Several studies have examined the neurobiological consequences of methamphetamine dependence using qEEG methods (e.g., Newton et al. 2003, 2004). It was found that methamphetamine dependent patients exhibited a significant power increase in the delta and theta bands as compared to non-drug-using controls (Newton et al. 2003). These results are in accordance with other neurocognitive studies (Kalechstein et al. 2003) suggesting that methamphetamine abuse is associated with psychomotor slowing and frontal executive deficits. Within the methamphetamine-dependent subjects, increased theta qEEG power was found to correlate with response time and was accompanied with reduced accuracy (Newton et al. 2004). To our knowledge, qEEG patterns associated with acute withdrawal and recent abstinence in methamphetamine dependence have not yet been sufficiently described. One study reported (Newton et al. 2003) that methamphetamine dependent volunteers with 4 days of abstinence had increased EEG power in the delta and theta but not in the alpha and beta bands. Within the methamphetamine dependent group, a majority of the conventional EEGs were abnormal (64%), compared to 18% in the non-methamphetamine using group.
