In military personnel, a noninvasive brainwave mirroring technology significantly reduced symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

‘After the use of an intervention for veterans with ongoing symptoms of post-traumatic stress, study reported improvement in heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity.’

“Ongoing symptoms of post-traumatic stress, whether clinically diagnosed or not, are a pervasive problem in the military,” said the study’s principal investigator, Charles H. Tegeler, M.D., professor of neurology at Wake Forest School of Medicine, a part of Wake Forest Baptist. 




“Medications are often used to help control specific symptoms, but can produce side effects. Other treatments may not be well tolerated, and few show a benefit for the associated sleep disturbance. Additional noninvasive, non-drug therapies are needed.”
Symptoms can include insomnia, poor concentration, sadness, re-experiencing traumatic events, irritability or hyper-alertness, as well as diminished autonomic cardiovascular regulation.
The neurotechnology used in this study – High-resolution, relational, resonance-based, electroencephalic mirroring (HIRREM) – is a noninvasive, closed-loop, acoustic stimulation approach, in which computer software algorithms translate specific brain frequencies into audible tones in real time.
Figuratively speaking, this provides a chance for the brain to listen to itself through an acoustic mirror, Tegeler said. Likely through resonance between brain frequencies and the acoustic stimulation, the brain is supported to make self-adjustments towards improved balance and reduced hyperarousal, with no conscious, cognitive activity required. The net effect is to support the brain to reset stress response patterns that have been rewired by repetitive traumatic events, physical or nonphysical.
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In this single-site study, 18 service members or recent veterans, who experienced symptoms over one to 25 years, received an average of 19½ HIRREM sessions over 12 days. Symptom data were collected before and after the study sessions, and follow-up online interviews were conducted at one-, three- and six-month intervals. In addition, heart rate and blood pressure readings were recorded after the first and second visits to analyze downstream autonomic balance with heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity.
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“This study is also the first to report improvement in heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity – physiological responses to stress – after the use of an intervention for service members or veterans with ongoing symptoms of post-traumatic stress.”
Limitations of the study include the small number of participants and the absence of a control group. It also was an open-label project, meaning that both researchers and participants knew what treatment was being administered.
The study was supported through the Joint Capability Technology Demonstration Program within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, as well as through a grant from The Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation, Inc. to the Department of Neurology at Wake Forest Baptist. More information about this research program can be found at www.wakehealth.edu/HIRREM.
Co-authors include: Jared F. Cook, M.A., Catherine L. Tegeler, B.S., Hossam A. Shaltout, Ph.D., Sean L. Simpson, Ph.D., of Wake Forest Baptist; and Lee Gerdes and Sung W. Lee, M.D., of Brain State Technologies.
Source-Newswise