Adding Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to Mindfulness Meditation Abolishes Mindfulness-Induced Improvements in Emotion Regulation in Fibromyalgia: A Responder Analysis.
The Clinical Journal of Pain November 1, 2025 Perianen Ramasawmy, Andrea Antal, Olga L Gamboa Arana et al.
A 4-week mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) improved emotion regulation in people with fibromyalgia, and those who responded clinically to the MBI showed better emotion regulation for six weeks. Adding anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the primary motor cortex during mindfulness meditation eliminated this improvement. In the sham tDCS group, responders to the combined intervention reported larger gains in emotion regulation than nonresponders, but no such difference appeared in the active tDCS group. The authors conclude that combining mindfulness meditation with M1-tDCS should be reconsidered as a therapy for emotion regulation in fibromyalgia.