Children with ADHD Can Benefit from Brain Wave Training

A year of counseling and medication relieved some symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among a group of children with the disorder, but only children receiving additional electroencephalographic (EEG) biofeedback therapy maintained these gains after stopping medication, according to the results of a study reported in Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback.

Half of the 100 children (aged 6 to 19 years) in the study received EEG biofeedback therapy, a treatment in which individuals are taught to retrain electrical activity in their brains. The biofeedback group also experienced significant changes in the brain wave patterns associated with ADHD, according to study coauthor Vincent J. Monastra, PhD.