PTSD Case Detection with Boosting

In this project, the electroencephalogram (EEG) channel(s) is used to better characterize post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For this aim, we applied boosting methods along with a combination of k-means and Support Vector Machine (SVM) models to find the diagnostic channels of PTSD cases and healthy subjects. We grouped 32 channels and 12 subjects (6 PTSD and 6 healthy controls) using k-means. Channels of the brain are grouped by the k-means clustering method to find the most similar part of the brain. This approach uses SVM by performing classification based on cluster classes are been mapped to EEG channels. This mapping uses information across all samples without the bias of using the outcome variable. The linear SVM found weights that distinguished channels within each subject for each cluster to compare the PTSD cases and healthy controls’ channel weights. It was found that the significant SVM weights of F4, F8, and Pz were smaller in subjects with PTSD than in healthy subjects. This new method can be used as a tool to better understand the relationship between EEG signals and diagnosis.