the effect of quantitative electroencephalography-based neurofeedback therapy on anxiety, depression, and emotion regulation in people with generalized anxiety disorder

Introduction: generalized anxiety disorder (gad) is one of the most common anxiety disorders that has significant adverse effects on social functioning, occupational/academic performance, and daily living. this study aimed to evaluate the effect of quantitative electroencephalography (qeeg)-based neurofeedback (nfb) therapy on anxiety, depression,and emotion regulation of people with gad. methods: this research is a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test/post-test/follow-up design and a control group. the study participants were 29 college students with gad living in zanjan city, iran, who were selected using a convenience sampling method. then, they were randomly divided into two groups of intervention (n=15) and control (n=14). the protocol of nfb therapy was designed based on the qeeg method. the intervention group received qeeg-based nfb therapy for 8 weeks (20 sessions, 2 sessions per week, each session for 45 min), while the control group received no intervention. the samples were surveyed and measured by using a 7-item gad scale, emotion regulation questionnaire (erq), 21-item depression, anxiety, and stress scale (dass), and structured clinical interview for dsm (scid) before and after the intervention and then at a 3-month follow-up. the collected data were analyzed in spss software v. 22 using univariate ancova and repeated measures anova. results: the within-subjects effect of time (pre-test, post-test, and follow-up) was statistically significant (p=0.031). the intervention group showed significant changes in the post-test and follow-up phases in comparison with the control group. the anxiety and depression levels of patients reduced significantly (p=0.001), and their emotion regulation improved (p=0.001) after the intervention, and they remained unchanged in the follow-up period. conclusion: qeeg-based nfb therapy can reduce anxiety and depression and improve emotion regulation in patients with gad.