Brain Mechanism and Intervention of Executive-control Dysfunction Among Gambling Disorder

Shanghai Mental Health Center

Status: Enrolling

Conditions: Gambling; Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation

Treatments: Device: Transcranial alternating current stimulation-true stimulus

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06195995

JDu-012

Details and patient eligibility

About

The investigators assume that transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) could improve gambling disorder patients' executive-control function by adjusting the synchronization patterns and enhancing the functional connectivity of the prefrontal-ventral striatum pathway. This study intends to test the effect of tACS treatment. Three-month follow-up assessment will be conducted to test the changing of the executive-control function and its mechanism.

Full description

Gambling disorder is become a major social and public health problem in China. Executive-control dysfunction is the main symptom of behavioral addiction like gambling disorder. Previous studies have demonstrated the relationship between cognitive dysfunction and prefrontal-ventral striatum pathway. Studies have shown that abnormal phase synchronization and phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) induced the impairment of cognition, and transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) could improve executive-control function by adjusting the abnormal synchronization. However, it has not been verified among gambling disorder patients. The investigators assume that tACS could improve gambling disorder patients' executive-control function by adjusting the synchronization patterns and enhancing the functional connectivity of the prefrontal-ventral striatum pathway. This study intends to test the effect of tACS treatment. Three-month follow-up assessment will be conducted to test the changing of the executive-control function and its mechanism. This study will provide a practical and theoretical basis for developing a novel treatment for gambling disorder.

Enrollment: 20 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 60 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Aged 18-60, male or female, with 9 or more years of education, and able to complete questionnaire evaluation and behavioral tests
• Meet DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders，DSM) diagnostic criteria for gambling disorder
• Have gambled for at least one year (at least once a week)
• Normal vision and hearing, or within the normal range after correction
• Agree to cooperate in the follow-up evaluation
• No metal implantation in the head, no history of nerve problems or head injury, and no skin sensitivity

Exclusion criteria

• Have severe cognitive impairment, such as a history of head trauma, cerebrovascular disease, epilepsy, etc.
• Have used drugs promoting cognitive function in the last 6 months
• Have impaired intelligence (Intelligence Quotient<70)
• Abuse or dependence of psychoactive substances (except nicotine) in the last 5 years

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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20 participants in 1 patient group

Intervention group for gambling addiction

Experimental group

Description:

A 40-minute transcranial alternating current stimulus intervention of real stimulus is conducted twice a day (at least 3 hours apart) for a total of 10 days in the intervention group of gambling addiction.

Treatment:

Device: Transcranial alternating current stimulation-true stimulus