A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-analysis on Effectiveness of Neurofeedback for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

ABSTRACT

To evaluate the evidences related to the effectiveness of neurofeedback treatment for people with OCD. A literature review and meta-analysis of current controlled trials for patients with OCD symptoms was conducted across different databases. So, the primary outcome measure was OCD symptoms in subjects based on DSM IV. Y-BOCS was considered as primary outcomes. Nine met inclusion criteria (including 1211 patients). Analysis showed there was an important benefit of neurofeedback treatment in comparison to other treatments (MD = −6.815; 95% CI = [−9.033, −4.598]; P < 0.001). The results provide preliminary evidence that NFB is efficacious method for OCD and suggest that more clinical trials are needed to compare common treatment such as medication, neurological, and behavioral interventions.

KEYWORDS:

• Neurofeedback
• obsessive-compulsive disorder
• functional magnetic resonance imaging
• electroencephalography
• brain waves

Compliance with ethical standards

All process conducted in trials involving human participants were according to the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data and material

The supported data in this meta-analysis are available on request from the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.