Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 11
EEG Signals in Psychiatry: Biomarkers for
Depression Management
Ian A. Cook, Aimee M. Hunter, Alexander Korb, Haleh Farahbod, and
Andrew F. Leuchter
Monitoring brain function with qEEG is the focus of much research on psychiatric
disorders. Because the fundamental, underlying neurobiological defects for major
depression and other common psychiatric disorders are incompletely understood,
most work continues to be descriptive, unlike the case for many neurological disor-
ders where theory and research evidence both support the migration of qEEG meth-
ods from research to clinical spheres. Nonetheless, a number of qEEG approaches
may be nearing readiness for clinical application in aiding treatment management
decisions in psychiatry, for example, in major depression, and this chapter focuses
on these methods. We also raise cautionary concerns about assessing the readiness
of new technologies for clinical use and suggest criteria that may be used to aid in
that assessment.
11.1
EEG in Psychiatry
11.1.1 Application of EEGs in Psychiatry: From Hans Berger to qEEG
Although brain electrical activity had been observed in animals as early as the 1870s
by the British scientist Richard Caton, it was not until the 1920s that the first human
EEG was recorded by the German psychiatrist and neuroanatomist Hans Berger, as
part of his quest for understanding “mental energy.” Electroencephalography was
embraced relatively rapidly for the study of neurological illnesses, with compelling
utility in several realms: the diagnosis of seizure disorders, the localization of brain
tumors before the advent of tomographic neuroimaging, the detection of brain dys-
function in delirium and dementia, and the determination of “brain death,” to name
a few. Despite the initial discovery by a psychiatrist, several decades elapsed before
the application of EEG methods to studying psychiatric illness gained acceptance,
and its use still remains controversial in some quarters.
Although computerized analysis of EEG signals was reported as early as the
1960s [1], qEEG via digital computer analysis methods did not become widespread
until the 1980s in conjunction with the declining costs of digital microcomputers.
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