Recalibrating Pathological Brain Network Connectivity using Real-time fMRI Neurofeedback among Frontline Healthcare Workers with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, frontline healthcare workers have faced continuous exposure to highly intense and emotional situations, such as witnessing death and suffering. As a result, 1 in 4 Canadian healthcare workers are estimated to have developed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the pandemic. Further compounding this problem is that the treatments currently offered for PTSD are often ineffective for many patients and may leave up to 40% of healthcare workers with persistent symptoms. Addressing this treatment gap is an urgent societal need as there currently exists immense suffering among the many frontline healthcare workers who have selflessly served Canadians throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to this urgent societal need, a new technology-based approach to PTSD treatment called neurofeedback has emerged as a promising solution. Neurofeedback is a non-invasive brain-computer-interface that allows individuals to search for appropriate cognitive strategies to voluntarily restore healthy brain function and thereby reduce PTSD symptoms. Indeed, early findings have shown neurofeedback to be effective in reducing PTSD symptoms within certain populations (i.e., military members and veterans). However, healthcare workers have endured unique trauma experiences during COVID-19 and the effectiveness of neurofeedback for reducing PTSD symptoms in this population has yet to be studied. Results from this study may inform future clinical trials of neurofeedback and could lead to a novel PTSD treatment for both healthcare workers and other trauma-exposed populations.