Аннотация:Background. The number of people with stroke has increased significantly in recent years. Many rehabilitation techniques for stroke patients are oriented to physical and cognitive deficits. Recovery management of the emotional sphere leaves much to be desired. Neurofeedback is used as the rehabilitation method for reducing emotional disorders in different types of patients. The main aim of our study was to show the effectiveness of using neurofeedback in psychological rehabilitation of stroke patients.
Methods. The study involved 84 patients with ischemic stroke (males, aged from 35 to 66 years, mean age 54.6 ± 4.01 years) with mixed anxiety and depressive disorder (F41.2 in ICD-10) diagnosed by a psychiatrist. Mixed anxiety and depressive disorder was evaluated using the Spielberg-Khanin anxiety scale, the Beck depression scale and the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS). Patients were randomly divided in two groups: 49 people passed through twenty neurofeedback training sessions and 35 patients - the control group without neurofeedback. EEG was recorded for all patients twice, before and after neurofeedback trainings in the first group and with 30-days interval in the second. Groups of patients did not differ significantly in age and neuropsychological tests scores. EEG indexes were computed and analyzed for theta (4-8Hz), alpha (8-13 Hz), beta1 (13-20 Hz) frequency bands.
Results and Discussion. A comparative analysis showed various changes between the first and the second time recorded EEG parameters in the experimental group. After 20 trainings, the following changes were observed: an increase of theta-band activity in the anterior and central regions in eyes open condition (p <0.05). The index of alpha-band activity decreased in the frontal and central regions. In the posterior region, an increase in the alpha-band index was noted. Decrease in the index of beta-1 activity recorded in the anterior, central and posterior areas. In the control group, the differences were also noted, but less expressed. We suppose that our results point on the normalization of brain bioelectrical activity in the experimental group of stroke patients. Changes in brain bioelectrical activity correlated with the improvement in the Beck depression scale and in the Spielberg-Khanin anxiety scale. These results support the objectivity of including neurofeedback trainings in the rehabilitation process of people with stroke.