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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2020 Aug 23;34(10):1408-1415.
doi: 10.1080/02699052.2020.1802781. Epub 2020 Aug 12.

Comparing focused attention meditation to meditation with mobile neurofeedback for persistent symptoms after mild-moderate traumatic brain injury: a pilot study

Ginger Polich  1 , Sarah Gray  1 , Duc Tran  2 , Leon Morales-Quezada  1 , Mel Glenn  1
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Comparing focused attention meditation to meditation with mobile neurofeedback for persistent symptoms after mild-moderate traumatic brain injury: a pilot study

Ginger Polich et al. Brain Inj. .

Abstract

Primary objective: This study evaluated whether a meditation practice incorporating mobile neurofeedback (mNF) offers any advantage over a more traditional form of focused attention (FA) meditation in managing persistent symptoms after traumatic brain injury (TBI) (clinicaltrials.gov NCT02615535).

Research design: Pilot randomized clinical trial, exploring feasibility of mNF in TBI.

Methods and procedures: Participants included adults with chronic mood and/or cognitive complaints following mild-moderate TBI. Subjects practiced either FA (n = 10) or mNF (n = 10) meditation 12 minutes daily for 6 weeks. Pre-post intervention difference on the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI) was the primary outcome variable. Secondary outcomes included the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), amongst other scales and neurocognitive tests.

Main outcomes and results: No significant pre-post between-group differences were found on the NSI (p = .838) nor other assessments. In an exploratory analysis combining FA and mNF data, meditation was associated with significant improvements on the NSI (p = .04), BAI (p = .012) and BDI (p = .037).

Conclusions: Meditating with neurofeedback does not appear to provide an advantage over meditating on one's own for chronic post-TBI symptoms. Further research on home-based meditation following TBI, whether self-directed or technologically facilitated, is warranted.

Keywords: Traumatic brain injury; anxiety; depression; meditation; neurofeedback.

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