Treatment of Resistant Depression: A Pilot Study Assessing the Efficacy of a tDCS-Mindfulness Program Compared With a tDCS-Relaxation Program
Frontiers in Psychiatry October 23, 2019 Aurore Monnart, Marie-Anne Vanderhasselt, Elisa Schroder et al.
Combining transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) with mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) may help maintain improvements in depression and rumination longer than tDCS with relaxation alone. In a pilot study with 31 treatment-resistant depressed patients, both treatment conditions reduced clinical and cognitive symptoms after an eight-day intensive block. However, only the tDCS-plus-MBCT group sustained gains at a two-week follow-up on measures of depression (MADRS), rumination (SARI), and working memory (Digit Span). The authors suggest a multidisciplinary approach may be effective for resistant depression in the long run, but further research is needed.