A Randomized Controlled Study of Neurofeedback for Chronic PTSD.
Neurofeedback participants showed greater improvements in PTSD symptoms than the waitlist group. A larger blinded trial would help establish how much benefit came from the training itself.
van der Kolk BA, Hodgdon H, Gapen M, Musicaro R, Suvak MK, Hamlin E, Spinazzola J.
PloS one · Publication date: 2016-12-16
Added to site: 2026-09-09
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0166752
Publication date recorded by Europe PMC; online and issue dates may differ.
- Modalities
- Neurofeedback
- Clinical focus
- PTSD
- Population
- Adults with chronic PTSD
- Sample
- 52 randomized; 44 completed
- Intervention / method
- 24 sessions over 12 weeks, with individualized EEG frequency training
- Comparator
- Waitlist with treatment as usual
Clinician summary
The trial found improvements in PTSD severity and affect regulation. Its waitlist design did not control for treatment attention or expectancy.
How to interpret the findings
Small sample and one-month follow-up. One participant stopped neurofeedback because of increased flashbacks.
Equipment and disclosures
The full text identifies EEGer and a ProComp2 amplifier from Thought Technology.
The original publication declares no competing interests.
A correction published April 24, 2019 replaced an incorrect Figure 2 showing PTSD symptom severity.
Read the correction ↗Related evidence
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