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Efficacy Evaluation of Neurofeedback-Based Anxiety Relief

Chao Chen, Xiaolin Xiao, Abdelkader Nasreddine Belkacem, Lin Lu, Xin Wang, Weibo Yi, Penghai Li, Changming Wang, Sha Sha, Xixi Zhao, Dong Ming

Frontiers in Neuroscience October 28, 2021 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.758068 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Experimental study Peer reviewed
Sample size 34
Population 17 patients with anxiety disorder and 17 healthy controls
Intervention Neurofeedback mindfulness regulation
Measures Power spectral density, electroencephalography (EEG)
Topics Anxiety
Citations 36
Key findings The authors report that neurofeedback mindfulness regulation produced a positive effect in both anxiety disorder patients and healthy controls, with an upward trend in the power map after mindfulness adjustment. They state that increased average gamma wave power indicates relief of anxiety and improved mindfulness ability, and that repeated-measures ANOVA showed a significant difference (P < 0.05).

Abstract

Anxiety disorder is a mental illness that involves extreme fear or worry, which can alter the balance of chemicals in the brain. This change and evaluation of anxiety state are accompanied by a comprehensive treatment procedure. It is well-known that the treatment of anxiety is chiefly based on psychotherapy and drug therapy, and there is no objective standard evaluation. In this paper, the proposed method focuses on examining neural changes to explore the effect of mindfulness regulation in accordance with neurofeedback in patients with anxiety. We designed a closed neurofeedback experiment that includes three stages to adjust the psychological state of the subjects. A total of 34 subjects, 17 with anxiety disorder and 17 healthy, participated in this experiment. Through the three stages of the experiment, electroencephalography (EEG) resting state signal and mindfulness-based EEG signal were recorded. Power spectral density was selected as the evaluation index through the regulation of neurofeedback mindfulness, and repeated analysis of variance (ANOVA) method was used for statistical analysis. The findings of this study reveal that the proposed method has a positive effect on both types of subjects. After mindfulness adjustment, the power map exhibited an upward trend. The increase in the average power of gamma wave indicates the relief of anxiety. The enhancement of the wave power represents an improvement in the subjects’ mindfulness ability. At the same time, the results of ANOVA showed thatP< 0.05, i.e., the difference was significant. From the aspect of neurophysiological signals, we objectively evaluated the ability of our experiment to relieve anxiety. The neurofeedback mindfulness regulation can effect on the brain activity pattern of anxiety disorder patients.

Comparable studies

Other experimental studies on anxiety, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
A PILOT STUDY OF GROUP MINDFULNESS-BASED COGNITIVE THERAPY (MBCT) FOR COMBAT VETERANS WITH POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD) Veterans with chronic combat posttraumatic stress disorder seeking treatment at a VA... 2013 Quasi-experimental with treatment-as-usual comparison group n = 37
Being present in the face of existential threat: The role of trait mindfulness in reducing defensive responses to mortality salience. 2010 Experimental study
Neural correlates of mindfulness meditation-related anxiety relief Healthy adults with no prior meditation experience 2013 Within-subjects experimental study n = 15
Intensive mindfulness training-related changes in cognitive and emotional experience Community adults 2009 Quasi-experimental and longitudinal n = 69
Prospective examination of synthetic 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine inhalation: effects on salivary IL-6, cortisol levels, affect, and non-judgment Volunteers 2019 Within-subjects experimental study n = 11

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