Archival ReportAmelioration of Cognitive Control in Depression by Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
Section snippets
Participants
Twenty-two patients with MDD were recruited via announcements, as well as through outpatient clinics and a psychiatric clinic. Patients were diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. Psychopathology was further assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory and the 21-item Hamilton Depression Scale. Subjects who met criteria (current or lifetime) for a schizophreniform disorder, a bipolar disorder, addiction or substance abuse (the latter within 3
Results
All subjects completed the entire experiment. At the beginning of stimulation, most subjects reported the typical initial tingling, predominantly under the scalp electrode. No adverse effects such as pain, skin burns, irritation, or headache were reported during or after tDCS.
Discussion
This study provides first evidence that anodal tDCS applied to the left dlPFC ameliorates deficient cognitive control specifically present in patients with MDD. Since deficient cognitive control has been consistently linked with the onset and maintenance of depression (3), its recovery during anodal tDCS supports the idea that noninvasive brain stimulation may be an effective tool to directly enhance the clinical outcome of cognitive behavioral interventions in MDD 18, 32.
In addition, our data
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2021, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral ReviewsCitation Excerpt :Accordingly, over recent years, several cognitive domains have been the target of tDCS research. For example, numerous studies have explored the potential of tDCS to modulate working memory (e.g. Friehs and Frings, 2020, 2019a, 2019b; Martin et al., 2014; Ruf et al., 2017; Wolkenstein and Plewnia, 2013; for reviews see for Hill et al., 2016; Mancuso et al., 2016), interference control (e.g. Friehs et al., 2019; Frings et al., 2018; Loftus et al., 2015) or language functions (e.g. Fiori et al., 2018; Hartwigsen, 2015; Monti et al., 2013). More recently, tDCS studies have focused on response inhibition (see below for details).
Challenging control over emotions in borderline personality disorder - a tDCS study
2021, Neuropsychologia