Schizophrenia and the Efficacy of qEEG - Guided Neurofeedback Treatment : A

Schizophrenia is sometimes considered one of the most devastating of mental illnesses because its onset is early in a patient’s life and its symptoms can be destructive to the patient, the family and friends. Schizophrenia affects 1 in 100 people at some point during their lives, and while there is no cure, it is treatable with antipsychotic medications. According to the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials for Interventions Effectiveness (CATIE) about 74 % of the patients who have discontinued the first medication prescribed within a year will have a relapse afterwards. This shows an enormous need for developing better treatment methods and better ways to manage the disease, since current therapies do not have sufficient impact on negative symptoms, cognitive dysfunction, and compliance to treatment. In this clinical case series we investigate the efficacy of QEEG Guided Neurofeedback (NF) treatment in this population, and whether this method has an effect on these patients, and its effect on concurrent medical treatment. Fifty-one subjects (25 males, 26 females) ranging from 17-54 years old (mean: 28.82y, SD: 7.94y) were included. A signed consent form was received from all the patients. Most of the subjects were previously diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia, and their symptoms did not improve with medication. All 51 patients were evaluated using QEEG, which was recorded at baseline and following treatment. Before recording the QEEG all medications were discontinued and the subjects were washed out for up to 7 half lives of the medication they were on. Recorded QEEGs were analyzed using FDA approved Nx-Link Neurometric analysis, which suggested a diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia for all the subjects tested.