Alcohol Clin Exp Res 13: 271-279 (1989)
Veterans Administration Medical Center, Fort
Lyon, Colorado 81038, and
University of Southern Colorado, Pueblo, CO
81001.
An alpha-theta brainwave biofeedfack training program was
applied as a novel treatment technique for chronic alcoholics. Following a
temperature biofeedback pretraining phase, experimental subjects completed
15 30-min sessions of alpha-theta biofeedback training. Compared to a
nonalcoholic control group and a traditionally treated alcoholic control
group, alcoholics receiving brainwave training (BWT) showed significant
increases in percentages of EEG record in alpha and theta rhythms, and
increased alpha rhythm amplitudes. Alcoholics receiving BWT showed a
gradual increase in alpha and theta brain rhythms across the 15
experimental sessions. These experimentally treated alcoholics showed
sharp reductions in self-assessed depression (Beck's Depression Inventory)
compared to the control groups. Alcoholics receiving standard medical
treatment (abstinence, group psychotherapy, antidepressants) showed a
significant elevation in serum beta-endorphin levels at the conclusion of
the experiment. This neuropeptide is an index of stress and a stimulant of
caloric (e.g., ethanol) intake. Application of brainwave treatment, a
relaxation therapy, appears to counteract the increase in circulating
beta-endorphin levels seen in the control group of alcoholics. 13-month
follow-up data indicate sustained prevention of relapse in alcoholics that
completed alpha-theta brainwave training.
Reprinted with
permission of Williams &
Wilkins
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