Welcome back to Reading the Research, where I trawl
the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects,
then discuss it in brief with bits from my own life, research, and
observations.
Today's study examines neurofeedback as a treatment option for depression. Many people with autism develop depression (and anxiety), either from the strain of being a square peg stuffed into a round hole, or from various other factors. The traditional therapy for such depression is drugs, which aren't ideal for various reasons, not the least of which being that autistic people can have very sensitive systems. The dosage of antidepressants can be very finicky, and we don't always respond in any kind of predictable fashion to them. In addition, up to a third of all people with depression (numbering over 300 million worldwide) aren't helped by the many and varied forms of antidepressants on the market. This necessitates other forms of treatment, which are limited to say the least.
In the US, this line of research has been all but ignored. Pharmaceutical companies need steady revenue to research new drugs and improve old ones, and they are the ones with most of the money to throw at studies like this one. Neurofeedback is a non-drug intervention, and one that can eventually render itself unnecessary, so effective are the results. That's bad for business, for pharmaceutical companies, and as such not much research has come out for this therapy. So, unsurprisingly at least to me, this study comes from elsewhere in the world: South Korea.
This was a very very small study, with less than 25 participants, so the results should of course be taken with a grain of salt and preferably replicated as soon as possible on a large scale. But the results were very promising. Fully 2/3rds of the experimental subjects (8 of 12), the ones that received the neurofeedback therapy, showed results, and five of them showed results so strongly that their depression was categorized as "in remission." Basically, they were recovering so well that they stopped qualifying as "depressed." The control group, the ones not given neurofeedback therapy, showed no changes at all.
Regular readers of this blog will probably be able to guess why I'm highlighting this study to you. I myself have improved markedly because of neurofeedback over the course of two and a half years. The type of neurofeedback involved in this study was an active form, where the participant focuses on changing the levels of particular brainwaves as displayed on a computer screen in front of them. The type I benefit from is passive, and is called LENS.
I highly recommend it. While it did take awhile to have noticeable results for me, the results are definitely in at this point. I am much less anxious, much less depressed, and much more able to smile and interact with people on a day-to-day basis, in a socially acceptable manner, than I was two years ago. My ability to be a social chameleon has skyrocketed. My mood climate (my mood overall, rather than day-to-day) has risen to "neutral, maybe slightly positive" instead of "grumpy all day every day." I am much less somber than I used to be, and much more able to toss out jokes.
In short, my quality of living has risen markedly because of this therapy. It does me good to see it getting some publicity. As far as I'm concerned, it needs a lot more. The scientists involved in this study were apparently surprised at how good their results were, which makes me wonder what their expectations looked like... but regardless, hopefully South Korea and other countries can help lead the way to safer, more long-lasting therapies for depression, anxiety, executive function disorders, and dysregulation in general.
Today's study examines neurofeedback as a treatment option for depression. Many people with autism develop depression (and anxiety), either from the strain of being a square peg stuffed into a round hole, or from various other factors. The traditional therapy for such depression is drugs, which aren't ideal for various reasons, not the least of which being that autistic people can have very sensitive systems. The dosage of antidepressants can be very finicky, and we don't always respond in any kind of predictable fashion to them. In addition, up to a third of all people with depression (numbering over 300 million worldwide) aren't helped by the many and varied forms of antidepressants on the market. This necessitates other forms of treatment, which are limited to say the least.
In the US, this line of research has been all but ignored. Pharmaceutical companies need steady revenue to research new drugs and improve old ones, and they are the ones with most of the money to throw at studies like this one. Neurofeedback is a non-drug intervention, and one that can eventually render itself unnecessary, so effective are the results. That's bad for business, for pharmaceutical companies, and as such not much research has come out for this therapy. So, unsurprisingly at least to me, this study comes from elsewhere in the world: South Korea.
This was a very very small study, with less than 25 participants, so the results should of course be taken with a grain of salt and preferably replicated as soon as possible on a large scale. But the results were very promising. Fully 2/3rds of the experimental subjects (8 of 12), the ones that received the neurofeedback therapy, showed results, and five of them showed results so strongly that their depression was categorized as "in remission." Basically, they were recovering so well that they stopped qualifying as "depressed." The control group, the ones not given neurofeedback therapy, showed no changes at all.
Regular readers of this blog will probably be able to guess why I'm highlighting this study to you. I myself have improved markedly because of neurofeedback over the course of two and a half years. The type of neurofeedback involved in this study was an active form, where the participant focuses on changing the levels of particular brainwaves as displayed on a computer screen in front of them. The type I benefit from is passive, and is called LENS.
I highly recommend it. While it did take awhile to have noticeable results for me, the results are definitely in at this point. I am much less anxious, much less depressed, and much more able to smile and interact with people on a day-to-day basis, in a socially acceptable manner, than I was two years ago. My ability to be a social chameleon has skyrocketed. My mood climate (my mood overall, rather than day-to-day) has risen to "neutral, maybe slightly positive" instead of "grumpy all day every day." I am much less somber than I used to be, and much more able to toss out jokes.
In short, my quality of living has risen markedly because of this therapy. It does me good to see it getting some publicity. As far as I'm concerned, it needs a lot more. The scientists involved in this study were apparently surprised at how good their results were, which makes me wonder what their expectations looked like... but regardless, hopefully South Korea and other countries can help lead the way to safer, more long-lasting therapies for depression, anxiety, executive function disorders, and dysregulation in general.
No comments:
Post a Comment