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BCIA Continuing Education Posts
The BioSource Faculty Explain Peer-Reviewed Science
How Benzodiazepines Affect the EEG
If you record enough EEGs, you eventually meet the benzodiazepine (BZD) signature. The patient looks calm, the tracing looks faster than usual, and the familiar posterior alpha rhythm feels washed out. That impression is not a mirage.
Fred Shaffer
Oct 29, 202520 min read
Interpreting the Raw EEG: Diffuse Beta Activity
The presence of diffuse beta is not inherently abnormal, but it does merit clinical consideration. It may reflect endogenous factors such as individual variability in cortical excitability, exogenous factors such as the use of CNS-active medications (e.g., benzodiazepines, barbiturates, certain anesthetics), or non-cerebral factors such as EMG contamination.
BioSource Faculty
Jun 19, 202510 min read
How Benzodiazepines Affect the EEG
Benzodiazepines vary widely in EEG and clinical effects—Subtypes differ by half-life and receptor affinity, influencing sedation, rebound symptoms, and cortical modulation.
Fred Shaffer
Jun 16, 202514 min read
The Clinician Detective: Intermittent Epileptiform Discharges (IEDs)
IEDs are not incidental EEG findings, but markers of transient cortical dysfunction that disrupt cognition, emotion, and behavior.
BioSource Faculty
Apr 30, 202526 min read
Prescription Drugs Can Cause Depression
Older patients are particularly vulnerable to drug-induced depression because of age-related physiological changes and polypharmacy.
BioSource Faculty
Dec 11, 20247 min read
Drug Effects on the EEG
Detailed review of drug effects on the EEG
BioSource Faculty
Nov 18, 202430 min read
Clinical Update on Insomnia
This post discusses our insomnia epidemic and evidence-based behavioral interventions for insomnia.
BioSource Faculty
Oct 8, 20239 min read
Drug Effects on Biofeedback
Drug Effects on Biofeedback
BioSource Faculty
May 24, 20235 min read
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