New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London, in partnership with the University of East London, and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston), and funded by Flow Neuroscience, has found that a device that delivers direct stimulation to the brain is a safe and effective means of treating depression at home.
The research, published in Nature Medicine, suggests that devices like the one used could become a first line at home treatment for major depressive disorder.
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a form of self-administered, non-invasive brain stimulation that applies a weak, direct current of between 0.5 to 2 milliampere to the scalp via two electrodes. It is not electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), which delivers about 800 milliamperes to the brain causing a generalised seizure and can only be conducted under strict supervision.
174 participants aged 18 and over, and with a diagnosis of at least moderate depression were randomly assigned to one of two treatment arms; “active” tDCS or “inactive” tDCS which was the same device but did not provide a current. Participants had a 10-week course of treatment, initially having five 30-minute sessions a week for the first three weeks, followed by three 30-minute sessions a week for the following seven weeks.
Researchers found that participants in the active arm of the trial showed significant improvements in the severity of their depression, as well as the overall clinical response and remission compared to those in the ‘inactive’ placebo control arm. The rates of treatment response and remission were three times higher in the active treatment arm compared to the placebo arm, where 44.9% in the active arm demonstrated a remission rate compared to 21.8% of the control group.
In 2022/23, 86 million antidepressants were prescribed to an estimated 8.6 million people in England.
