impulsive behavior
Research Papers
Neurofeedback as a Treatment for Impulsivity in a Forensic Psychiatric Population With Substance Use Disorder: Study Protocol of a Randomized Controlled Trial Combined With an N-of-1 Clinical Trial
Background: Impulsivity and substance use disorder (SUD) are strongly interconnected, with persons scoring high on impulsivity being more vulnerable to develop substance abuse, facing more challenges for successful treatment, and being more prone to engage in criminal behavior. Studies have shown that impulsivity and craving for substances are strongly correlated. Neurofeedback is an effective treatment to reduce impulsive behavior. This study intends to determine to what extent a neurofeedback-intervention that is aimed at reducing impulsivity can also reduce levels of craving in forensic patients with SUD and comorbid Axis I and/or II diagnoses. Objective: The main objective of this study is to investigate to what extent a reduction in impulsivity by a sensorimotor rhythm (SMR)-neurofeedback intervention will lead to a reduction in craving in a population of forensic psychiatric patients with a diagnosis of SUD. Methods: Participants will be male SUD patients with various comorbidities residing in an inpatient forensic treatment facility approached through treatment supervisors for participation. Participants have tested positive for drug use in the past 24 months. The study consists of 2 parts: a randomized controlled trial (RCT) and a n-of-1 clinical series. In the RCT, 50 patients will be randomly assigned to an intervention (n=25) or a control (n=25) condition. Patients in the intervention group will receive 20 SMR neurofeedback sessions aimed at reducing impulsivity; participants in the control group receive treatment-as-usual (TAU). Additionally, 4 in depth n-of-1 clinical trials will be conducted where effects of an SMR neurofeedback intervention will be compared to effects of sham neurofeedback. Results: Results of this study are expected by the end of 2017. Conclusions: This protocol describes the design of a study testing the effects of an impulsivity-based neurofeedback protocol among forensic patients with SUD and various comorbidities. We expect a significant reduction in impulsive behavior, level of craving, and actual drug-use for participants receiving the SMR neurofeedback protocol. The n-of-1 approach might help to explain effects possibly found in the RCT study since it allows for a more direct focus on treatment effects by following participants more closely and thereby being able to directly attribute behavioral and neurophysiological change to the SMR neurofeedback protocol employed. © Sandra Fielenbach, Franc CL Donkers, Marinus Spreen, Stefan Bogaerts. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 25.01.2017. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Research Protocols, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://www.researchprotocols.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
View Full Paper →Is neurofeedback an efficacious treatment for ADHD? A randomised controlled clinical trial
BACKGROUND: For children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a reduction of inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity by neurofeedback (NF) has been reported in several studies. But so far, unspecific training effects have not been adequately controlled for and/or studies do not provide sufficient statistical power. To overcome these methodological shortcomings we evaluated the clinical efficacy of neurofeedback in children with ADHD in a multisite randomised controlled study using a computerised attention skills training as a control condition. METHODS: 102 children with ADHD, aged 8 to 12 years, participated in the study. Children performed either 36 sessions of NF training or a computerised attention skills training within two blocks of about four weeks each (randomised group assignment). The combined NF treatment consisted of one block of theta/beta training and one block of slow cortical potential (SCP) training. Pre-training, intermediate and post-training assessment encompassed several behaviour rating scales (e.g., the German ADHD rating scale, FBB-HKS) completed by parents and teachers. Evaluation ('placebo') scales were applied to control for parental expectations and satisfaction with the treatment. RESULTS: For parent and teacher ratings, improvements in the NF group were superior to those of the control group. For the parent-rated FBB-HKS total score (primary outcome measure), the effect size was .60. Comparable effects were obtained for the two NF protocols (theta/beta training, SCP training). Parental attitude towards the treatment did not differ between NF and control group. CONCLUSIONS: Superiority of the combined NF training indicates clinical efficacy of NF in children with ADHD. Future studies should further address the specificity of effects and how to optimise the benefit of NF as treatment module for ADHD.
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