No abstract

This investigation evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of alpha-wave biofeedback treatment for alcoholics. Twenty-five Ss were compared to a matched control group before and after administration of a 3-week alpha-wave biofeedback regimen on a wide variety of criteria that included State-Trait Anxiety, the MMPI, Multiple Affect Adjective Check List, Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale, Watson's Anhedonia Scale, the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, and baseline alpha. The experimental Ss received 10 hour-long alpha training sessions. The experimentals showed more improvement than did controls on alpha production and two anxiety measure. Contradictory results appeared on two suspicion/paranoia measures. Alpha training appeared useful in the treatment of anxiety, but not other problems. However, the absence of significant correlations between amount of change on alpha and the anxiety measures suggests that the improvement may be due to a placebo effect.

In an earlier study on patients with alcohol problems, an experimental group given 10 hour-long alpha biofeedback training sessions showed greater improvement on State and Trait Anxiety scores than did a control sample. In the present study an 18-month follow-up was done on those Ss. The differences between the experimentals and controls in State and Trait Anxiety after 18 months were essentially identical to the differences between them immediately after treatment, which indicates that alpha training had long-range therapeutic effects. A difference between the groups on the Alcohol Rehabilitation Followup Questionnaire also suggested that alpha training may have been associated with some reduction in alcohol consumption as well.

In an effort to identify, organize, and operationally define the philosophies that underlie Albert Ellis' self‐defeating beliefs, the authors factored an 11‐item irrational‐values self‐report instrument given to 190 psychiatric patients. Four factors emerged and were named to reflect the contents of their items–“I need to control a dangerous world,” “Self‐assertion is painful,” “I need affirmation.” and “I lack control over my fate”.

Assessed the utility of alpha biofeedback training in the treatment of psychiatric patients (N = 66). Biofeedback and placebo biofeedback groups were given alpha or mock-alpha training sessions, and their improvement on 54 variables was compared to that of no-treatment controls. Only a chance number of significant differential changes appeared among the three groups. A comparison of these negative results with an earlier study from our laboratory that had yielded positive findings suggested that clinical improvement in alpha biofeedback treatment may be the result of the relaxation training or special verbal instructions often incorporated into alpha training.