Alpha-theta

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Alpha-theta

• The Addicted Brain
• Drug abuse produces long-term changes in the
  reward circuitry of the brain

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Electrical stimulation of brains (ESB)

• Electrical stimulation of brains of rats - James
  Olds in 1950s
• Jacobsen and Torkildsen replicated work in
  humans
• some epileptics stimulated themselves into
  convulsions

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INTRA-CRANIAL SELF-STIMULATION

• Rodent wireheads
• 0.0005 amperes for less than a second whenever
  rat pushed lever
• Rates of up to 10,000 bar-presses an hour
  recorded
• Medial forebrain bundle passing through lateral
  hypothalamus and ventral tegmentum
• An animal will self-stimulate for more than 24
  hrs continuously without rest, and will cross
  electrified grid to gain access to lever
• Other brain centers are aversive, such as
  periaqueductal grey matter (PAG)
• Ventral tegmental area (VTA) neurons manufacture
  dopamine and they are under continuous inhibition
  by gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) system, an
  important component of the final common pathway"
  of reward, implicated in addiction, mood, and
  learning.

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Delgado, Primate wireheads, and Circuitry man
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Prevalence
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Lifetime Rates by Gender
Disorder Males Females TOTAL ()
Anxiety disorder 19 31 25
Unipolar Depression 13 21 17
Mania 2 2 2
Substance dependence 35 18 27
Any disorder 49 47 48
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Alpha-Theta Training

• Peniston Kulkosky (1989)
• Alpha activity deficits in alcoholics known since
  1940s
• Drinking produces rewarding slow waves (alpha)
• Normal state has much more high beta
• Teach alcoholics to produce alpha without drinking

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Peniston Protocol

• Hand-warming primed EEG biofeedback techniques
• Guided visual imagery during Alpha-Theta
  training, especially addict behavior rejecting
• O1 site used (Pz by W. Scott)
• Goal is crossover state high theta state
  associated with reverie, disidentification with
  ego self
• Results
• Alcoholism PTSD very low relapse rate, lt20 9
  years out
• Chemical addicts, ½ relapse rate 18 months out
  (Kaiser Scott, 1999)

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Scott Kaiser, 1999
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Scott Kaiser, 1999
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MMPI (Minnesota MultiPhasic Inventory)

• Hypochondriasis (Hs) - neurotic concern over
  bodily functioning  
• Depression (D) - symptomatic depression.  
• Hysteria (Hy) - hysterical reactions to stress
  situations
• Psychopathic Deviate (Pd) - psychopathy, asocial,
  amoral
• Masculinity-Femininity (Mf) - originally
  developed to identify homosexual invert males,
  now those who reject traditional gender roles.  

• Paranoia (Pa) - paranoid symptoms
• Psychasthenia (Pt) - excessive doubts,
  compulsions, obsessions, and unreasonable fears
  (OCD).  
• Schizophrenia (Sc) - identify
  schizophreniaHypomania (Ma) - hypomanic
  disturbances
• Social Introversion (Si) - person's tendency to
  withdraw from social contacts and
  responsibilities.  

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MMPI Derived Empirically

• Developers used every personality question they
  could find
• 1. Tested on various clinical groups
  (depressive, schizophrenics, etc.)
• 2. Large pool of questions
• 3. Kept only those questions that
• discriminated between groups

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MMPI (Minnesota MultiPhasic Inventory)

• Validity Scales     
• "Cannot Say" scale 30 omitted items
  invalidates test
• L Scale Lie scale - not willing to admit even
  minor shortcomings.
• F Scale - detect atypical ways of responding to
  test items.  
• K Scale detect subtle attempts at denying
  psychopathology or, conversely, at exaggerating
  psychopathology overall defensiveness

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Scott Kaiser, 1999
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Kaiser Othmer, 199?
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Substance Abuse Study OutcomeWilliam Scott,
Thomas Brod, MD, Stephen Siderof Ph.D.,
David Kaiser, Ph.D.,
Meredith Sagan, MD. (2002)

• Crack, Cocaine, Methamphetamine, Heroin
• All participants in 12-step inpatient program
• Control group n61
• Experimental group n60
• 40-session EEG biofeedback added to 12 step
  program
• Compared abstinence rates, psychometric measures
• UCLA HSPC approved the study design
• 12 month post study (those who completed)
• 36 of 47 experimental subjects were abstinent
• 12 of 27 control subjects were abstinent
• Experimental subjects stayed in treatment
  significantly longer (plt 0.005) compared to the
  control group
• This confirmed and extended earlier studies

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Royal Conservatory of MusicImprovement in
Musical Performance

• Dr. John Gruzelier, Ph.D, Tobias Egner, Ph.D.
  Department of Cognitive Neuroscience and
  Behavior, Imperial College, London, 2003,
  Neuroreport.
• Subjects top music students
• Goal could training show measurable improvement
  in performance
• 15 minute musical performance assessed prior and
  subsequent to training.
• Performances were video-recorded, randomized and
  rated by expert musicians external to the Royal
  College of Music.
• Six groups created each with different
  training
• Alexander Technique 2) Mental skills 3) Beta NF
  
• 4) SMR NF 5) Alpha-Theta NF 6) Exercise

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Alpha-Theta neurofeedback group had significant
change in musical improvements
Overall Quality ( 14.4 , p .06) Musical
Understanding ( 16.4 , p lt .01) Stylistic
Accuracy ( 13.5 , p lt .01) Interpretative
Imagination ( 17 , p lt .01)
Study since replicated