Alpha Waves 1990
Debra Necochea
I had an interesting conversation with a friend this week about men. More specifically, fictional men, and what we really want in a made up male character. Now, those of you who are regular readers of this blog will know that I have a bit of a fascination for romantic heroes, but this conversation got me thinking about just how that character has evolved over the past few years.
Any reader of romantic fiction will know that the archetypal romantic hero has to be Mr Darcy. Although Jane Austen never explicitly physically describes him, and, arguably, the BBC has a lot to answer for in casting Colin Firth in the role in the 1990s, the idea of a strong, tall, physically capable alpha male with his own money and a passionate heart seems to endure.
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In addition to nausea and vomiting, motion sickness involves slowing of brain waves, loss of performance, inhibition of gastric motility and the Sopite Syndrome. The therapeutic effects of antimotion sickness drugs on these reactions were evaluated. The subjects were rotated to the M-III end-point of motion sickness. Intramuscular (IM) medications were then administered. Side effects before and after rotation were reported on the Cornell Medical Index. Brain waves were recorded on a Grass Model 6 Electroencephalograph (EEG), and gastric emptying was studied after an oral dose of 1 mCi Technetium 99m DTPA in 10 oz. isotonic saline. An increase in dizziness and drowsiness was reported with placebo after rotation. This was not prevented by IM scopolamine 0.1 mg or ephedrine 25 mg. EEG recordings indicated a slowing of alpha waves with some thea and delta waves from the frontal areas after rotation. IM ephedrine and dimenhydrinate counteracted the slowing while 0.3 mg scopolamine had an additive effect. Alterations of performance on the pursuit meter correlated with the brain wave changes. Gastric emptying was restored by IM metoclopramide. Ephedrine IM but not scopolamine is effective for some of the secondary effects of motion sickness after it is established.
Electroencephalographic (EEG) biofeedback has been in use since the early 1970's for treatment of anxiety disorders and a variety of psychosomatic disorders. Early work conducted by researchers such as Kamiya and Kliterman focused on alpha wave biofeedback (Kamyi & Noles, 1970). Much of this initial research associated changes in EEG state with different states of consciousness (Basmajian, 1989). Researchers learned that certain tasks, such as mental arithmetic, reduce or suppress alpha wave production. Furthermore, researchers found that these changes in brain activity were positively correlated with changes in electromyographic (EMG) activity and skin temperature. This finding was significant in that it suggested that brainwave activity could be operantly conditioned in the same manner as EMG or temperature. Alpha waves are smooth, high amplitude waves in frequency range of 9-13 Hertz (Hz). Alpha wave biofeedback was explored by some researchers, as a treatment adjunct for alcohol abuse (Passini, Watson, and Dehnel, 1977). There were two theoretical rationales: first, investigators had reported that EEGs of alcoholics were "deficient in alpha rhythms and alcohol use induced more alpha wave activity (Pollock, Volavka, Goodwin, et al., 1983). Clinicians speculated that alcoholics might drink less if they could be taught to produce more alpha waves (Jones & Holmes, 1976). Secondly, many alcoholics and other drug abusers reported using alcohol or other drugs to relax. Thus, biofeedback training was proposed as a way teach alcoholics an alternative to using alcohol to relax. Alpha training did not, however, appear to be of benefit to most alcohol abusers because they were unable to learn to increase their production of alpha waves.
Several studies have investigated the effects of alpha biofeedback training in the treatment of alcoholism (Passini et al., 1977; Watson et al.,1978). The theoretical rationale for the use of relaxation procedures has usually included two assumptions: (a) that substance abuse is caused or exacerbated by stress and anxiety, and (b) that relaxation training is effective because it reduces anxiety and increases an individual's sense of perceived control over stressful situations (KIajaer et al., 1984). Results indicate that alpha training reduces chronic anxiety and does appear to have some long range therapeutic effects on anxiety levels. However, even though there has been some evidence of positive findings attributable to the use of these relaxation techniques, many of the studies involved poor methodology and results are equivocal at best.
Interest in the combination of alpha-theta training evolved from investigation of sleep and creativity (Budzynski, 1973). One earlier study found that, as individuals became drowsy, their brain waves commonly changed from high-amplitude alpha to low-amplitude theta (Vogel, Foulkes, & Trosman, 1966). During the transition, some individuals experienced a hypnogogic state in which they had vivid visual imagery and auditory and visual hallucinations. Investigators studying creative individuals noted that when their subjects were in a state of "reverie," they produced increased amounts of 6-8.5 Hertz (Hz) activity (Green, Green & Walters, 1970). In an effort to facilitate production of the reverie state and hypnogogic imagery, the investigators developed an alpha-theta biofeedback system that provided information to the subject about both alpha and theta production. As memory for the content of images in the hypnogogic state is often poor, subjects were asked to verbalize the imagery. The investigators thought that the production of the alpha-theta twilight state "should prove to be a powerful technique for the study creativity enhancement in particular, and the hypnagogic state, in general." They suggested the possibility of using the alpha-theta state for psychotherapy (Budzynski, 1973).
Alpha brainwaves are smooth, high-voltage brainwaves in the frequency range of 9-13 Hertz. Some research suggests that alpha brainwaves are associated with a subjective state of relaxed alertness or tranquillity (Brown, 1970; Stoyva and Kamiya, 1968) while other research suggests that alpha brainwaves are not associated with any particular subjective physiological state (Walsh, 1973).
The theta rhythm state is defined as a dominance for 4-7 Hertz brainwaves. Transient elevation of theta occur during Zen meditation (Kassamatsu & Hirai, 1969) or while entering the early stages of sleep and are reported to be associated with vivid visualization, imagery and dream-like states. The origin of theta waves is predominately the hippocampus (Michel et al., 1991), although theta activity can be recorded throughout the cortex and cerebellum (Green, Green & Walters, 1971).
In the late 1980's, the advances in digital processing technology gave clinicians and researchers biofeedback equipment that significantly improved the quality of EEG neurofeedback signal compared with that previously available using analog filters. The availability of high-speed desktop computers opened new possibilities for neurofeedback training and research. New neurofeedback equipment incorporated high-speed analog-to-digital converters and computers for data logging and the creation of data displays using fast-fourier transforms. In addition, some neurofeedback equipment could now automate data logging and session statistics.
It was during the late 1980s and early 1990's that Peniston and Kulkosky developed an innovative therapeutic EEG alpha-theta neurofeedback protocol (Peniston & Kulkosky, 1989, 1995) for the treatment of alcoholism and prevention of its relapse. The Peniston/Kulkosky brainwave neurofeedback therapeutic protocol combined systematic desensitization, temperature biofeedback, guided imagery, constructed visualizations, rhythmic breathing, and autogenic training incorporating alpha-theta (3-7 Hz) brainwave neurofeedback therapy (Blankenship, 1996; Peniston & Kulkosky, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992; Saxby & Peniston, 1995). These investigations prompted a reexamination of EEG neurofeedback as a treatment modality for alcohol abuse. Successful outcome results included a) increased alpha and theta brainwave production; b) normalized personality measures; c) prevention of increases in beta-endorphin levels; and d) prolonged prevention of relapse. These findings were shown to be significant for experimental subjects who were compared with traditionally treated alcoholic subjects and non-alcoholic control subjects. Subjects in several studies were chronic alcoholic male veterans, some of whom also suffered from combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder. For many subjects, pharmacological treatment was not generally beneficial. Data suggested that alpha-theta brainwave neurofeedback training appeared to have potential for decreasing alcohol craving and relapse prevention.
Consider the following experiment that examined the Peniston/Kulkosky EEG alpha-theta neurofeedback protocol with a sample of chronic alcoholics. There were three interventions utilized with this group of subjects including: (a) alcoholic alpha-theta brainwave neurofeedback therapy (PKBWNT), (b) traditional psychotherapy, and (c) non-alcoholic control group. Subjects were age matched and evaluated for alcoholic history, number of prior hospitalizations, IQ, and socioeconomic status. Before and after treatment subjects were given the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI), and the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (I6PF). Subjects were also tested for EEG characteristics and serum radioimmunoactive beta-endorphin levels. This investigation showed enhanced percentages of alpha and theta waves in the EEGs of the PKBWNT group after treatment compared to pretreatment status. The control group showed no such increase. Alcoholic subjects receiving PKBWNT also showed a gradual increase in alpha and theta brain rhythms as the thirty experimental sessions progressed. The increase in alpha and theta activity were desirable outcomes of this study. The theta increase may have made the visualization experiences (which were part of the training and discussed at the end of each training session) easier to access and more effectively integrated and processed. It was concluded that alpha training may promote a more relaxed state and lead to better perceived control of stress; this may, subsequently, decrease the occurrences of stress-related drinking or stress-related craving in the recovery phase. The PKBWNT group had shown sharp reductions in self-assessed depression (BDI) and sustained abstinence with significantly less relapse episodes (2/10) than the traditional therapy group (8/10) in a 36-month follow-up study. The traditional therapy group showed a significant elevation in serum beta-endorphin levels at the end of treatment compared to their own pretreatment levels as well as the repeated measurement levels of the non-alcoholic control group. (The beta-endorphins are stress-related hormones and are elevated during the experience of physical or emotional stress. Successful treatment would stabilize beta-endorphin levels, so that stress-related increases would be less likely to occur.) Since elevations in serum beta-endorphin levels are associated with stress, their elevation in the traditional therapy group may indicate that this group is experiencing the stress associated with abstinence and fear of relapse. It is interesting that the PKBWNT group did not show an increase in this stress hormone after treatment, but instead showed a stabilization (Peniston & Kulkosky, 1989). On the MCMI and l6PF, prior to treatment, both groups of alcoholics showed significantly higher scores (in the pathological ranges) than non-alcoholics on most of the clinical scales and characteristic scales. Administration of PKBWNT was accompanied by significant decreases in all of the MCMI clinical scales (i.e., within normal limits) and normalization on the 16 PF characteristic scales. Alcoholics receiving traditional therapy showed significant decreases only in two MCMI scales (avoidant and psychotic thinking) and an increase on one MCMI scale (compulsive), and showed only a significant increase on the l6PF in concrete thinking (Peniston & Kulkosky, 1990). Evidence corroborating some of the findings from the aforementioned experiment come from the work of Fahrion (Fahrion et al., 1992).
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