Original ArticleElectroencephalographic Alpha Measures Predict Therapeutic Response to a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor Antidepressant: Pre- and Post-Treatment Findings
Section snippets
Subjects
Outpatients between the ages of 20 and 56 attending a university-affiliated depression research clinic were included. Patients were excluded for any of the following reasons: serious suicide risk, seizure disorder, mental disorders secondary to a general medical condition, substance use disorders (including alcohol abuse) within the last 6 months, psychotic disorders, history of significant head trauma, or other neurologic disorder. All patients signed informed consent forms before
Pretreatment Session in Responders, Nonresponders, and Control Subjects
There was a difference in overall alpha power among groups [F(2,33) = 3.19, p = .05], with responders having significantly greater alpha when compared with control subjects (p = .02). The enhanced alpha in responders was most evident at posterior sites where alpha is typically largest (Figure 1). When separately examined at frontal, central, parietal, and occipital regions, the difference in alpha among groups was significant only at occipital sites [F(2,33) = 3.51, p = .04]. Responders had
Discussion
Patients who responded to fluoxetine had greater EEG alpha when compared with healthy control subjects, whereas nonresponders did not differ from control subjects. An excess of alpha has previously been reported for patients having an obsessive-compulsive disorder who responded to an SSRI (14) and in affectively disordered patients who responded to treatment with an antidepressant or secondary treatment with an anticonvulsant or lithium (13, 30). Early studies of resting EEG reported finding
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