EEG Shows Possibilities In Diagnosing And Treating Schizophrenia

November 1, 2014

Rayshell Clapper for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

As the Mayo Clinic defines, an electroencephalogram (EEG) test can determine changes in brain activity that may be useful in diagnosing brain disorders. An EEG does this by detecting electrical activity with small, flat metal electrodes attached to the scalp that measure the brains activity. Traditionally, EEG tests have been conducted to diagnose or treat the following:

Epilepsy Other seizure disorders Brain tumor Head injury Brain dysfunction from a variety of causes Inflammation of the brain Stroke Sleep disorders Dementia Brain death for one in a coma

But recent research based on two studies from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) has found that the EEG test may also play a role in studying, diagnosing and treating another disease, only this one is a mental health disease: schizophrenia.

The National Institute of Mental Health explains that one percent of the American population suffer from this illness. The UCSD studies look to support diagnosis of those who may be at-risk for developing mental illness later in life and measure different treatment options and their efficacies.

According to a statement from the UCSD researchers:

One of the studies, reported online Oct. 23 in Schizophrenia Research, shows that schizophrenia patients dont register subtle changes in reoccurring sounds as well as others and that this deficit can be measured by recording patterns of electrical brain activity obtained through electroencephalography (EEG).

The second, published online earlier this month in NeuroImage: Clinical, establishes a link between certain EEG tests and patients cognitive and psychosocial impairments, suggesting that the EEG test could be used to objectively measure the severity of a patients condition, and conversely that it might be possible to alleviate some of the symptoms of schizophrenia with specialized cognitive exercises designed to strengthen auditory processing.

The studies took participants and looked at their EEGs after auditory processing metrics. Of the 1,790 study participants, 824 did not suffer from schizophrenia while 966 did. In studying the almost 1,800 individuals, the researchers were able to analyze two auditory processing metrics. One of these, mismatch negativity, measures microvolts that show the difference in the brains response to expected streams of beeps and then to a discordant, different ping. The other auditory processing metric is called P3a and measures the electrical energy the brain emits as it shifts attentions to longer beeps.

Original post:
EEG Shows Possibilities In Diagnosing And Treating Schizophrenia