A headset that delivers a low electrical current to the brain at home can relieve symptoms of depression. The approach, called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), is effective when used several times a week for half an hour at a time.
Previous trials have shown that or laboratory. Now, a randomised trial has demonstrated that a tDCS headset also reduces depression symptoms when worn at home.
Depression is usually treated with talking therapies or antidepressant medicines, but these don鈥檛 help everyone.
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Several forms of electrical brain stimulation may have the potential to treat depression. With tDCS, two sponge electrodes are placed on the left and right sides of the forehead, causing a mild current to flow from the left to the right.
This makes brain cells on the left side more likely to fire, with some studies suggesting that activity in this region, known as the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, .
Repeated sessions of stimulation may lead to longer-term changes in the brain cells, increasing their activity levels, says team member at the University of East London. 鈥淭here are probably many brain regions underlying depression.鈥� Affecting activity in this region probably changes activity in multiple regions, she says.
To see if people can benefit from such stimulation while using an at-home device, Fu and her colleagues tested a headset made by the Swedish firm , which delivers tDCS to the correct parts of the forehead via electrodes. The firm sponsored the study but 鈥渉ad no role in data analysis, interpretation of data, decision to publish, or manuscript preparation鈥�, the researchers write in their paper.
The team randomly assigned 174 people with moderate or severe depression to receive either stimulation from the Flow headset or stimulation from the same device that lasted just a few seconds, so people felt their skin tingling, at the start and end of each session.
They were shown how to use the headset at home alone for 10 weeks via an online video call.
While the depression symptoms of both groups improved on a 52-point scale, those who got the real treatment showed the most benefit, by about 9 points compared with 7, a degree of difference that is similar to that seen with antidepressants. 鈥淲e found people liked having it at home,鈥� says Fu. 鈥淧articipants could build it into their day.鈥�
Those who got the real stimulation were more likely to report skin redness and irritation, however, and two people experienced burns from using sponges that had dried out.
The Flow headset can be bought directly from the manufacturer, but isn鈥檛 widely used by national health service clinics in the UK. The latest results may get these kinds of devices taken more seriously by doctors, says at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK. 鈥淭his feels really positive,鈥� he says.
medRxiv
