Application of a Biofeedback Method in the Treatment of Depression

With the aim of systematizing scientific data in the current Russian and foreign literature on the efficacy of biofeedback (BF) in the treatment of patients with depressive disorders and the clinical efficacy and prospects for use of BF in psychiatric practice, the MEDLINE/PubMed and eLibrary databases were searched with the keywords “biofeedback,” “depression,” “therapy for depression,” “electroencephalogram,” and “non-drug methods for treating depression” and scientific publications from 2013 to 2023 were analyzed along with relevant references cited in the articles analyzed. The BF method has definite therapeutic potential for the treatment of depression. The method can be used to augment therapy when therapeutic effects are insufficient, when patient compliance is low, when tolerance of psychopharmacotherapy is poor, and when residual symptoms are present after pharmacological treatment. The method provides correction of psychoemotional state, improves the balance between the parasympathetic and sympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system, and contributes to a more sustainable clinical effect. At the same time, further studies are needed with larger patient cohorts from a variety of nosological groups and with analysis of the comparability of the effects of different BF protocols.