A clinical trial with combined transcranial direct current stimulation and alcohol approach bias retraining

den Uyl, T. E., Gladwin, T. E., Rinck, M., Lindenmeyer, J. and Wiers, R. W. (2017) A clinical trial with combined transcranial direct current stimulation and alcohol approach bias retraining. Addiction Biology, 22 (6). pp. 1632-1640. ISSN 1355-6215

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Abstract

Two studies showed an improvement in clinical outcomes after alcohol approach bias retraining, a form of Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM). We investigated whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) could enhance effects of CBM. TDCS is a neuromodulation technique that can increase neuroplasticity and has previously been found to re-duce craving. One hundred alcohol-dependent inpatients (91 used for analysis) were randomized into three experimen-tal groups in a double-blind parallel design. The experimental group received four sessions of CBM while receiving 2 mA of anodal tDCS over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). There were two control groups: One received sham stimulation during training and one received active stimulation at a different moment. Treatment outcomes were abstinence duration (primary) and relapse after 3 and 12 months, craving and approach bias (secondary). Craving and approach bias scores decreased over time; there were no significant interactions with experimental condition. There was no effect on abstinence duration after three months (χ2(2) = 3.53, p = 0.77). However, a logistic regression on re-lapse rates after one year (standard outcome in the clinic, but not-preregistered) showed a trend when relevant predic-tors were included; relapse was lower in the condition receiving active stimulation during CBM only when comparing to sham stimulation (B = 1.52, S.E. = .836, p = .07, without predictors: p = .19). No strong evidence for a specific en-hancement effect of tDCS on CBM was found. However, in a post-hoc analysis, tDCS combined with CBM showed a promising trend on treatment outcome. Important limitations are discussed, and replication is necessary to find more reliable effects.

Publication Type: Articles
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Divisions: Research Entities > POWER Centre
Academic Areas > Institute of Education, Social and Life Sciences > Psychology
Depositing User: Thomas Gladwin
Date Deposited: 27 Feb 2019 16:01
Last Modified: 20 Mar 2019 14:44
URI: https://eprints.chi.ac.uk/id/eprint/4334

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