Neurofeedback Methods in Epilepsy and BeyondThose on the cutting edge of this twenty-first century treatment believe its potential applications may be unlimited. Currently, researchers are studying EEG biofeedback for conditions ranging from premenstrual syndrome to depression to post-traumatic stress disorder in Vietnam vets. At the Sepulveda Veterans Affairs Medical Center in California, Barry Sterman, a professor in the school of medicine ar UCLA and a career scientist at the Sepulveda center, has had impressive results using the treatment with epileptics resistant to standard drug treatment. EEG biofeedback, he says, helps his subjects learn to control the excitability that triggers seizures along the brain's motor pathways. Published findings show a 60 percent seizure-reduction rate in a full 70 percent of Sterman's patients. Siegfried Othmer -- who founded his Encino, California-based company, EEG Spectrum., after his epileptic son was treated successfully with EEG biofeedback -- brims with an almost evangelical fervor about the therapy's potential. "What's remarkable about this new technique is that we're not stuck with the brain we're born with," he enthuses. Othmer's four California-based clinics have treated some 2,000 patients -- not only sufferers of attention deficit disorder and anxiety, but also people with Tourette syndrome, bipolar disorder, premenstrual syndrome, even stutterers. What these disorders have in common, he argues, is that they all can benefit from stabilizing and normalizing brain patterns. Take the case of Los Angeles writer Margaret Sachs, forty-seven, a patient at one of Othmer's clinics who underwent EEG biofeedback for mood swings associated with menopause. "I was waking up in the middle of the night totally drenched with sweat," she recalls. "I started waking up at three or four in the morning as if I were on speed." But after twenty sessions of EEG biofeedback, designed to teach her to stabilize her brain rhythm, her symptoms vanished. "I felt grounded in a way I never had before," says Sachs. According to Othmer and other proponents, the promise of EEG biofeedback may not be limited to the sick. Othmer has worked with professional athletes to help them improve their ability to focus. Others bring the benefits home with them: Therapist Michael Enright from time to time pastes the electrodes on his own scalp. "If I had an article that was due and I had to have extended periods of mental activity without distraction, I'd do beta protocol," says Enright. "It's much better
Explosion of interest worriesThis explosion of interest worries some in the field
who believe that solid scientific proof of the effectiveness of EEG
biofeedback has not yet kept pace with the promises of some of its
practitioners. Indeed, while applications such as ADD and epilepsy
do have a growing body of research to back them up, other
applications must still be considered experimental. "One of the
criticisms of this field is that there needs to be more scientific
studies in peer-reviewed journals -- and I absolutely agree with
that," says researcher and clinician Steven Stockdale, who
notes that many such studies are in fact on the way.
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Biofeedback Self Regul 1995 Sep;20(3):211-228
Neurotherapy for stroke rehabilitation: a single case study.Rozelle GR, Budzynski THCenter for Behavioral Medicine, University of West Florida, Pensacola, USA. A 55-year-old male subject was treated with a two-tiered neurotherapy approach for a period of six months beginning approximately one year after a left-side CVA. Medical evaluation revealed left posterior temporal/parietal infarctions secondary to occlusion of the left internal carotid artery. The patient complained of hesitant speech with word finding difficulty and paraphasia, difficulty focusing his right eye, lack of balance and coordination, poor short-term memory, poor concentration, anxiety, depression, and tinnitus. A quantitative electroencephalograph (QEEG) analysis revealed increased left-side 4-7-Hz activity and alpha persistence on eye opening. Two neurotherapy approaches were used beginning with electroencephalographic entrainment feedback (EEF). This was followed by neurofeedback to inhibit 4-7 Hz and increase 15-21 Hz over sensorimotor and speech areas. At the conclusion of treatment there were significant reductions in slow-wave activity. Improvement was evident in speech fluency, word finding, balance and coordination, attention, and concentration. Depression, anxiety, and tinnitus were greatly reduced. MeSH Terms:
Grant support:
(...EMG-Methods continued/forts.) Adds Peter Parks, a biofeedback therapist at the Menninger Clinic: "It is being used by reputable clinics, but it's still considered controversial. You'll find doctors who use it and doctors who are skeptical. In our clinical experience, EEG biofeedback seems to be helpful." Certainly, with so many factors unknown, potential subjects should be aware that they're signing up for a therapy that is still unproven -- especially if they're anticipating extended treatment In some casesEEG biofeedback may actually be harmfulAnd in some cases, note experts, EEG biofeedback may actually be harmful. In its published guidelines, the Association For Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback warns that patients with a history of seizures should not be treated with EEG biofeedback unless they coordinate that treatment with their physician. People suffering from severe mental illnesses -- acute psychoses, major affective disorders, histories of dissociation experiences, or borderline personality disorders -- also should undertake treatment only in close conjunction with their doctors. "If a person has a propensity toward mania and you do this training wrong, you can put them into mania," cautions Othmer. "Likewise with depression. In a clinical setting, people know this and redirect the training." But even if EEG biofeedback must be considered a brave new world, for some it has offered relief where more-established medical practices could not. Ask Mary Obringer. "I can't tell you how important this is to our family," she says of her son Max's experience. "Our family was falling apart because of this. It has turned our lives around." See also the following Medline article: EEG biofeedback and relaxation training in the control of epileptic seizures |
An EMG Study:
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