Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Schizophrenia

Abstract

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is an upcoming treatment modality for patients with schizophrenia. A series of recent observations have demonstrated improvement in clinical status of schizophrenia patients with tDCS. This review summarizes the research work that has examined the effects of tDCS in schizophrenia patients with respect to symptom amelioration, cognitive enhancement and neuroplasticity evaluation. tDCS is emerging as a safe, rapid and effective treatment for various aspects of schizophrenia symptoms ranging from auditory hallucinations-for which the effect is most marked, to negative symptoms and cognitive symptoms as well. An interesting line of investigation involves using tDCS for altering and examining neuroplasticity in patients and healthy subjects and is likely to lead to new insights into the neurological aberrations and pathophysiology of schizophrenia. The mechanistic aspects of the technique are discussed in brief. Future work should focus on establishing the clinical efficacy of this novel technique and on evaluating this modality as an adjunct to cognitive enhancement protocols. Understanding the mechanism of action of tDCS as well as the determinants and neurobiological correlates of clinical response to tDCS remains an important goal, which will help us expand the clinical applications of tDCS for the treatment of patients with schizophrenia.

Noninvasive stimulation of the temporoparietal junction: A systematic review

“…Similarly, tDCS studies of AH in schizophrenia have been reviewed elsewhere (Agarwal et al, 2013;Brunoni et al, 2014), and typically employ an anodal-lDLPFC and cathodal-lTPJ montage. Findings are generally positive, such as that of Brunelin et al (2012) reviewed here, who reported a 31% reduction in AH severity after tDCS treatment, which was maintained at 3 months.…”

Acupuncture in the Treatment of a Female Patient Suffering from Chronic Schizophrenia and Sleep Disorders

“…For instance, in previous research, a 47% nonadherence rate to pharmacotherapy was found in patients suffering from schizophrenia [9]. As a result, in addition to pharmacotherapy, nonpharmacological interventions, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) [10], transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) [11], and convulsive therapy [12], are increasingly being used in the treatment of schizophrenia.…”

Transcriptomic Modification in the Cerebral Cortex following Noninvasive Brain Stimulation: RNA-Sequencing Approach

“…One of the main reasons for the attractiveness of tDCS as a tool to modify neuroplasticity and neuronal activity [1] is that tDCS is a noninvasive brain stimulation technique that is well tolerated and easily employed with other peripheral therapies [2, 3]. Studies have highlighted tDCS as an alternative treatment method for schizophrenia [4], Alzheimer's [5], major depressive disorder [6, 7], stroke [8], and other neurological disorders. Moreover, tDCS has shown potential for aiding cognitive performance in healthy individuals with previous studies showing improvement of sustained attention [9], enhanced working memory [10], and enhanced functional connectivity in spatial navigation networks [11].…”