Brain Stimulation for Treating Depression
Brain Stimulation for Treating Depression
Project overview
The Brain Stimulation for Treating Depression Project aims to understand the efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) as a treatment for depression.
Depression is one of the most common mental health disorders and a leading cause of disability worldwide. tDCS is a potential novel first-line treatment for unipolar and bipolar depression (Woodham et al., 2021). tDCS generates a low current that makes it easier for brain cells to discharge. tDCS does not cause neurons to discharge directly, like transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and tDCS does not cause a general seizure, like ECT.
We have developed a home-based protocol to provide tDCS in participants' home (Woodham et al., 2022, Rimmer et al., 2024). Our home-based protocol has shown high efficacy and acceptability in unipolar depression (Woodham et al., 2023).
Professor Cynthia Fu in the School of Psychology has led an international randomised controlled trial of home-based tDCS treatment in unipolar depression in collaboration with King's College London and University of Texas Houston, USA, which was funded by Flow Neuroscience and Rosetrees Trust. She developed the home-based tDCS treatment design with funding from the Rosetrees Trust, and is currently looking at the acceptability and feasibility of home-based tDCS treatment in bipolar depression in collaboration with King's College London, University College London, and Technische Universität Dresden, which is funded by the Baszucki Brain Research Fund and Milken Institute.
Project leads
- Rosetrees Trust
- Baszucki Brain Research Fund and Milken Institute
- Flow Neuroscience
Funders
- Flow Neuroscience
- Rosetrees Trust
- Milken Institute