Neurofeedback drives away persistent depression

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.

For many people with depression, common medications fail and psychotherapy does not alleviate their distress. In that case, neurofeedback could help.

As part of a small pilot study, researchers led by Eun-Jin Cheon from Yeungnam University Hospital in South Korea have now tried to help these patients with what is known as neurofeedback.

Regulated brain waves

To do this, they put twelve test persons with severe therapy-resistant depression in front of a screen. Their brain waves were read via electrodes on the heads of the participants and passed on to the associated computer. A program translated them into moving lines and images.

Pattern on the monitor

With the help of the changing images on the monitor, the patients learned to regulate their brain waves. Previous studies had already shown that different emotions are associated with different patterns of brain waves.

The patients completed a twelve-week training course in which they each completed two half-hour neurofeedback courses (SMR / theta and betan / theta). At the beginning, in week four and at the end of the training, the researchers determined the participants' depressive symptoms using a standardized questionnaire.

Depression puts a strain on relationships

In addition, factors such as interpersonal relationships, ability to work and family relationships, which can be significantly stressed by depression, were also recorded. A control group of a further twelve therapy-resistant patients did not receive any neurofeedback training.

Significant improvement

In the neurofeedback group, eight of the twelve participants responded to the treatment. In fact, five of them improved to the point where the depression was largely gone. The researchers did not see any improvement in the control group.

“The effect of neurofeedback has already been tested for various mental disorders. But, to our knowledge, this is the first time that a full recovery has been achieved in patients with treatment-resistant depression, ”says study leader Eun-Jin Cheon. This is particularly important because it is a group of patients for whom there is otherwise no treatment option.

Effective alternative

The study shows that neurofeedback could be an effective alternative for depression that is difficult to treat: some of the patients felt better and were able to participate in normal life again. “It is particularly encouraging that we did not find any negative side effects,” says Cheon.

However, the researchers point out that the study is very small and the results would only have to be confirmed in larger studies in order to find their way into therapy.

Treatment-resistant depression is common. One in three patients does not respond to medication. Experts estimate that there are 100 million people worldwide.

Tags:  Baby Child symptoms home remedies