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Objective: The aim of this systematic review is to look into the published studies that reported effectiveness of non-pharmacological neurofeedback interventions in patients with alcohol dependence.
Data sources: PubMed, Google Scholar, The Cochrane Library, Science Direct and Clinicaltrial. gov were searched until April 04, 2022. 20 research articles (including 618 participants) were retrieved and included for qualitative analysis. The sample size ranged from one (case report) to eighty, with years of publication ranging from 1977 to 2022.
Study selection: Original articles of any design reporting on the use of neurofeedback approaches in the treatment of alcohol addiction were included.
Data extraction: Information related to study design, participants, control group, neuromodulation therapy, number of sessions and key findings of study were extracted.
Results: Out of the 20 studies included, 8 (40%) had a moderate risk of bias, while the other i.e., 60% had a low risk of bias. The effectiveness of various neurological treatments in the treatment of alcohol dependence was established in these 20 studies. There have been 11 studies on EEG neurofeedback training, three studies on real-time FMRI neurofeedback, two studies each on transcranial direct current stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation and one study each on deep brain stimulation and theta burst stimulation.
Conclusion: The use of various neuromodulation approaches to the treatment of alcohol use disorder shows promise. However, more research with a larger sample size is required.
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