Electroencephalographic biofeedback for the treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in childhood and adolescence

Abstract

Considerable scientific effort has been directed at developing effective treatments for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Among alternative treatment approaches, electroencephalographic (EEG) biofeedback has gained promising empirical support in recent years. Short-term effects were shown to be comparable to those of stimulant medication at the behavioral and neuropsychological level, leading to significant decreases of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. In addition, EEG biofeedback results in concomitant improvement of neurophysiological patterns. EEG biofeedback may already be used within a multimodal setting, providing affected children and adolescents with a means of learning to counterbalance their ADHD symptoms without side effects. However, there is still a strong need for more empirically and methodologically sound evaluation studies.

Keywords::

• adolescents
• attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
• children
• electroencephalographic biofeedback
• slow cortical potentials
• θ/β ratio
• treatment
• treatment effectiveness evaluation