Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation as Treatment for Auditory Hallucinations (tDCS)

Iris Sommer

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Hearing Disorders; Psychotic Disorders; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Mood Disorders; Personality Disorders

Treatments: Device: Eldith DC Stimulator sham stimulation; Device: Eldith DC Stimulator stimulation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01977521

tDCS_UMC

Details and patient eligibility

About

The present study aims to examine the efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation on the severity of auditory hallucinations.

Full description

Rationale: Auditory hallucinations (AH) are a symptom of several psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia. In the majority of patients, these AH respond well to antipsychotic medication. Yet, a significant minority continues to experience frequent AH despite optimal pharmacotherapy and AH severely decrease quality of life in these patients. The number of alternative treatment options for this medication resistant group is currently low and most of them focus on coping with the hallucinations. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), in contrast, is a safe, non-invasive technique that is able to directly influence cortical excitability through the application of very low electric currents. This technique has only a few transient side-effects and is cheap and portable. To date, only one randomized controlled trial has been published, suggesting high efficacy of tDCS for the treatment of medication-resistant AH in a relatively small sample. We aim to replicate and extend these findings by investigating the efficacy of this technique in a larger sample.

Enrollment: 62 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age over 18.
• Frequent auditory hallucinations (at least 5 times a week).
• Patients are on a stable dose of antipsychotic medication (which can also be zero) for at least 2 weeks
• Mentally competent for informed consent.
• Provided informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

• Metal objects in or around the head that cannot be removed (i.e. cochlear implant, surgical clips, piercing)
• History of seizures, or a history of seizures in first-degree relatives.
• History of eye trauma with a metal object or professional metal workers
• History of brain surgery, brain infarction, head trauma, cerebrovascular accident, broken skull, brain tumour, heart disease, cardiac pacemaker.
• Skin disease on the scalp on the position of the tDCS electrodes
• Coercive treatment based on a judicial ruling
• Pregnancy in female patients

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

---

62 participants in 2 patient groups

Treatment

Experimental group

Description:

transcranial direct current stimulation (2mA)

Treatment:

Device: Eldith DC Stimulator stimulation

Sham

Sham Comparator group

Description:

Sham stimulation

Treatment:

Device: Eldith DC Stimulator sham stimulation