A Pilot Study of Neurofeedback for Chronic PTSD

EEG Biofeedback (also known as neurofeedback) has been in use as a clinical intervention for well over 30 years; however, it has made very little impact on clinical care. One reason for this has been the difficulty in designing research to measure clinical change in the real world. While substantial...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback 2016-09, Vol.41 (3), p.251-261
Main Authors: Gapen, Mark, van der Kolk, Bessel A., Hamlin, Ed, Hirshberg, Laurence, Suvak, Michael, Spinazzola, Joseph
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Biofeedback
Biofeedback training
Brain research
Chronic Disease - therapy
Electroencephalography
Female
Health Psychology
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Neurofeedback - physiology
Pilot Projects
Post traumatic stress disorder
Psychology
Psychotherapy and Counseling
Public Health
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - therapy
Treatment Outcome
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:EEG Biofeedback (also known as neurofeedback) has been in use as a clinical intervention for well over 30 years; however, it has made very little impact on clinical care. One reason for this has been the difficulty in designing research to measure clinical change in the real world. While substantial evidence exists for its efficacy in treating attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, relatively little evidence exists for its utility in other disorders including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study represents a “proof-of-concept” pilot for the use of neurofeedback with multiply-traumatized individuals with treatment-resistant PTSD. Participants completed 40 sessions of neurofeedback training two times per week with sensors randomly assigned (by the study coordinator, who was not blind to condition) to sensor placements of either T4-P4 or T3-T4. We found that neurofeedback significantly reduced PTSD symptoms (Davidson Trauma Scale scores averaged 69.14 at baseline to 49.26 at termination), and preceded gains in affect regulation (Inventory of Altered Self-Capacities-Affect Dysregulation scores averaged 23.63 at baseline to 17.20 at termination). We discuss a roadmap for future research.
ISSN:1090-0586
1573-3270
DOI:10.1007/s10484-015-9326-5