Effect of Increase in Amplitude of Occipital Alpha & Theta Brain Waves on Global Functioning Level of Patients With Gad

introduction: the basic objective of this study is to investigate the effects of alpha and thetabrain waves amplitude increase in occipital area on reducing the severity of symptoms ofgeneralized anxiety disorder and to increase the global functioning level in patients with gad. methods: this study is a quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test with two groups.for this purpose, 28 patients who had been referred to sohrawardi psychiatric and clinicalpsychology center in zanjan were studied based on the interview with the psychiatrist, clinicalpsychologist and using clinical diagnostic criteria for the diagnostic and statistical manual ofmental disorders text revision - the dsm-iv-tr fourth edition diagnosis of gad, 14 subjectswere studied in neurofeedback treatment group and 14 subjects in the waiting list group. patientsin both groups were evaluated at pre-test and post-test with general anxiety disorder scale(gad-7) and global assessment functioning scale (gafs). the treatment group receivedfifteen 30-minute alpha training sessions and fifteen 30-minute theta brain training sessionsin occipital area by neurofeedback training (treatment group). this evaluation was performedaccording to the treatment protocol to increase the alpha and theta waves. and no interventionwas done in the waiting list group. but due to ethical issues after the completion of the study allthe subjects in the waiting list group were treated. results: the results showed that increase of alpha and theta brain waves amplitude in occipitalarea in people with gad can increase the global functioning level and can reduce symptomsof generalized anxiety disorder in a treatment group, but no such change was observed in thewaiting list group. discussion: increase of alpha and theta brain waves amplitude in occipital area can be useful inthe treatment of people with gad.