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Effects of tDCS on Cognitive Control and Emotion Regulation in Depressed Patients

NCT03039387 · Status: UNKNOWN · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 44

Last updated 2017-02-01

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Deficient cognitive control (CC) and the use of dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies (ERS) are both central characteristics of major depression. Both are associated with reduced activity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a safe, simple and effective non-invasive method to modulate the cortical excitability. The goal of this randomized, sham-controlled, double blind clinical trial is to examine the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on the CC and ERS in depressed patients compared to healthy subjects. Overall, the study will include 44 participants (22 depressed Patients and 22 healthy subjects). Each participant will complete a CC task while receiving sham tDCS in one session and anodal tDCS in the other session (counterbalanced). Afterwards the ERS 'rumination' will be measured during a resting phase by means of a questionnaire and psychophysiological measures (heart rate variability). The investigators hypothesize (a) an amelioration of CC by anodal tDCS and (b) a reduced use of the dysfunctional emotion regulation strategy 'rumination' after anodal tDCS. Overall this experiment will provide new and reliable data for the development of new treatment methods.

Conditions

Interventions

DEVICE

anodal transcranial direct current stimulation

DEVICE

transcranial direct current stimulation (sham)

for the placebo control condition, the transcranial direct current stimulation will only last for 30 seconds and will then be ramped down.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • German Federal Ministry of Education and Research

    collaborator OTHER_GOV

  • Universität Tübingen

    collaborator OTHER

  • University Hospital Tuebingen

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
TRIPLE
Model
CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2016-09-30
Primary Completion
2017-04-30
Completion
2017-04-30

Countries

  • Germany

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT03039387 on ClinicalTrials.gov