Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (CES) to relieve anxiety / stress
CES to relieve anxiety / stress
* IMPORTANT * - Re:SOTA instruments
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CES improves both state and trait anxiety:
• State anxiety is situational.
E.g. stress from undergoing a dental procedure.
• Trait anxiety is more engrained in the personality.
Many drugs only work while they are being taken, but CES has demonstrated
excellent long-term effects on trait anxiety.
CES has consistently demonstrated reductions in
anxiety. In studies that have used 27 different
psychometric (pencil and paper) tests including the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory and the State/Trait Anxiety Inventory.
Slowing of brain waves and respiration rate, as
well as reduction in blood pressure. These are all
physical signs of stress reduction that have been documented with CES treatment
in studies that have measured the physiological manifestations of anxiety before
and after CES treatment.
Chronic Stress Symptoms.
One placebo-controlled studyevaluated the effects of CES treatment
in 20 individuals with chronic stress symptoms of at least a year's duration.
All of them had failed to respond to medicatio n.
Muscle tension, heart rate and finger temperature were measured BEFORE ,
IMMEDIATELY AFTER , and 1 WEEK FOLLOWING a single 20 minute CES
treatment (Heffernan, 1995)
:
Immediately after treatment. Muscle tension and heart rate decreased and finger
temperature increased in those receiving active CES treatment but not in the placebo
(sham CES) group.
One week after treatment. Those who had received active CES treatment still had significantly
reduced muscle tension and heart rate ! This is one of the many
advantages of CES over medications. Medications only work as long as they are taken,
whereas the effects of CES are cumulative and lasting .
The long-term benefits of CES were demonstrated
in another study. Study examined the effects
of CES on individuals with stress related attentiondeficit disorder (8 out of 23
subjects had a primary diagnosis of attentionDeficit Disorder). CES treatments
of 45 minutes duration were given daily for 3 weeks. The treatments resulted in
reductions in anxiety and depression and improvement in IQ. 18 to 20 months after
treatment, CES benefits were still retained, as demonstrated by maintenance or improvement
of IQ scores! (Ray, 1999 )
Graphic representation of studies showing effects of CES on anxiety
References
Heffernan, Michael. (1995) The
Effect of a Single Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation on Multiple Stress Measures. The
Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, 147:60-64. Presented at the
Eighth International Montreux Congress on Stress, Montreux Switzerland, February
1996 and Patients. pdf
Smith, Ray B. (1999) Cranial
electrotherapy stimulation in the treatment of stress related cognitive dysfunction,
with an eighteen month follow up. Journal of Cognitive Rehabilitation,
17(6):14-18. pdf