Electrical current success in schizophrenia
Trial shows benefit of transcranial direct current stimulation for negative symptoms
17th October 2019
By Clare Pain
Applying small direct electrical currents to the brain over five days reduces negative symptoms of schizophrenia for up to 12 weeks, according to a small clinical trial.
In the double-blinded trial, known as STARTS, 100 people with long-term schizophrenia were allocated either to transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of 2mA for 20 minutes twice-daily for five days, or to a sham treatment using the same device.
All took their usual antipsychotic medication throughout the trial.