Why You Should Use qEEG Translational Imaging
The problem…
After over a decade of reading thousands of quantitative EEG (qEEG) maps, I found that some patients would present at our clinic with qEEG reports that were virtually unusable, hard to read and, of course, hard to interpret. Patients were coming to us with data that they hoped would help us better understand their clinical profile and hence make more informed decisions when it came to developing appropriately targeted intervention protocols. However, many of the reports we received offered little or no insight into their symptoms and often lacked important details.
The solution…
Already pioneers in the field of Integrative Psychiatry, we have set out to dramatically change how qEEG is used. For example, in line with recent observations [1], our team began to identify in some of our clients qEEG patterns that remained almost unchanged after standard psychiatric treatments and decided to instead experiment with broad-spectrum micronutrient formulations, as suggested by recent research studies [2].
We quickly began to understand why some medications and treatments fail to induce the desired clinical outcomes and, as our clients began to respond to less obvious treatments, we started to gather more data on their unique qEEG patterns. This has gradually encouraged providers to routinely use qEEG maps to reach more informed diagnoses and to devise more targeted interventions for their patients.
The future…
In 2021, these data breathed life into our now available qEEG+ report, utilized already in medical centers, schools, athletics departments, and by parents all over the world.
With a simple in-office test, you too could provide this high level of individualized care to your patients and clients. The data is easily collected in your office, then virtually sent to one of our certified qEEG analysts and then translated in a comprehensive report that can be presented as part of a complete treatment plan for individuals seeking solutions.
All of this without the need to travel to distant centers, expose oneself to potentially harmful tracers or dyes, without the need for medication washout, and in a very cost-effective manner.
While we appreciate that the qEEG approach is relatively new and not entirely without flaws [3], we also recognize that we cannot wait for the perfect system to begin to serve those in need. We believe that the key is combining the framework of qEEG mapping along with other objectively and reliably measured biomarkers, to dramatically reduce bias during the diagnostic process and consequently formulate more targeted interventions plans.
In partnership…
Unlike other EEG reporting services, we champion your success. Therefore, if you partner with Axon EEG Solutions ™, not only will you get access to our unique qEEG reporting service but you will also receive ongoing educational support. On a regular basis, you will get access to priceless informational material from our medical advisory staff that you will be able to use for your own personal education or share with your patients. Head over to our resource page for more information or book an introductory consult with us and we will discuss with you how this is possible.
A deeper insight into symptoms, better treatment outcomes and less adverse effects
It is hard to believe that psychiatry is the only medical specialty that doesn’t routinely test the organ it treats. Also, treatment planning in psychiatry is still an art based on trial and error and, while psychiatric interventions perform reasonably well is some patients they can also have little or no impact in others and in some cases, even worsen their clinical profile inducing highly problematic side effects [4]. Thus, we urgently need tools that can help us match individual patients with the most effective treatments, while minimizing the risk of adverse events.
At Axon EEG Solutions ™, we offer years of expertise in qEEG reporting to provide mental health professionals with clear, objective, and easy to understand data that they can use to gain deeper insight into the patient’s symptoms and to more confidently devise treatment plans.
Who can Benefit from our qEEG Translational Neuroimaging?
Primary Care Providers
Primary care is the first contact for patients looking for qualified medical assistance and it is key in a community for preventing or treating common illnesses and disabilities. Using qEEG assessments in first contact mental health patients could contribute to improving treatment outcome simply by recruiting the right specialists as soon the first symptoms are presented.
Psychiatrists
Each year, the health and wellbeing of a high number of patients with mental illness is compromised due to ineffective treatments. A key reason for this is the lack of biomarkers that can help clinicians predict treatment outcomes, which most often makes the “trial and error” approach the only choice.
There is common agreement among mental health professionals that objectively measured data are needed to assist them in making more informed assessments and, most importantly, in choosing the most appropriate treatments for individual clinical profiles. Electroencephalogram data combined with information on treatment outcomes may be a relatively easy to implement and cost-effective solution [5].
Relationship Therapists
Investigating brain activity could offer valuable information to guide relationship therapy and qEEG is a relatively inexpensive method to provide quantifiable measures of behavioral change in the effort to alleviate the social and physical challenges that may be associated with relationship distress [6].
Parents
Parents play a key role in their children’s development [7] and mounting evidence suggests that parenting styles can be transmitted from generation to generation [8-10]. Recent studies demonstrate a link between parenting practices and potential changes in neural interconnections, providing a deeper understanding of how parenting may impact brain activity at a neurobiological level [11].
In this context, qEEG may represent an affordable resource to detect brain activity changes throughout the child’s development, providing parents with important feedback on the current neurological state of their children.
Addiction Centers
Acute and chronic drug abuse have been shown to result in significant changes of brain activity that can be detected using quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) methods. Studies also indicate that qEGG can detect alcohol abuse-related cognitive slowing [12], neurotransmitter imbalance [13] and psychological recovery in individuals prohibited from drinking. Importantly, qEEG can predict relapse in patients with chronic alcoholism [12], which may support its use to inform early interventions.
Schools
Studies indicate that higher academic performance correlates with specific EEG frequencies [14] and that the qEEG method can be employed to measure the effects of targeted learning programs [15].
Also, it is known that the suboptimal use of cognitive resources may underlie some learning difficulties and behavioral problems related to impulsivity, difficulties in concentration, and hyperactivity [16]. In this regard, the regular use of qEEG in academic contexts might also offer the opportunity for an early detection of behavioral disturbances, which overall would impact wellbeing in the general population.
Athletic peak performance
For decades, sport psychologists have spent considerable effort in understanding skill acquisition processes, with the goal of developing peak performance programs for professional athletes.
For example, anxiety during competition can be debilitating to performance [17] and the development of coping strategies to manage it while under pressure has attracted the attention of researchers [18]. In this context, there is evidence that specific EEG frequencies can predict resilience under stress [19] and studies with elite athletes have identified specific neural efficiency patterns that have been demonstrated to reflect improved performance [20, 21].
Life Coaching
In recent years, life coaching has become extremely popular in the corporate world and also among entrepreneurs. Research suggests that motivation is key element to successful training and coaching programs. Interestingly, a number of studies found that specific EEG oscillations are associated with motivation processes through ‘wanting’ (the desire to attain a reward) and ‘liking’ (the hedonic feeling of sensory pleasure) mechanisms [22].
Meditation Centers
In recent years, meditation and relaxation techniques have become very practical means of increasing resilience and maintaining wellbeing. Several EEG studies have reported changes in specific frequency bands [23], and connectivity [24] in the brain during meditation, with particular involvement of regions that monitor and regulate emotion, attention, and autonomic bodily functions [25, 26].
Individual therapy
Region and frequency specific predictable EEG changes have been found after psychotherapy [27], suggesting that qEEG mapping could be a valuable resource to both guide and monitor interventions, and potentially reach treatment outcomes in less sessions.
Nutritional Therapists
Several EEG studies where the effects of food interventions were measured at rest demonstrate the link between diet and frequency/region specific EEG changes in infants, children and adults, with findings suggesting beneficial effects on neuronal plasticity and synaptogenesis [28]. Importantly, mounting research has also established the important role of the gut microbiota in the pathophysiology of neurological disorders, suggesting that its manipulation might serve as a treatment strategy and that EEG can offer valuable insights before, during and after interventions [29-31].
References
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