Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Jul;18(3):352-361.
doi: 10.18502/ijps.v18i3.13014.

Effectiveness of Neurofeedback Training for Patients with Personality Disorders: A Systematic Review

Liudmila Babaskina  1 , Natalia Afanasyeva  1 , Marta Semyonkina  1 , Olivia Myasnyankina  1 , Natalia Sushko  2
Affiliations
Review

Effectiveness of Neurofeedback Training for Patients with Personality Disorders: A Systematic Review

Liudmila Babaskina et al. Iran J Psychiatry. 2023 Jul.

Abstract

Objective: Personality disorders are serious psychiatric conditions, and some studies have examined neurofeedback training as a potential alternative treatment to improve cognitive and clinical symptoms in patients with such disorders. Here, we aimed to provide a first systematic review of such trials and present existing evidence regarding this treatment for individuals with personality disorders. Method : A systematic search of peer-reviewed English journal articles was conducted for this study to identify original studies on fMRI and EEG neurofeedback treatment protocols in patients with personality disorders up to January 2023. PubMed, Web of Science, ProQuest, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar databases were queried through the keywords "neurofeedback," "biofeedback," and "personality disorder," as well as their related Mesh synonyms. Results: Totally, five studies were included in our systematic review. Two studies utilized EEG neurofeedback protocols, while three articles used real-time fMRI neurofeedback protocols. The types of studies were non-randomized, not-blinded case reports, case series, and single-arm trials with a high risk of bias. EEG neurofeedback protocols applied more training sessions and reported improvements in patients' neuropsychological and behavioral functions after treatment. Furthermore, fMRI-based neurofeedback studies reported neurophysiological changes, such as a shift in vmPFC-amygdala connectivity, towards healthy states following treatment. Moreover, behavioral symptoms of patients were reported to be improved after fMRI neurofeedback. Conclusion: Neurofeedback studies investigating this therapeutic technique for personality disorders are still very preliminary, and no strict conclusions can be drawn at this time. Therefore, further basic and clinical investigations are required to address several open methodological and technical questions and establish consensus and standardization, which will eventually lead to translational works.

Keywords: Neurofeedback; Personality Disorders; Self-Regulation; Systematic Review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart and Process for Identifying, Screening, and Evaluating the Eligibility of Studies on Neurofeedback Treatment Protocols for Patients with Personality Disorders
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Zashchirinskaia O, Isagulova E. Childhood Trauma as a Risk Factor for High Risk Behaviors in Adolescents with Borderline Personality Disorder. Iran J Psychiatry. 2023;18(1):65–71. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Volkert J, Gablonski TC, Rabung S. Prevalence of personality disorders in the general adult population in Western countries: systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Psychiatry. 2018;213(6):709–15. - PubMed
    1. Winsper C, Bilgin A, Thompson A, Marwaha S, Chanen AM, Singh SP, et al. The prevalence of personality disorders in the community: a global systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Psychiatry. 2020;216(2):69–78. - PubMed
    1. Perrotta G. Borderline personality disorder: Definition, differential diagnosis, clinical contexts, and therapeutic approaches. Annals of Psychiatry and Treatment. 2020;4(1):043–56.
    1. Gazzillo F, Dazzi N, Kealy D, Cuomo R. Personalizing psychotherapy for personality disorders: Perspectives from control-mastery theory. Psychoanalytic Psychology. 2021;38(4):266.

LinkOut - more resources