Olga Dobrushina

Experience

• 

  Treatment and Rehabilitation Center of the Ministry of Health, Neurointensive Care Unit

  Oct 2009 - Aug 2012

  Neurontensive Care Physician

  I worked as an intensive care physician in the neurointensive care unit with patients with stroke, TBI, neuro-oncological diseases, spinal cord injury, sepsis, ARDS, venous thromboembolism and concomitant conditions. My responsibilities included pharmacological management and intensive care procedures. While working in the ICU, I developed an interest in the long-term mental consequences of brain injury and critical disease. I participated in the implementation of a very early rehabilitation program. Show less

• 

  Treatment and Rehabilitation Center of the Ministry of Health, Neurorehabilitation Department

  Aug 2012 - Aug 2015

  Neurologist

  Treatment and Rehabilitation Center of the Ministry of Health is a large multidisciplinary hospital providing planned and emergency medical care. I worked in an inpatient setting as a neurologist responsible for diagnostics, pharmacological treatment, and rehabilitation. My responsibilities included clinical management of aduts with cerebrovascular diseases, mild cognitive impairment and dementia, affective disorders, somatoform disorders, chronic pain, traumatic brain injury, brain tumours, and spinal trauma. As a treating physician, I was responsible for all the diagnostic and therapeutic processes, including the treatment of concomitant somatic diseases. I also managed the rehabilitation programs, including medical and psychological diagnostics, identification of the goals, and the optimal methods to be used for their achievement.My major personal interest was in the field of the mental consequences of brain injury. I used psychological methods of assessment as well as functional MRI to diagnose changes in cognition and personality and developed neuromodulation approaches for restoration of these functions. I developed a navigated fMRI-guided TMS technique for the treatment of frontal lobe syndrome. After my training at the EEG Institute in Los Angeles, I started using infra-low frequency neurofeedback in neurorehabilitation of patients with cognitive and emotional consequences of brain injury, chronic pain, and functional neurological disorders. I pioneered the use of this method in the hospital and taught other professionals. Show less

• 

  International Institute of Psychosomatic Health (mipz.ru)

  Aug 2015 - Feb 2022

  CEO, Head of the Department of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Neurologist

  In a private clinical and research institute, I combined leadership, mentoring, and direct clinical work as a neurologist and counseling psychologist. As a clinician, I offered holistic outpatient care for neurodivergent adults and children (ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dysgraphia, traumatic brain injury and brain tumours), people with affective and psychosomatic disorders (anxiety, depression, somatic symptom disorder, chronic pain), older adults with mild cognitive impairment and stroke. I also worked with healthy people of all ages providing psychological counseling and peak cognitive performance training.As a team leader, I served as a clinical director of a interdisciplinary program for adults and children with mental problems related to neurodivergence. I organized the department in a start-up clinic, assembled the team (25 professionals), and established the practices. I supported the development of a cohesive professional team with traditions of mutual support. The team has worked with more than a thousand clients, including projects conducted in collaboration with the Moscow City Department of Social Protection and Konstantin Khabenskiy's Charity Fund, a leading Russian non-profit organisation in neuro-oncology. The contracts with the founding organisations were regularly renewed over the last 5 years due to the high clients’ satisfaction and the ability of the team to achieve results even in a setting limited by time and funding.In the same clinic I founded a cross-department neurophysiological group consisting of eleven professionals, whom I trained and supervised. We developed and implemented neurotechnological approaches, including QEEG, neurofeedback, and biofeedback for integrative understanding and treatment of mental and neurological diseases. We completed a research project on the use of the infra-low frequency neurofeedback in headaches published as an article (doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.891323). Show less

• 

  Neurology Research Center

  Jan 2017 - Jul 2022

  Senior Researcher

  I led an interdisciplinary project on age-related changes in emotional and interoceptive processing aimed at preventing cognitive decline related to small vessel disease (SVD) through enhancing emotional regulation. We hypothesised that aberrant allostasis—predictive regulation of emotional and bodily states in the context of social interactions—can serve as a risk factor for vascular diseases. This is especially important for cerebral SVD since vascular injury can compromise the allostatic neural networks — a vicious circle can be formed. We investigated emotional and bodily regulation in older people, including neural processing (fMRI, EEG), emotional intelligence, alexithymia, anxiety and depression, and the role of cognitive factors. As a result, we revealed the links between altered interoceptive and emotional processing and SVD (published in Emotion, 2024; Cortex, 2021; Psychophysiology, 2020).At the same time, we showed the potential of neurofeedback to restore the neural circuits of allostasis. The results of this work have been implemented in clinical practice within the international neurofeedback community and have resulted in several publications in scientific journals. The 2020 article in Frontiers received significant attention in the community—over 10,000 views and downloads, corresponding to 89% view rank of all Frontiers articles. Show less

• 

  Private Practice

  Feb 2021 - now

  Counselling Psychologist in Private Practice

  As a therapist, I mainly work with neurodivergence, complex trauma and personality disorders. My main modality is contextual schema therapy, which is an integration of schema therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). I also use classical CBT techniques, DBT skills and principles of mentalization-based treatment. Being trained in couple therapy and child and adolescent schema therapy, I pay major attention to family relationships and provide couple and family sessions and consultations on parenting. Show less

• 

  Ivcher Institute for Brain, Cognition & Technology

  Sept 2022 - May 2024

  Postdoctoral Researcher

  At Reichman University, I developed a real-time haptic sensory supplementation technology for enhancing interoception. Interoception, i.e. the neural process supporting perception and integration of the body’s internal state, is crucial for both physical and emotional health. Altered interoception is recognised as a major therapeutic target in anxiety, depression, PTSD, eating disorders, somatic symptom disorder, autism, and personality disorders, which makes this topic highly socially significant. The main approach for enhancing interoception is represented by mindfulness training, which remains challenging for people with low interoceptive abilities, who are often unable to focus on the body. Interoceptive abilities are highly variable within the population, with about a half of people being not able to perceive their heartbeats without special aids.Our technology aims to broaden the opportunities for interoceptive training with an intuitive technological aid. With a special vibration device fixed on the anterior chest, we provide haptic sensations similar to the ones originating from the beating heart; the vibrations are synchronised with ECG R peaks. This stimulation helps people to focus their attention on the cardiac signals, thus training the core aspect of interoception. During the training, the vibration intensity fades out, thus leaving the person with the natural sensations. This gradual increase in task difficulty allows transfer of the learned skills to the real life. Show less

• 

  Remepy

  Feb 2023 - Aug 2023

  Scientific Expert

  Remepy is a high-tech startup company developing tailored software applications that trigger specific brain mechanisms, positively influence the immune system, and increase drug efficacy and safety. As a scientific expert, I analyzed the existing neuroscientific data and consulted the team to support development of effective evidence-based digital technology.

• 

  MIST Therapy

  Nov 2023 - Aug 2024

  Psychologist

  MIST is a leading institution in schema therapy, providing evidence-based psychotherapy for people with severe chronic conditions, training professionals in schema therapy, including both certification training and continuing education, and developing schema therapy through scientific and public activities. I worked at the MIST therapy centre as a therapist for individuals and couples and provided a 3-day workshop on schema therapy for neurodivergent adults.

• 

  University of Strathclyde

  Apr 2024 - now

  Visiting Researcher, Commercial Champion