Depression
Research Papers
Operant (biofeedback) Control of Left-Right Frontal Alpha Power Differences: Potential Neurotherapy for Affective Disorders (abs.)
Two experiments were done with subjects from a paid pool of undergraduates. In each study, there were five 1-hour sessions on each of 5 days: (1) Baseline: Rewards given for randomly selected 20% of the 700-ms sequential epochs; mean and SD of baseline power differences determined. 2) Exploration: Subjects were rewarded when right minus left alpha differences in an epoch were greater than the baseline mean plus about .85 SD (p = .20); subjects told to discover how to generate rewards. (3)-(5).
Neurofeedback Treatment of Depression with the Roshi
A patient with severe, medication resistant depression was found to have the frontal alpha asymmetry described in Davidson’s (1998a) research as demonstrating a predisposition to depression. Initial sessions of EEG neurofeedback using Rosenfeld’s (1997) protocol for correcting the alpha asymmetry were discouraging, actually producing slight negative change. Therefore, treatment shifted to using the Roshi, a two channel unit combining neurofeedback and photic stimulation, doing primarily left hemisphere beta training.
Neurofeedback in Major Depression Associated to Addictions - A Case Study (pg. 15)
Depression has been treated for some time with Neurofeedback (NF) and different authors presented different modalities in terms of the electrodes localization, or enhanced or inhibited frequencies (see Othmers, Peniston, Rosenfeld,). The case I am presenting, is a 43 years old Caucasian female with familiar major depression and addictions. The causality of her major depression may also be routed in her early childhood experiences (she lost her father, when she was 12), or may be an expression of a complex PTSD developed later in life (when, her already detached and chronically depressed mother has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's). She started to use drugs and alcohol as self medication.
Preliminary Evidence That Daily Changes in Frontal Alpha Asymmetry Correlate with Changes in Affect in Therapy Sessions (abs.)
Frontal EEG alpha asymmetry was recorded from five depressed outpatients during early EEG biofeedback sessions. Mood was assessed prior to and after each session, and affect change scores were also derived by subtracting pre-session from post-session scores. Alpha magnitude was obtained via Fast Fourier Transforms. All scores (EEG alpha asymmetry and affect) were converted to deviation scores by subtracting each patient's daily score from that patient's mean across all available sessions for that patient.
Alpha-Theta Brainwave Neurofeedback Training: An Effective Treatment for Male and Female Alcoholics with Depressive Symptoms (abs.)
This was an experimental study of 14 alcoholic outpatients using the Peniston and Kulkosky (1989, 1991) brainwave treatment protocol for alcohol abuse. After temperature biofeedback pretraining, experimental subjects completed 20 40-minute sessions of alpha-theta brainwave neurofeedback training (BWNT). Experimentally treated alcoholics with depressive syndrome showed sharp reductions in self-assessed depression (Beck's Depression Inventory).
Self-regulation of Slow Cortical Potentials in Psychiatric Patients: Schizophrenia (abs.)
Slow cortical potentials (SCPs) are considered to reflect the regulation of attention resources and cortical excitability in cortical neuronal networks. Impaired attentional functioning, as found in patients with schizophrenic disorders, may covary with impaired SCP regulation. This hypothesis was tested using a self-regulation paradigm. Twelve medicated male schizophrenic inpatients and 12 healthy male controls received continuous feedback of their SCPs, during intervals of 8 s each, by means of a visual stimulus (a stylized rocket) moving horizontally across a TV screen.
Clinical Use of an Alpha Asymmetry Neurofeedback Protocol in the Treatment of Mood Disorders: Follow-Up Study One to Five Years Post-Therapy (abs., pg. 7)
This study reports on three of six patients who have completed an average of 27 neurofeedback sessions using a patented alpha asymmetry protocol for the treatment of depression. The follow-up data, from one to five years post therapy, were derived from a single session re-test using the same alpha asymmetry protocol and the Beck Depression Inventory.
Frontal Interhemispheric Asymmetry: Self Regulation and Individual Differences in Humans (abs.)
Sixteen subjects naive to biofeedback learned lateralised interhemispheric control of slow cortical potentials (SCPs) across electrode sites F3-F4 during three sessions of visual electroencephalograph (EEG) biofeedback. Subjects were required to generate slow negativity shifts either towards the left or the right hemisphere in sixty pseudorandomly ordered trials per session. Group 1 (n = 8) were told to use emotional strategies in the task (positive emotions for left hemisphere activation, negative emotion for right hemisphere activation), group 2 received no guidance.
Treatment of a Depressive Disorder Patient with EEG-driven Photic Stimulation (abs.)
This study examined the effects of electroencephalographic- (EEG-) driven photic stimulation on a case of depressive disorder, as measured by a psychometric test of mood states, EEG parameters, and several autonomic indices. The EEG-driven photic stimulation enhances the alpha rhythm of brain waves using photic signals, the brightness of which is modulated by a subject's own alpha rhythm. The patient was a 37-year-old businessman, who was treated for depression with medication during the 13 months prior to his first visit to our hospital.
