Centro Neuro Psico Pedagogico

Clinic founder and medical director, Dr. Jaime Romano Michia, M.D.

Dr. Ann Hughes, Dr. Dafna
Feinholz Klip, Dr. Jaime Romano Michia, M.D. and Ines Weber

MBA Study Tour participants in Dr. Romano's playhouse

Centro Neuro Psico Pedagogico, S.C. (CNPP)

As part of our study tour to Mexico, we visited Jaime Romano Micha, M.D., on January 7, 2003, day six of our trip. Dr. Jaime Romano is a neurophysiologist and the clinic general of the Centro Neuro Psico Pedagogico in Mexico City. He is a pioneer in the field of brain mapping and neurofeedback and is interested in the multidisciplinary approach to the treatment and management of children who are diagnosed with neurological/psychiatric disorders, specifically Attention Deficit Disorders (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). His clinic has been treating patients for the past twenty-three years.

Among the clinic’s resources are specialized medical equipment and analysis software for neuropsychological diagnosis, brain mapping and neurofeedback. CNPP provides a multidisciplinary approach to the medical, psychological, and special educational needs of adult and pediatric patients with epilepsy, learning and conduct disorders, ADD/ADHD, speech, psychomotor and maturational disorders, autism, anxiety, depression, headaches, sleep disorders, dysfunctional families and others.
http://www.cnpp.org.mx/

The TWU group enjoyed a tour of the facility including the electroencephalography and brain mapping department, the neurofeedback processes, and the psychology facilities for the patients. Dr. Romano demonstrated uses of the portable electroencephalography machine that he has patented and hopes to distribute internationally in the future.

In his lecture on the use of neurofeedback in the treatment of ADD/ADHD, Dr. Romano explained that children with the aforementioned disease do not have to suffer unnecessarily throughout their lives. By using his treatment approach, patients can be cured permanently of the disease. On the other hand, in the United States the diagnosis of the disease is frequently made by school teachers, who in turn refer children to psychologists for treatment and management, which usually include medicating the children with Ritalin for much of their lives.

In Dr. Romano’s therapeutic approach, the medical doctor makes the initial assessment and diagnosis of the patients and develops individualized treatment plans and progress assessments. Dr. Romano also emphasizes the significance of educating teachers and psychologists regarding the disease processes, including his innovative treatment approach of improving the therapeutic milieu, and subsequent cure of the patients. This can avert the needless suffering and/or overmedication of patients with ADD/ADHD. Care coordination is also imperative between the parents, teachers, the professionals, and schools, with the “orchestra director” being the medical doctor.

In his presentation, Dr. Romano explained that medications are used in the treatment of some of his clinic’s patients when appropriate. However, neurofeedback, electroencephalography (EEG), brain mapping, spectral analysis, and computer brain wave analysis are used in the management of patients in most cases. His innovative therapeutic modalities are orchestrated through a well-organized specific protocol tailored to fit each specific patient.

Dr. Romano also mentioned that therapeutic neurofeedback could be used to treat cerebrovascular accident (CVA) and to help in the return of defective functions caused by CVA, for example, aphasia.

Neurofeedback can also be used in the management of neurosis, depression, and anxiety. In neurofeedback therapy, “the locus of control” is on the individual, and the possibility of new synaptic connections makes the treatment an achievable success.

Dr. Dafna Feinholz Klip, wife of Dr. Jaime Romano, is a licensed psychologist, a World Health Organization representative in Mexico, a biomedical ethicist, and a practitioner involved in the care of the children diagnosed ADD/ADHD, too. She is very much dedicated in the general health care improvement in Mexico as a whole.

Her lecture highlighted the disproportionate access to healthcare and medical career opportunities between men and women in Mexico. She explained that governmental heads in Mexico mistakenly believe women in Mexico utilize more of the health care resources than their male counterparts. In actuality, women’s use of medical services is primarily for reproductive, prenatal and pediatric services and is focused upon children and their care.

She indicated that the overall funding of the health industry in Mexico is less than adequate, and it is her intention to continue the fight for increased resources. Dr. Feinholz Klip also discussed the prevalence of age and sex discrimination as it applies to the work environment for healthcare professionals in Mexico.