QANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE EFFICACY OF TREATMENT WITH NEUROFEEDBACK METHOD IN PATIENTS WITH AFFECTIVE DISORDERS

Introduction: Depression affects approximately 300 million people globally, with about 5% of adults experiencing an episode each year, making it a major public health concern. The main goal of this study was to measure the effectiveness of the combined treatment of the neurofeedback method and antidepressants in the treatment of patients diagnosed with affective disorder. Results: The study revealed a significant reduction in depressive symptoms in the SG compared to the CG. At baseline, both groups had similar BDI scores (18.88±5.8 in SG vs. 21.0±8.7 in CG; p=0.15). However, by the second follow-up, the SG exhibited a statistically significant improvement (BDI: 16.80±5.7 vs. 20.56±8.8; p=0.013), pointing towards a 11.02% score reduction in the SG compared to a 2.09% in the CG. This trend continued throughout the study, with the final assessment showing a mean BDI score of 13.14±5.9 in the SG versus 19.58±8.2 in the CG (p=0.00002). As for the CGI scale, a greater reduction in the total CGI scale score was recorded at the second assessment in the SG (12.15%), compared to the CG (2.46%), confirming the faster treatment response with the combined treatment approach. The CGI scores indicated greater clinical improvement in the SG, with a mean CGI score of 7.34±2.4 compared to 9.54±2.5 in the CG (p=0.000016) at the final assessment. Conclusion: The combined treatment encompassing neurofeedback training and antidepressant therapy demonstrated superior efficacy in reducing depressive symptoms compared to antidepressant monotherapy.