QEEG Guided Neurofeedback Treatment for Anxiety Symptoms

Anxiety represents one of the most commonly diagnosed mental illnesses among adults in the United States, affecting an estimated 19.1% of the adult population annually, with a lifetime occurrence of 31.1% (NIMH, 2017). This retrospective study intended to assess whether qEEG guided amplitude neurofeedback (NF) is a viable treatment for anxiety symptom reduction. 40 participants were assessed for anxiety using symptom and EEG measures. Demographics include age ranges from 19-62 (M = 37.7, SD =13.87). Gender identification comprised 21 male and 19 female. 15 clients self-identified as White (Non-Latino) (38%), 14 as Latino/Latina (35%), and 11 did not self-report ethnicity (28%). Pre/post-assessments were given to the participants. Symptom assessments included the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale and Achenbach (ASEBA) Adult Self Report (ASR). A qEEG was used to determine protocols for each participant. Participants were scheduled to receive 30-minute NF treatment sessions twice a week for one academic semester. The range of attended sessions was 7-19 (M = 12.72, SD = 2.78). Accurate number of session data was unavailable for 4 of the subjects. Symptom measures showed statistically significant improvement. Limitations include small sample size and no control group or sham NF group. Suggestions are included for future studies.