Efficacy and safety of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in the treatment of bipolar depression: a systematic review

Document Type : Original Article

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Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran

10.22098/jrp.2024.14410.1218

Abstract

Since the results of standard treatments often have low efficacy in the treatment of bipolar depressive disorder, the use of non-invasive stimulation techniques such as transcranial brain stimulation using direct electrical current (tDCS) can be promising. The aim of the present study is to systematically review studies on the effectiveness of tDCS method on bipolar depression. For a review and systematic review of the research conducted in connection with the function of this method in the treatment of bipolar disorder, 154 articles were searched from Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases, among which 19 articles were related to the topic is selected; Finally, 13 studies were excluded and 6 studies were evaluated. In all these studies, the anode electrode in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC-F3) and the cathode electrode in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC-F4) were selected as stimulation areas. The results of the extracted articles indicated the tDCS is the safe method. The findings of the present study are significant from two aspects, firstly, the findings show the effectiveness in reducing the symptoms of depression in these patients, and secondly, Lack of a long follow-up period to investigate the lasting effects of the stimulation method in improving the symptoms of bipolar disorder and examining experimental groups with a limited statistical sample were the main limitations of the researches. Therefore, future researches are suggested to consider this issue in the design of their interventions.

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