Treatments, recovery & the future

SANDPOINT — It has been 21 years since Linda Larson’s daughter suffered a traumatic brain injury from a fall while riding horseback in an English jumping competition.

She was an accomplished competitor, having earned many ribbons for placing. She had completed two years at a private college, Walla Walla University, and held a full-time job.

After the injury, she had many hospitalizations and “lost years,” said Larson. She lived in the same assisted living in Sandpoint for nearly 18 years. She sustained severe memory loss, delusions, and confusion. She could no longer work or drive. “It made my brain foggy,” said her daughter, who is a quiet and private person. She prefers her initials are used for this article because she doesn’t want to be identified as a person with a brain injury.

Her horse, Carbon Copy, nicknamed Penny, was a thoroughbred quarter horse and Appaloosa cross she had received her on her 14th birthday. She was dearly loved, and TJL readily defends her: “The accident was not her fault,” she said.

This month marks the end of TJL’s life at an assisted living. “I feel like I’m out of jail!” she said. She is living with her mother in a newly built home on the water where she is adjusting to a much more independent life. She holds a part-time job and works as a volunteer stable cleaner at Wild Hearts Equestrian Connections on Shingle Mill Road.

In 2011, TJL started traveling to the Spokane Valley to Neurotherapy Northwest every Wednesday for neurofeedback treatment designed to increase healthy brain function.

Linda Larson attributes her daughter’s recovery to these neurofeedback treatments. “I was introduced to Dr. Myron Thurber and neurotherapy. A quantitative EEG showed the results of my daughter’s brain injury, she said.

“It was like watching a miracle to see the healing of her brain and the recovery of her life,” she said.

It was a natural evolution into neuroscience for Larson. She completed her Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy in 2019, and is certified for Critical Incident Stress Management for first responders dealing with trauma, not to mention the coveted certification she earned from the Gottman Institute, which is a scientific approach to marriage counseling; it helps couples let go of defensiveness and teaches people how to show empathy and improve their communication.

She was also the Life Skills director and facilitator in Sandpoint, helping over 3,000 people learn about healthy relationships.

She now has 1000 hours of direct neurotherapy client treatment and has witnessed “amazing results in the lives of my clients.” Larson believes the combination of cognitive therapy and quantitative EEG-directed treatment helps people see some of the issues they’ve struggled with are biological. “It gives them hope…and it is my passion to help clients reach their goals,” Larson said.

Interestingly, Larson’s research for her doctoral degree was a clinical study with men arrested for domestic violence who were participating in court-ordered behavioral modification classes.

“My research confirmed statistics indicating over 60 percent of men arrested for domestic violence had a history of severe head injuries. More than 90 percent of domestic violence abuses had endured their head injury prior to their first offense. Over 70 percent experienced that head injury before they were 16,” she said.

The implications of this kind of research, which confirmed other studies with the same results, are significant. “While there is no excuse for violence, my research confirms other research--the need for the court system to consider neuroscience and neurotherapy in the treatment of domestic violence.”

Now, Larson gives her daughter neurotherapy treatments in Sandpoint and works part-time at Neurotherapy Northwest in the Spokane Valley where brain procedures are used for epilepsy, sleep disorders, post-concussion, depression, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and even migraines and ADD/ADHD. Larson also has a private practice in Sandpoint – North Idaho Neurotherapy.

And TJL says she feels so much happier now that she doesn’t live in an assisted living. She is grateful for the staff and numerous directors who helped her over the years, but she said it was “hard to see people die” and she wore headphones at meals to keep herself sane because of the grumbling going on around her, but mostly, she had difficulty with noise. She is making more of her own choices. “Sometimes I get stuck on what to make for lunch, but she (her mom) gives her recommendations. My thinking is clearer now,” she said.

For more information about neurotherapy, call Larson at North Idaho Neurotherapy at 208-255-6057.

Susan Drinkard writes features for the Daily Bee. She can be reached at susanadiana@icloud.com.