Effectiveness of Neurofeedback Treatment on Empathy and Delusional Beliefs in Patients with Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder

Neurofeedback is defined as a type of biofeedback that helps subjects to self-control their brain waves. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of neurofeedback therapy on empathy and delusional beliefs in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
The present study had a semi-experimental design and used pre-tests and post-tests. A total of 30 patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, as diagnosed by a psychiatrist, were randomly assigned into two groups of 15 (schizophrenia: 3 women and 12 men; bipolar disorder: 4 men and 11 women). During 20 sessions, Patients were treated 3 times weekly with neurofeedback. Patients were evaluated before and after the intervention by the PDI-40 and empathy scale-33 questionnaires.
The results of 3-way ANOVA showed that the expressive empathy and emotional empathy subscales increased after treatment in schizophrenia and bipolar patients. Expressive and collaborative empathy in women with bipolar disorder was significantly lower than that of men. The findings of this study showed that the score of all variables of delusional beliefs in patients with schizophrenia, especially before treatment, were significantly higher than those with bipolar patients, but decreased significantly after receiving treatment. The findings also showed that the delusional beliefs in the bipolar group did not decrease significantly (P-value In both groups of patients, expressive and emotional empathy subscales were increased after the treatment with neurofeedback. Neurofeedback has a significant effect on the reduction of delusional beliefs in schizophrenic patients compared to bipolar patients and this method can be used to improve and reduce psychotic symptoms.