Offering Neurofeedback as an Intervention for Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Indonesia: A Feasibility Study.

Background: EEG Neurofeedback training is an accepted non-pharmacological therapy for attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Although stimulant medication is known to decrease ADHD symptoms, possible adverse effects, concerns about prolonged drug use on neural development, and problems related to the compliance with the medications are often reported. In Indonesia, research on the feasibility of EEG Neurofeedback to treat ADHD is still lacking.

Consensus on the reporting and experimental design of clinical and cognitive-behavioural neurofeedback studies (CRED-nf checklist).

Neurofeedback has begun to attract the attention and scrutiny of the scientific and medical mainstream. Here, neurofeedback researchers present a consensus-derived checklist that aims to improve the reporting and experimental design standards in the field.

Timed performance weaknesses on computerized tasks in pediatric brain tumor survivors: A comparison with sibling controls.

With more children surviving a brain tumor, insight into the late effects of the disease and treatment is of high importance. This study focused on profiling the neurocognitive functions that might be affected after treatment for a pediatric brain tumor, using a broad battery of computerized tests. Predictors that may influence neurocognitive functioning were also investigated.

General practice counseling for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to quit smoking: impact after 1 year of two complex interventions.

Objective: To evaluate two counseling programs in general practice to help smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to quit smoking.

Methods: Cluster randomized controlled trial including 68 general practices (667 patients) using a randomly assigned intervention program with counseling and advice about nicotine replacement therapy (and additional bupropion-SR in one of the programs) or usual care. Usual care consisted of periodic regular check-ups and COPD information.

Does arousal interfere with operant conditioning of spike-wave discharges in genetic epileptic rats?

One of the ways in which brain computer interfaces can be used is neurofeedback (NF). Subjects use their brain activation to control an external device, and with this technique it is also possible to learn to control aspects of the brain activity by operant conditioning. Beneficial effects of NF training on seizure occurrence have been described in epileptic patients.

An exploratory study on the effects of tele-neurofeedback and tele-biofeedback on objective and subjective sleep in patients with primary insomnia.

Insomnia is a sleeping disorder, usually studied from a behavioural perspective, with a focus on somatic and cognitive arousal. Recent studies have suggested that an impairment of information processes due to the presence of cortical hyperarousal might interfere with normal sleep onset and/or consolidation. As such, a treatment modality focussing on CNS arousal, and thus influencing information processing, might be of interest.

Efficacy of neurofeedback treatment in ADHD: the effects on inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity: a meta-analysis.

Since the first reports of neurofeedback treatment in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in 1976, many studies have investigated the effects of neurofeedback on different symptoms of ADHD such as inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity. This technique is also used by many practitioners, but the question as to the evidence-based level of this treatment is still unclear. In this study selected research on neurofeedback treatment for ADHD was collected and a meta-analysis was performed.

Improvements in spelling after QEEG-based neurofeedback in dyslexia: a randomized controlled treatment study.

Phonological theories of dyslexia assume a specific deficit in representation, storage and recall of phonemes. Various brain imaging techniques, including qEEG, point to the importance of a range of areas, predominantly the left hemispheric temporal areas. This study attempted to reduce reading and spelling deficits in children who are dyslexic by means of neurofeedback training based on neurophysiological differences between the participants and gender and age matched controls.

EEG phenotypes predict treatment outcome to stimulants in children with ADHD.

This study demonstrates that the EEG phenotypes as described by Johnstone, Gunkelman & Lunt are identifiable EEG patterns with good inter-rater reliability. Furthermore, it was also demonstrated that these EEG phenotypes occurred in both ADHD subjects as well as healthy control subjects. The Frontal Slow and Slowed Alpha Peak Frequency and the Low Voltage EEG phenotype discriminated ADHD subjects best from controls (however the difference was not significant).

A benzodiazepine discontinuation programme does not increase the frequency of contacts with the family practice.

Objective: The efficacy of programmes to reduce long-term benzodiazepine use could be compromised by subsequent increases in contacts with the family practice. In this study the hypothesis was tested as to whether participation in a benzodiazepine discontinuation programme affects the frequency of contacts with the family practice.

Design: A controlled stepped-care intervention programme to decrease long-term benzodiazepine use.

The role of craving in relapse after discontinuation of long-term benzodiazepine use.

Objective: Craving for benzodiazepines has never been examined as a factor of relapse after successful benzodiazepine discontinuation. In this study, we examined the predictive value of craving on benzodiazepine relapse.

Method: A stepped-care intervention trial aimed to discontinue long-term benzodiazepine use in general practice.

MMPI-2 clusters of alcohol-dependent patients and the relation to Cloninger's temperament-character inventory.

Objective: Psychometric research in the field of alcohol dependence has concentrated on identifying certain (personality) characteristics (i.e. typologies).

Effects of craving self-report measurement on desire for heroin in opioid dependent individuals.

This study aims to investigate whether the administration of questionnaires measuring subjective craving induces more craving for opiates compared to questionnaires measuring other subjective states. The study was conducted in 2000. The sample was composed of 53 patients that were treated as inpatients and outpatients for their opioid dependence syndrome.

Predictors of long-term benzodiazepine abstinence in participants of a randomized controlled benzodiazepine withdrawal program.

Objective: To identify predictors of resumed benzodiazepine use after participation in a benzodiazepine discontinuation trial.

Method: We performed multiple Cox regression analyses to predict the long-term outcome of a 3-condition, randomized, controlled benzodiazepine discontinuation trial in general practice.

Results: Of 180 patients, we completed follow-up for 170 (94%).

Effects on smoking cessation: naltrexone combined with a cognitive behavioral treatment based on the community reinforcement approach.

A promising option in substance abuse treatment is the Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA). The opioid antagonist naltrexone (NTX) may work in combination with nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to block the effects of smoking stimuli in abstinent smokers. Effects of lower doses than 50 mg/dd.

Associations of benzodiazepine craving with other clinical variables in a population of general practice patients.

Background: The aim of this study was to (1) describe the characteristics of patients reporting craving for benzodiazepines (BZs) and (2) to search for associations between BZ craving and other clinical variables in a population of general practice (GP) patients who have made an attempt to discontinue their long-term BZ use.

Methods: The Benzodiazepine Craving Questionnaire (BCQ) and other self-report questionnaires were administered once to a population of 113 long-term and 80 former long-term GP BZ users participating in a large BZ reduction trial in GP. Cross-sectional data were gathered on self-reported BZ craving (BCQ), self-reported BZ dependence severity (Bendep-SRQ), psychopathology (General Health Questionnaire 12-item version), mood state (Profile of Mood States), personality (Dutch shortened MMPI), and lifestyle characteristics.

Interpersonal aspects of personality disorders in opioid-dependent patients: the convergence of the ICL-R and the SIDP-IV.

This study aims to establish the convergence of the empirically based Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM)- and theory-based interpersonal behavioral approaches to personality, in opioid-dependent patients (n = 110), with the use of the Structured Interview for DSM-IV Personality [Pfohl et al.: Structured Interview for DSM-IV PD. Iowa City, UICM, 1995] and the Interpersonal Checklist-Revised (ICL-R) [DeJong and VandenBrink: ICL-R.

Discontinuation of long-term benzodiazepine use by sending a letter to users in family practice: a prospective controlled intervention study.

Minimal intervention strategies to decrease long-term benzodiazepine use have not yet been evaluated in large primary care based studies with a blinded control condition and a long follow-up period. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a letter with a discontinuation advice sent to long-term benzodiazepine users in family practice followed by an evaluation consultation offer. The experimental group consisted of 2425 long-term benzodiazepine users, 1707 of whom were addressed by a discontinuation letter and an evaluation consultation offer.

Decline in smoking cessation rate associated with high self-efficacy scores.

Background: Clinical observation indicates that self-efficacy, although generally linked with maintaining smoking cessation, can be excessive.

Methods: In the present study, this phenomenon was explicitly investigated by adding the squared component of self-efficacy to the logistic regression analyses for a treatment sample (n = 381) to predict long-term success.

Results: Quitters with very high posttreatment self-efficacy were found to be at a greater risk for unsuccessful smoking cessation than quitters with merely high posttreatment self-efficacy, and by accounting for this phenomenon, long-term success was better predicted.

Determination of the main risk factors for benzodiazepine dependence using a multivariate and multidimensional approach.

The aim of this study was to identify risk factors for benzodiazepine (BZD) dependence, such as sociodemographic variables, characteristics of BZD use, and psychiatric parameters, which to date have been found to relate inconsistently to indicators of BZD dependence such as chronic BZD use and BZD withdrawal symptoms. The Benzodiazepine Dependence Self-Report Questionnaire (Bendep-SRQ), Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN), and Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) were administered to 599 outpatients using BZDs. Regression analyses were conducted using BZD dependence diagnoses and severity scales as dependent variables.

Predictors of relapse after discontinuation of long-term benzodiazepine use by minimal intervention: a 2-year follow-up study.

Background: Long-term results of minimal intervention strategies to cut down benzodiazepine use are not available.

Objective: To evaluate the relapse rate over a two-year period and to search for predictors of relapse among patients who quit benzodiazepine use after receiving a discontinuation letter.

Methods: Baseline assessment and prospective monitoring of the medical records of 109 patients who quit long-term benzodiazepine use after a minimal intervention strategy in general practice.

Cross-validation, predictive validity, and time course of the Benzodiazepine Dependence Self-Report Questionnaire in a benzodiazepine discontinuation trial.

The Benzodiazepine Dependence Self-Report Questionnaire (Bendep-SRQ) measures the severity of benzodiazepine (BZ) dependence on four domains: awareness of problematic use, preoccupation with the availability of BZ, lack of compliance with the therapeutic regimen, and withdrawal. Although promising results of the Bendep-SRQ have been obtained in cross-sectional studies, no attention has been paid to its clinical relevance during BZ withdrawal, i.e.