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 West Los Angeles office is located at 11111 W. Olympic Blvd (Suite 210), and we're just minutes from Santa Monica Blvd., the 405, and the 10.
The Drake Institute of West LA offers non-drug treatment for ADHD, Autism, Asperger’s, and a variety of stress-related disorders such as anxiety disorders, panic attacks, depression, and insomnia.
Thanks to advanced treatment technologies such as qEEG brain mapping, Neurofeedback, Biofeedback, and Neuromodulation, patients that undergo treatment at the Drake Institute can continue to experience symptom relief long after treatment has ended.
To schedule a free consultation with our ADHD Doctors near West LA, please give us a call at 310-208-2020 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.
Our expert clinical teams include some of the best stress disorder, autism, ADD, and ADHD specialists in West LA.
These disorders may be different, but they all have one thing in common: symptoms are a result of brain dysregulation. To uncover what type of dysregulation we’re dealing with, and need to treat, our medical director, David Velkoff, M.D, M.A., oversees the use of FDA approved qEEG brain mapping technology analysis that allows us to pinpoint the specific regions of the brain that are over or under-activated, and which need to be retrained during treatment.
We target these regions with clinically proven Neurofeedback and Neuromodulation treatment protocols, which help shift the brain into more optimal functional brainwave patterns. As treatment successfully improves the brain to more normalized functioning, clinical improvement occurs as symptoms of the disorder typically reduce.
The treatment protocols used by the Drake Institute are always non-drug and non-invasive. We have developed a proprietary process, integrating various technologies that best set up our patients for improvement.
Because we do not rely on drug-based treatments, our patients never need to worry about experiencing the negative side-effects that can occur with the use of anti-depressants and stimulant ADHD medications, which can lead to additional symptoms.
Finally, because our approach doesn’t rely on ADHD stimulation medication, which is usually only effective as long the medication continues to be taken, we’re able to offer long-term symptom reduction for many of our patients.
Our process generates results from the patient’s own efforts, through a learning process known as “operant conditioning” which uses neurofeedback technology to help retrain the brain.
Because our neurofeedback and biofeedback treatment processes are entirely self-generated by the patient in learning self-regulation, our patients can achieve long-term improvement.
The advantages of our treatment process, as opposed to medications, are obvious.
Many individuals afflicted with ADHD and parents of ADHD children are well aware of the fact that stimulant ADHD medications are likely to only generate temporary symptom reduction; as soon as the patient stops taking their medications, the symptoms typically return.
In addition, the drugs used to treat ADHD symptoms have the potential for abuse and dependence. Since our program is drug-free, Drake Institute patients are able to avoid these risks entirely.
At the Drake Institute, we offer patients more than a temporary reduction of symptoms via drug-based treatments. Instead, we enable our patients to develop the improved neurophysiologic functioning and skills needed to succeed and reduce their ADHD symptoms on their own. This can provide an increased opportunity for producing long-term symptom reduction.
Via this approach, our ADHD treatment center in West LA has been so successful that many patients have flown in for treatment from all around the world.
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., as the medical consultant for their special documentary on Autism.
Our West LA autism treatment program uses non-drug treatment protocols that enable patients to reduce not only their Autism symptoms, but also symptoms of ADHD, anxiety, emotional dysregulation, depression, and auditory/language processing disorders.
We use the same treatment process and technology for Autism that is used for ADHD 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 improvements in behavior, language skills, cognitive abilities, social awareness, and quality of life. Our Northridge location is widely regarded as an exceptional Autism treatment clinic in West LA.
Our autism specialists also provide support to parents and spouses throughout the treatment process thus ensuring that the family is able to help facilitate patient improvement, which assists in optimizing treatment outcomes.
Since 1980, the Drake Institute has utilized the mind-body connection as the underlying foundation of our treatment program for stress-related disorders.
In fact, the Drake Institute has pioneered the use of clinical Neurofeedback and biofeedback therapeutic technologies to help patients improve disorders brought on or made worse by stress. One of Drake’s first major breakthroughs involved 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 insight into how stress damages one’s health, and more importantly, how reversing psychophysiological stress can restore one’s mental and physical health.
Not surprising to the Drake Institute, a landmark study published in Nature in 2015 reported 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, utilizing the mind(brain)-body connection in our stress treatments. Our record of clinical success for treating stress disorders often far exceeds the performance and success rates of many existing therapies.
Presently, the Drake Institute provides treatment to a number of stress-related disorders and disorders worsened by stress, including:
The Drake Institute uses FDA approved treatment technologies that produce symptom reduction and can result in long-term improvement.
All of the treatment technologies we use are drug-free and non-invasive, so patients can avoid the negative side-effects associated with traditional ADHD drug treatments.
The Drake Institute also regularly explores new and upcoming advanced treatment technologies including software, and if proven safe and effective, these technologies are integrated into existing treatment protocols.
The core technologies we utilize here at the Drake Institute include qEEG brain mapping:
Brain mapping is part of the diagnostic procedures of nearly everything we do.
With qEEG brain mapping, we have a window into the patient’s brainwave patterns, allowing us to tell where dysregulation is occurring.
The qEEG brain mapping process is similar to a physician doing a bacterial culture on an ill patient with an infection to determine which antibiotic would be best to treat the infection. The brain map enables us to determine the neurophysical linkage to the symptoms. If there is a linkage, then there is an increased probability of treatment success using Neurofeedback.
During a qEEG brain map, our ADHD specialists in West LA place 19 sensors on the surface of the patient’s head to record their brain wave activity. This mapping is non-invasive (unlike a SPECT or PET scan) and painless. The recordings are compared with the FDA-registered normative database to determine where dysregulation is occurring, then treatment is developed to target those specific areas of the brain.
Our treatment staff is looking for two things during the qEEG brain map test. First, in some cases, the qEEG brain map may show that an area or areas of the brain are under-activated due to excessive slow brain waves which can cause impaired functioning and symptoms.
Second, a smaller percentage of patients may 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 to target specific symptoms linked to the dysregulated functional networks in the patient’s brain.
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 disrupted.
Neurofeedback treatment is a non-invasive training process that can produce long-term improvement and symptom reduction without the risks of the side effects commonly associated with drug-based treatments. At the Drake Institute, we have successfully used Neurofeedback to treat ADHD, ADD, Autism, PTSD, Insomnia, anxiety, depression and other stress-related disorders for many years.
Neurofeedback is a lot like learning how to ride a bicycle. Feedback enables a person to learn balance on a bicycle. Although learning and stabilizing your balance on a bicycle initially is difficult, the combination of visual cues and sensory feedback helps the rider develop and stabilize balance, then 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 make adjustments until he/she stabilizes balance on a bicycle.
During Neurofeedback treatment, nothing invasive occurs: your brain is not stimulated and drugs are not administered.
Instead, a sensor on your head records and displays the brain’s current functioning pattern on a computer screen.
Think of it as like a thermometer: a thermometer doesn’t give you a fever, but it 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.
The patient is always in control of the process. In many ways, Neurofeedback is like physical therapy for your brain. It’s a self-generated process that can lead to long-term improvement.
In one example of our Neurofeedback treatment procedures, the patient’s brainwaves are converted into a computer game of a car driving down a highway.
As the patient’s brainwaves shift to an appropriate functional frequency, the car begins to move and stays in the proper lane and an auditory tone goes off. This tone is repeated every half second that the patient manages to sustain the improved response, helping reinforce normal brain wave patterns. Over time, the patient will learn how to achieve this state entirely on their own.
In 2014, the Drake Institute integrated cutting edge neuromodulation or neurostimulation technology into our treatment systems. This new technology has been so successful in providing more rapid, therapeutic relief that we’ve now fully integrated it into our treatment protocols.
Neurostimulation provides therapeutic neuromodulation of dysregulated brain functioning, helping to enhance and accelerate the therapeutic improvement generated from traditional Neurofeedback therapy.
This process is safe and highly effective; in fact, this technology is so uniquely 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 utilizes NeuroField technology for neurostimulation, which uses a low intensity, pulsed electromagnetic field generator (pEMF), transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), and transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) to improve brain functioning for reducing symptoms.
NeuroField technology is non-invasive and can provide faster symptom reduction and more normalization of post-treatment brain maps.
The process is also extremely flexible, 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 310-208-2020 to schedule a no-cost screening with our ADHD doctors in West Los Angeles.
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.”
