Re: DEPRESSION/NFB

From: peterson_at_d...
Date: 2001-06-25 00:16:35


--- In buildcheapeeg_at_yahoogroups.com, "frans" <f.smith_at_c...> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Question for health proffesionals..
>
> BFB/NFB have been succesfull for depression, anxiety ,
> fear, obsessions etc...
> Therapists diagose illness -lets say - depression by
> wachting brainwaves. Clients then try to control some
> sort of wave/patern.
> They (therapists) claim that afther succesfull therapy
> drugs need not be used anymore.

Davidson and others have shown a statistical relationship between
depressed activity (more alpha) in the right frontal cortex, with
more beta on the left side, in depressed and depression-prone
people. However, nobody diagnoses depression by looking at the
brainwaves. We do that by asking about (or in some instances
observing) the classic signs & symptoms: loss or gain of appetite &
weight, sleep disturbance, depressed mood, pessimistic brooding,
general unhappiness, etc.

>
> However, if one would take a drug and feels better,
> would that mean that the brainwaves are also changed ?
> If one would analyse brainwaves from a client with and
> without a drug would there be a different ?
>
I believe that the left frontal area of the brain has more
serotonergic cells than the right. Serotonin-enhancing agents
(antidepressant medications) should selectvely increase activity on
the left side.

> I know of people with depression etc..and taking a drug
> was succesfull. So they feel better. A drug is not a cure,
> but for at the moment they feel good. Therefore does
> a succesfull threatment with drugs infuence the analyse
> of waves ? If so, how then can you train a person.
>
You would probably have trouble getting a training effect in someone
who already has adequate activation on the left side due to a drug,
at least if your approach is to train left-hemispheric activation and
beta reduction on the right. However, this is not the only way to
treat depression with neurofeedback. Saxby & Peniston treatd 14
people with combined alcoholism & depression using the Peniston alpha-
theta protocol for alcoholism, and 13 of the 14 were relieved of both
alcoholism and depression, with these results holding up on a 21 (or
23? I don't remember offhand) month followup. Antidepressants don't
seem to interfere with Peniston's method. However, alcohol, valium-
type drugs, and opiates do block the effectiveness of Peniston-style
alpa-theta training.

> Does fear, depression realte to a special wave patern ?

I believe that both fear and depression are marked by a frontal
assymetry with the right front showing more energy (i.e. more beta)
than the left. However, in fear/anxiety, the right frontal beta is
usually elevated quite a bit above normal levels, while the right
side may be at or below normal levels. In depression, the _relative_
difference between hemispheres is in the same relationship, but the
_absolute_ level of left activation will typically be substantially
below normal. Think of the right side as avoidance/fear/pessimism,
and the left side as approach/optimism/positive expectation.

There are no doubt some QEEG whizzes out there in the group who will
be happy to correct any mistakes I made here and amplify my comments.



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