Documenting the Effects of Noninvasive Prefrontal pIR HEG Neurofeedback in the Treatment of Common Mental Health Problems

Authors

  • Christine Tyrrell Baker Private Practice

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15540/nr.10.3.207

Keywords:

neurofeedback, pIR HEG, limbic overload, self-efficacy, data-driven practice, Prefrontal cortex

Abstract

Clients with mixed diagnoses were provided passive infrared hemoencephalography (pIR HEG) neurofeedback in a mental health private practice treatment setting. This is the first formally documented investigation of pIR HEG neurofeedback applied to a mental health population. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Results from 66 clients showed that five sessions of neurofeedback resulted in statistically significant changes in anxiety, depression, limbic overload, and coping self-efficacy. For clients who completed 10 or 15 sessions, results showed robust changes in anxiety, depression, limbic overload, general self-efficacy, coping self-efficacy, and dissociation. The impact of neurofeedback on self-efficacy is discussed as well as limitations and implications for future research.

References

Baker, C. T. (2020). The Limbic Overload Scale: Measuring clients’ perception of deficits in global brain control and self-regulation. Please contact the author for permission to use the scale.

Baker, C. T. (2022). Understanding the benefits of (pIR HEG) neurofeedback in the treatment of anxiety, depression, stress, and trauma: The Stress Regulation and Learning Model. Professional workshop presentation. Delivered via Zoom May and December 2022.

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-Efficacy. New York, NY: W. H. Freeman and Company.

Carmen, J. (2004). Passive Infrared Hemocephalography: Four years and 100 migraines. Journal of Neurotherapy, 8(3), 23–51. https://doi.org/10.1300/J184v08n03_03

Carmen, J. (2018, 2020). Personal communication. Introductory training on EZpIR and advanced clinical seminar.

Coben, R., & Padolsky, I. (2008). Infrared imaging and neurofeedback: Initial reliability and validity. Journal of Neurotherapy, 11(3), 3–13.

Cheon, E.-J., Koo, B.-H., Seo, W.-S., Lee, J.-Y., Choi, J.-H., & Song, S.-H. (2015). Effects of neurofeedback on adult clients with psychiatric disorders in a naturalistic setting. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 40(1), 17–24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-015-9269-x

Chesney, M., Neilands, T., Chambers, D., Taylor, J., & Folkman, S. (2006). A validity and reliability study of the coping self-efficacy scale (CSE). British Journal of Health Psychology, 11(3), 421–437. https://doi.org/10.1348/135910705x53155

Czeisler, M. É., Lane, R. I., Petrosky, E., Wiley, J. F., Christensen, A., Njai, R., Weaver, M. D., Robbins, R., Facer-Childs, E. R., Barger, L. K., Czeisler, C. A., Howard, M. E., & Rajaratnam, S. M. W. (2020). Mental health, substance use, and suicidal ideation during the COVID-19 pandemic—United States. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 69(32), 1049–1057. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6932a1

Dalenberg, C., & Carlson, E. (2010). Adult (Brief Dissociative Experiences Scale [DES-B]—Modified DES-B modified for DSM-5.

Dana, D. (2018). The Polyvagal theory in therapy. New York, NY: W. W. Norton.

Fleischman, M. J. (2022). Documenting the impact of infra low frequency neurofeedback on underserved populations with complex clinical presentations. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 16, 921491. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2022.921491

Goldberg, E. (2009). The new executive brain. New York, NY: Oxford.

Judd L. L., Akiskal, H. S., Maser, J. D., Zeller, P. J., Endicott, J., Coryell, W., Paulus, M. P., Kunovac, J. L., Leon, A. C., Mueller, T. I., Rice, J. A., Keller, M. B. (1998). A prospective 12-year study of subsyndromal and syndromal depressive symptoms in unipolar major depressive disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 55(8), 694–700. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.55.8.694

Kohl, S. H., Mehler, D. M. A., Lührs, M., Thibault, R. T., Konrad, K. & Sorger, B. (2020). The potential of functional near-infrared spectroscopy-based neurofeedback—A systematic review and recommendations for best practice. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 14, 594. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2020.00594

Kroenke, K., Spitzer, R. L., & Williams, J. B. (2001). The PHQ-9: validity of a brief depression severity measure. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 16(9), 606–613. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1525-1497.2001.016009606.x

Magnavita, J. (2018). Introduction: How can technology advance mental health treatment? In J. J. Magnavita (Ed.), Using technology in mental health practice (pp. 3–10). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000085-001

Rance, M., Walsh, C., Sukhodolsky, D. G., Pittman, B., Qiu, M., Kichuk, S. A., Wasylink, S., Koller, W. N., Bloch, M., Gruner, P., Scheinost, D., Pittenger, C., & Hampson, M. (2018). Time course of clinical change following neurofeedback. NeuroImage, 181, 807–813. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.05.001

Schwarzer, R., & Jerusalem, M. (1995). Generalized self-efficacy scale. In J. Weinman, S. Wright, & M. Johnston, Measures in health psychology: A user’s portfolio. Causal and control beliefs (pp. 35–37). Windsor, UK: Nfer-Nelson. https://doi.org/10.1037/t00393-000

Spitzer, R. L., Kroenke, K., Williams, J. B., & Löwe, B. (2006). A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: The GAD-7. Archives of Internal Medicine, 166(10), 1092–1097. https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.166.10.1092

Stokes, D. A., & Lappin, M. S. (2010). Neurofeedback and biofeedback with 37 migraineurs: A clinical outcome study. Behavior and Brain Functions, 6, Article 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-9081-6-9

Toomim, H., & Carmen, J. (2009). Hemoencephalography: Photon- based blood flow neurofeedback. In T. Budzynski, H. Budzynski, J. Evans, & A. Abarbanel (Eds.), Introduction to quantitative EEG and neurofeedback, (2nd ed.; pp. 169–194). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-374534-7.00007-1

van der Kolk, B. (2015). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. New York, NY: Penguin.

van der Kolk, B., Hodgin, H., Gapen, M., Musicaro, R., Suvak, M., Hamlin, E., & Spinazzola, J. (2016). A randomized controlled study of neurofeedback for chronic PTSD. PLoS ONE, 11(12), Article e0166752. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0166752

Walker, A. K., & Lyle, R. R. (2016). Passive Infrared Hemoencephalography (pIR HEG) for the Treatment of Migraine Without Aura. NeuroRegulation, 3(2), 78–91. https://doi.org/10.15540/nr.3.2.78

Yu, S.-H., Tseng, C.-Y., & Lin, W.-L. (2020). A neurofeedback protocol for executive function to reduce depression and rumination: A controlled study. Clinical Psychopharmacology and Neuroscience, 18(3), 375–385. https://doi.org/10.9758/cpn.2020.18.3.375

Downloads

Published

2023-09-30

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 3 (2023)

Section

Clinical Corner

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Christine Tyrrell Baker

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
  • Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).