University of Texas at San Antonio - Anxiety Research Study

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.

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Research Methodology

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). 

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Results

The neurofeedback treatment group showed statistically significant improvements in all anxiety symptom assessments. Pre/post-assessments included the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale and Achenbach (ASEBA) Adult Self Report (ASR). 

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