Can Neurofeedback Decrease Anxiety and Fear in Cancer Patients? A Case Study

Introduction: Anxiety and depression are very widespread among cancer patients. The state of anxiety covers a wide range of symptoms connected to fear, restlessness and changes in the autonomy of the patient. Neurofeedback is a behavioral technique of operant learning, in which participants learn to effect the electric activity of their brain, through a dynamic process of visual and auditory feedback. This training seeks to change the frequency of subjects' electroencephalogram (EEG), something achieved by the majority of participants. Neurofeedback is a technique which has been successfully used in recent decades as a tool for treating a number of clinical cases. Amongst the clinical cases studied are autism, epilepsy, chronic pain, cases of major depression and also the effects of cancer upon different psychological parameters and the quality patients' lives. Pelvic cancer and its medical treatment seem to increase anxiety and depression, which affect patients' daily lives. Case study: In the case study, 20 sessions of Neurofeedback were applied to a patient with pelvic cancer and anxiety (state anxiety): the SCL-90 scale for the measurement of psychometric traits was applied before and after each session. Conclusion: Important improvements were noted to this patient on the above scales, issued during the sessions and within each session, before and after the intervention. (C) 2015 Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology. Published by Elsevier Sp. z o. o. All rights reserved.