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Fractals in Affective and Anxiety Disorders

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The Fractal Geometry of the Brain

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Computational Neuroscience ((NEUROSCI))

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Abstract

In this chapter, we review the research that has applied fractal measures to the study of the most common psychological disorders, that is, affective and anxiety disorders. Early studies focused on heart rate, but diverse measures have also been examined, from variations in subjective mood, or hand movements, to electroencephalogram or magnetoencephalogram data. In general, abnormal fractal dynamics in different physiological and behavioural outcomes have been observed in mental disorders. Despite the disparity of variables measured, fractal analysis has shown high sensitivity discriminating patients from healthy controls. However, and because of this heterogeneity in measures, the results are not straightforward, and more studies are needed in this promising line.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Jaén, Paraje las Lagunillas s/n, Jaén, 23071, Andalucía, Spain

    Sergio Iglesias-Parro PhD & Antonio José Ibáñez-Molina PhD

  2. Department of Mental Health Service, Hospital San Agustín de Linares, Avda. S. Cristóbal, s/n, Linares (Jaén), 23700, Spain

    Maria Felipa Soriano

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  1. Sergio Iglesias-Parro PhD
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  2. Maria Felipa Soriano
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  3. Antonio José Ibáñez-Molina PhD
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Correspondence to Sergio Iglesias-Parro PhD .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery Division of Neurosurgery, University of Toronto St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Antonio Di Ieva

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Iglesias-Parro, S., Soriano, M.F., Ibáñez-Molina, A.J. (2016). Fractals in Affective and Anxiety Disorders. In: Di Ieva, A. (eds) The Fractal Geometry of the Brain. Springer Series in Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3995-4_29

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