the brain map analysis, Neurofeedback protocols are developed that target specific symptoms linked to the functional networks in the brain which have been shown to be dysregulated.
In the case of an ADHD child who struggles to maintain focus during a homework assignment, the Neurofeedback treatment will be used to improve functioning and connections within the “attention network” areas that are weak or dysregulated.
Neurofeedback treatment is a non-invasive training process that can produce symptom reduction and long-term improvement without the side effects associated with drug-based treatments.
Over the course of the Drake Institute’s history, we have successfully used Neurofeedback to treat ADHD, ADD, Autism, PTSD, Anxiety disorders, Depression, Insomnia, and other stress-related disorders.
In essence, undergoing the training/treatment process of Neurofeedback is a lot like learning how to ride a bicycle. Feedback enables you to learn how to ride a bicycle. Although learning balance on a bicycle is difficult at first, the combination of visual cues and sensory feedback allows the rider to learn and sustain a sense of balance. It becomes internalized.
Similarly but with utilizing advanced instrumentation, Neurofeedback provides a view into how your brain is functioning with incorporating an instantaneous neurophysiologic feedback loop involving visual and auditory feedback that allows the patient to self-correct to more optimal brain functioning. This is analogous to how a new rider learns to balance on a bicycle.
During Neurofeedback treatment, nothing invasive is performed: your brain is not stimulated and drugs are not administered.
Instead, a sensor is placed on your head that records and displays the brain’s current functioning pattern on a computer screen.
Just like a thermometer that doesn’t give you a fever but records and displays your temperature, Neurofeedback displays how your brain is functioning so that you can make improved changes in the way your brain is functioning.
Since the patient is in control of the process, Neurofeedback training allows you to self-reinforce more optimal brain functioning. In many ways, Neurofeedback is like physical therapy for your brain, in that it’s a self-generated process and can lead to long-term improvement.
In one of our Neurofeedback treatments, the patient’s brainwaves are converted into a computer game of a car driving down a highway. As the patient’s brainwaves shift to a more normal functioning frequency, the car moves and stays in the proper lane and an auditory tone goes off. This tone is repeated every half second that the patient sustains this improved response, and the improved response becomes more stabilized with continual auditory and visual feedback. If the brain begins to “fire more normally repeatedly” then it can rewire into the more functional, normalized pattern.
In 2014, the Drake Institute integrated our newest cutting-edge technology, neuromodulation or neurostimulation, into our treatment systems.
This new technology has been so successful in providing faster, therapeutic relief that we’ve now fully integrated it into our treatment protocols for 2019.
Neurostimulation provides therapeutic neuromodulation of dysregulated brain functioning, not only helping to enhance and accelerate therapeutic improvement from Neurofeedback but can even produce improvement independent of neurofeedback. This process is not only safe but also highly effective; in fact, this technology is so effective that neuromodulation technology is now used around the globe in many world-renowned medical centers such as Harvard University School of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, UCLA School of Medicine, and many others.
The Drake Institute uses NeuroField technology for neurostimulation that uses a low intensity, pulsed electromagnetic field generator (pEMF), transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), and transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) to help improve more optimal brain functioning for symptom reduction.
This technology is non-invasive and can provide faster symptom reduction and more normalization of post-treatment brain maps, allowing patients from ages 4 to 103 years old to achieve better and quicker treatment outcomes.
If you or someone you know is struggling with ADHD, Autism, or a stress-related disorder, please call us today at 800-700-4233 or fill out our contact form to schedule a no-cost screening with our ADHD Doctors in Irvine.
If you or a family member need help, please fill out our confidential online form
Interview with Dr. David Velkoff
Seth's Story
Interview with Dr. David Velkoff
Spanish News Feature
“David F. Velkoff, M.D., our Medical Director and co-founder, supervises all evaluation procedures and treatment programs. He is recognized as a physician pioneer in using biofeedback, qEEG brain mapping, neurofeedback, and neuromodulation in the treatment of ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and stress related illnesses including anxiety, depression, insomnia, and high blood pressure. Dr. David Velkoff earned his Master’s degree in Psychology from the California State University at Los Angeles in 1975, and his Doctor of Medicine degree from Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta in 1976. This was followed by Dr. Velkoff completing his internship in Obstetrics and Gynecology with an elective in Neurology at the University of California Medical Center in Irvine. He then shifted his specialty to Neurophysical Medicine and received his initial training in biofeedback/neurofeedback in Neurophysical Medicine from the leading doctors in the world in biofeedback at the renown Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. In 1980, he co-founded the Drake Institute of Neurophysical Medicine. Seeking to better understand the link between illness and the mind, Dr. Velkoff served as the clinical director of an international research study on psychoneuroimmunology with the UCLA School of Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and the Pasteur Institute in Paris. This was a follow-up study to an earlier clinical collaborative effort with UCLA School of Medicine demonstrating how the Drake Institute's stress treatment resulted in improved immune functioning of natural killer cell activity. Dr. Velkoff served as one of the founding associate editors of the scientific publication, Journal of Neurotherapy. He has been an invited guest lecturer at Los Angeles Children's Hospital, UCLA, Cedars Sinai Medical Center-Thalians Mental Health Center, St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California, and CHADD. He has been a medical consultant in Neurophysical Medicine to CNN, National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, Univision, and PBS.”
