An evaluation of treatment response and remission definitions in adult obsessive-compulsive disorder: A systematic review and individual-patient data meta-analysis.

Introduction: Expert consensus operationalized treatment response and remission in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as a Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) reduction ≥35% and score ≤12 with ≤2 on Clinical Global Impressions Improvement (CGI-I) and Severity (CGI-S) scales, respectively. However, there has been scant empirical evidence supporting these definitions.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and an individual participant data meta-analysis of randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) in adults with OCD to determine optimal Y-BOCS thresholds for response and remission.

The time scales of irreversibility in spontaneous brain activity are altered in obsessive compulsive disorder.

We study how obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) affects the complexity and time-reversal symmetry-breaking (irreversibility) of the brain resting-state activity as measured by magnetoencephalography (MEG). Comparing MEG recordings from OCD patients and age/sex matched control subjects, we find that irreversibility is more concentrated at faster time scales and more uniformly distributed across different channels of the same hemisphere in OCD patients than in control subjects. Furthermore, the interhemispheric asymmetry between homologous areas of OCD patients and controls is also markedly different.

Kundalini Yoga Meditation Versus the Relaxation Response Meditation for Treating Adults With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is often a life-long disorder with high psychosocial impairment. Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) are the only FDA approved drugs, and approximately 50% of patients are non-responders when using a criterion of 25% to 35% improvement with the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS). About 30% are non-responders to combined first-line therapies (SRIs and exposure and response prevention).

Nasal cycle dominance and hallucinations in an adult schizophrenic female.

Nasal dominance, at the onset of hallucinations, was studied as a marker of both the lateralized ultradian rhythm of the autonomic nervous system and the tightly coupled ultradian rhythm of alternating cerebral hemispheric dominance in a single case study of a schizophrenic female. Over 1086 days, 145 hallucination episodes occurred with left nostril dominance significantly greater than the right nostril dominant phase of the nasal cycle. A right nostril breathing exercise, that primarily stimulates the left hemisphere, reduces symptoms more quickly for hallucinations.

Clinical trials of meditation practices in health care: characteristics and quality.

Objective: To provide a descriptive overview of the clinical trials assessing meditation practices for health care.

Design: Systematic review of the literature. Comprehensive searches were conducted in 17 electronic bibliographic databases through September 2005.

Complementary methods for interpreting brain signals: linear versus nonlinear techniques.

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) brain signals are characterized using both linear and nonlinear dynamical methods. The linear approach employs the power analysis in a spatial visualization. The nonlinear approach estimates the value of d(infinity) to characterize the system's asymptotic chaotic behavior using a computationally less onerous method than the conventional one for d(infinity).

Selective unilateral autonomic activation: implications for psychiatry.

Research advances have led to three methods for selectively activating one half of the autonomic nervous system in humans. The first method is an ancient yogic technique called unilateral forced nostril breathing (UFNB) that employs forced breathing through only one nostril while closing off the other. The second method works by stimulation of an autonomic reflex point on the fifth intercostal space near the axilla.

Complex spatio-temporal features in meg data.

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) brain signals are studied using a method for characterizing complex nonlinear dynamics. This approach uses the value of d(infinity) (d-infinite) to characterize the system's asymptotic chaotic behavior. A novel procedure has been developed to extract this parameter from time series when the system's structure and laws are unknown.

Patient perspectives: Kundalini yoga meditation techniques for psycho-oncology and as potential therapies for cancer.

The ancient system of Kundalini Yoga (KY) includes a vast array of meditation techniques. Some were discovered to be specific for treating psychiatric disorders and others are supposedly beneficial for treating cancers. To date, 2 clinical trials have been conducted for treating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Hemodynamic observations on a yogic breathing technique claimed to help eliminate and prevent heart attacks: a pilot study.

Objective: This pilot study investigated the hemodynamics of a yogic breathing technique claimed "to help eliminate and prevent heart attacks due to abnormal electrical events to the heart," and to generally "enhance performance of the central nervous system (CNS) and to help eliminate the effects of traumatic shock and stress to the CNS."

Design: Parameters for (4) subjects were recorded during a preexercise resting period, a 31-minute exercise period, and a postexercise resting period.

Settings/location: Parameters for subjects were recorded in a laboratory at the University of California, San Diego.

An introduction to Kundalini yoga meditation techniques that are specific for the treatment of psychiatric disorders.

The ancient system of Kundalini yoga includes a vast array of meditation techniques and many were discovered to be specific for treating the psychiatric disorders as we know them today. One such technique was found to be specific for treating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the fourth most common psychiatric disorder, and the tenth most disabling disorder worldwide. Two published clinical trials are described here for treating OCD using a specific Kundalini yoga protocol.