Alcoholic Personality and Alpha-Theta Neurofeedback Brainwave Training
(E. G. Peniston, P. J. Kulkosky) Alcoholic Personality and Alpha-Theta Brainwave Training, Journal of Medical Psychotherapy Vol. 3 pp 37-55 1990
Alcoholism constitutes a multifaceted behavior pattern exhibited by approximately nine million individuals in the United States alone. Various methods of neurofeedback training protocols of physiological responses have been utilized in conjunction with alcohol treatment program with promising success. Neurofeedback offers a potent treatment option in an alcoholic's attempt to obtain and maintain sobriety when placed as part of a treatment package for alcoholism and alcohol abuse. In study focusing on the use of alpha-theta wave neurofeedback in conjunction with traditional inpatient and outpatient treatment, significant improvement was found with favor of neurofeedback. Alcoholics whom received alpha-theta neurofeedback exhibited increased alpha-theta rhythm amplitude, and a decrease in medically treated controls in assessed depression. Neurofeedback treatment also seemed to prevent an increase in beta-endorphin levels, and increased in prevention of alcoholic relapse during a thirteen-month follow up period (Peniston & Kulkosky, 1990 Medical Psychotherapy Vol 3, pp 37-55).
EEG alpha-theta brainwave training and relaxation techniques learned during neurofeedback therapy produce fundatmental changes in aspects of an individual personality. EEG alpha-theta brainwave training offers an alternative approach to traditional treatment of chronic alcoholism and prevention of relapse.