Case Study: Schizoaffective Disorder
Case A
This study involved a fifty-four year old female who had previously suffered three psychotic episodes with subsequent hospitalizations. The woman had not experienced any major psychosis for over ten years but complained of frequent migraines headaches, on-going residual low-level auditory hallucinations, a lack of motivation with some depression, an inability to concentrate and postmenopausal hot flashes. She was a self-employed artist and was hoping to increase her work output and experience silence during meditation.
After her first Neurofeedback session the woman reported feeling “very focused” and peaceful. Shortly into treatment she reported her daughter had remarked that she was “much less reactive” then in the past. Thereafter the woman reported her headaches had subsided almost entirely. She reported feeling “happier” then she had felt in a long time, for no particular reason. As treatments continued she reported being able to concentrate better, and that her hot flashes were shorter lasting. Midway through treatment she reported that her work output had greatly improved, and that her “creativity and motivation is very good". Shortly before discharge she reported a sudden and startling awareness of “silence”, and the auditory disturbances seemed to have ceased.
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Case B
This case involved a thirty-seven year old male who had multiple hospitalizations starting around his twenty-eighth birthday. He suffered from sleep disturbances, intermittent low-level sensate and/or visual hallucinations, complained of a metallic taste in his mouth, and struggled with paranoid thoughts. Prescribed anti-psychotic medications were helpful but he sometimes lapsed into phases of non-compliance, followed by emergency hospitalizations. The man complained of intense headaches and aching muscles, extreme irritability and ongoing depression.
After receiving a Neurofeedback treatment the man reported feeling “settled” and that his nerves felt “soothed”. The headache he had come with was “almost gone”. After more treatments the man reported an improved quality of sleep. Shortly thereafter he complained of a sudden increase in irritability and some paranoia after “forgetting” to take his evening dose of medication. Thereafter he was compliant and after receiving more treatments he reported feeling “calmer by the day”. As treatments progressed the man reported he thought he was having fewer incidents of paranoia and was feeling more hopeful. Thereafter he was surprised to realize he had not noticed the “metallic taste for a while”. Mid-way through treatment he reported his muscles were “much more relaxed”. His improved quality of sleep endured, and he reported fewer incidents of extra-sensory disturbances. At discharge he reported feeling “the kind of hopefullness I had as a kid”.
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