title: Neurofeedback and its possible relevance for the treatment of Tourette syndrome.
abstract: Neurofeedback is an increasingly recognized therapeutic option in various neuropsychiatric disorders to treat dysfunctions in cognitive control as well as disorder-specific symptoms. In this review we propose that neurofeedback may also reflect a valuable therapeutic option to treat executive control functions in Gilles-de-la-Tourette syndrome (GTS). Deficits in executive control functions when ADHD symptoms appear in GTS likely reflect pathophysiological processes in cortico-thalamic-striatal circuits and may also underlie the motor symptoms in GTS. Such executive control deficits evident in comorbid GTS/ADHD depend on neurophysiological processes well-known to be modifiable by neurofeedback. However, so far efforts to use neurofeedback to treat cognitive dysfunctions are scarce. We outline why neurofeedback should be considered a promising treatment option, what forms of neurofeedback may prove to be most effective and how neurofeedback may be implemented in existing intervention strategies to treat comorbid GTS/ADHD and associated dysfunctions in cognitive control. As cognitive control deficits in GTS mostly appear in comorbid GTS/ADHD, neurofeedback may be most useful in this frequent combination of disorders.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine of the TU Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Aniko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Farkas
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine of the TU Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Annet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bluschke
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine of the TU Dresden, Germany.
authors.forename: Veit
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Roessner
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine of the TU Dresden, Germany. Electronic address: christian.beste@uniklinikum-dresden.de.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Beste
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D058765:Neurofeedback / Q000379:methods*; D005879:Tourette Syndrome / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: Basal ganglia; Cognitive control; Neural oscillations; Neurofeedback; Tourette syndrome