The Effectiveness of Neuro-feedback on a person’s executive function in patients with Post-traumatic stress disorder in war

Subject Areas : Thoughts and Behavior in Clinical Psychology

Sima Nohi ¹ , Ali Mohammad MirAghaei ² , Ziba Heidari ³

1 - مرکز تحقیقات علوم رفتاری، دانشگاه علوم پزشکی بقیه الله
2 - دپارتمان روانشناسی بالینی، دانشگاه علوم پزشکی بقیه الله
3 - مرکز تحقیقات علوم رفتاری، دانشگاه علوم پزشکی بقیه الله

Received: 2015-06-13 Accepted : 2015-06-13 Published : 2014-09-23

Keywords: neurofeedback, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), executive functions,

Abstract :

Many studies have shown neuropsychological deficiency in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Due to executive functions as the main core of these capabilities, its role in normal operation is very important. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of neurofeedback on executive functions in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder in war. For this purpose, in a quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test and a control group, 29 patients with PTSD war in Kermanshah province were selected through available sampling. They were assigned randomly into two groups of experiment (n = 15) and control (n = 14). During the 25-session an intervention was implemented for the experimental group. The control group did not receive any intervention based on neuro-feedback. The participants were tested both at the beginning and the end of the study in terms of the severity of the symptoms of PTSD, and executive functions. Analysis of covariance indicated that after the intervention, the function of experimental group had improved in terms of post-traumatic stress symptoms, executive functioning such as dropping behind and working memory. It seems neuro-feedback based intervention is effective on improvement of the syndrome and executive functioning in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder.