Full access
Review
Published Online: 25 January 2022

Transcranial Electrical Stimulation for Psychiatric Disorders in Adults: A Primer

Hyein Cho, Ph.D., Lais B. Razza, B.A., Lucas Borrione, M.D., Marom Bikson, Ph.D., Leigh Charvet, Ph.D., Tracy A. Dennis-Tiwary, Ph.D., Andre R. Brunoni, M.D., Ph.D. [email protected], and Pedro Sudbrack-Oliveira, M.D.Authors Info & Affiliations
Publication: FOCUS
Volume 20, Number 1
https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20210020
CME
PDF/EPUBformats

Abstract

Transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) comprises noninvasive neuromodulation techniques that deliver low-amplitude electrical currents to targeted brain regions with the goal of modifying neural activities. Expanding evidence from the past decade, specifically using transcranial direct current simulation and transcranial alternating current stimulation, presents promising applications of tES as a treatment for psychiatric disorders. In this review, the authors discuss the basic technical aspects and mechanisms of action of tES in the context of clinical research and practice and review available evidence for its clinical use, efficacy, and safety. They also review recent advancements in use of tES for the treatment of depressive disorders, schizophrenia, substance use disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Findings largely support growing evidence for the safety and efficacy of tES in the treatment of patients with resistance to existing treatment options, particularly demonstrating promising treatment outcomes for depressive disorders. Future directions of tES research for optimal application in clinical settings are discussed, including the growing home-based, patient-friendly methods and the potential pairing with existing pharmacological or psychotherapeutic treatments for enhanced outcomes. Finally, neuroimaging advancements may provide more specific mapping of brain networks, aiming at more precise tES therapeutic targeting in the treatment of psychiatric disorders.

Formats available

You can view the full content in the following formats:

View PDF/ePubView Full Text

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Focus
Go to Focus
FOCUS
Volume 20 • Number 1 • Winter 2022
Pages: 19 - 31

History

Published in print: Winter 2022
Published online: 25 January 2022

Keywords

  1. Treatment guidelines
  2. Depression

Authors

Affiliations

Hyein Cho, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology, Graduate Center, and Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York City (Cho, Dennis-Tiwary); Department and Institute of Psychiatry and Service of Interdisciplinary Neuromodulation, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (Razza, Borrione, Brunoni, Sudbrack-Oliveira); Department of Biomedical Engineering, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York City (Bikson); Department of Neurology, Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York City (Charvet); Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, and University Hospital, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (Brunoni).
View all articles by this author
Lais B. Razza, B.A.
Department of Psychology, Graduate Center, and Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York City (Cho, Dennis-Tiwary); Department and Institute of Psychiatry and Service of Interdisciplinary Neuromodulation, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (Razza, Borrione, Brunoni, Sudbrack-Oliveira); Department of Biomedical Engineering, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York City (Bikson); Department of Neurology, Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York City (Charvet); Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, and University Hospital, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (Brunoni).
View all articles by this author
Lucas Borrione, M.D.
Department of Psychology, Graduate Center, and Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York City (Cho, Dennis-Tiwary); Department and Institute of Psychiatry and Service of Interdisciplinary Neuromodulation, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (Razza, Borrione, Brunoni, Sudbrack-Oliveira); Department of Biomedical Engineering, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York City (Bikson); Department of Neurology, Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York City (Charvet); Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, and University Hospital, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (Brunoni).
View all articles by this author
Marom Bikson, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology, Graduate Center, and Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York City (Cho, Dennis-Tiwary); Department and Institute of Psychiatry and Service of Interdisciplinary Neuromodulation, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (Razza, Borrione, Brunoni, Sudbrack-Oliveira); Department of Biomedical Engineering, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York City (Bikson); Department of Neurology, Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York City (Charvet); Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, and University Hospital, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (Brunoni).
View all articles by this author
Leigh Charvet, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology, Graduate Center, and Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York City (Cho, Dennis-Tiwary); Department and Institute of Psychiatry and Service of Interdisciplinary Neuromodulation, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (Razza, Borrione, Brunoni, Sudbrack-Oliveira); Department of Biomedical Engineering, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York City (Bikson); Department of Neurology, Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York City (Charvet); Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, and University Hospital, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (Brunoni).
View all articles by this author
Tracy A. Dennis-Tiwary, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology, Graduate Center, and Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York City (Cho, Dennis-Tiwary); Department and Institute of Psychiatry and Service of Interdisciplinary Neuromodulation, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (Razza, Borrione, Brunoni, Sudbrack-Oliveira); Department of Biomedical Engineering, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York City (Bikson); Department of Neurology, Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York City (Charvet); Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, and University Hospital, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (Brunoni).
View all articles by this author
Andre R. Brunoni, M.D., Ph.D. [email protected]
Department of Psychology, Graduate Center, and Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York City (Cho, Dennis-Tiwary); Department and Institute of Psychiatry and Service of Interdisciplinary Neuromodulation, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (Razza, Borrione, Brunoni, Sudbrack-Oliveira); Department of Biomedical Engineering, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York City (Bikson); Department of Neurology, Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York City (Charvet); Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, and University Hospital, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (Brunoni).
View all articles by this author
Pedro Sudbrack-Oliveira, M.D.
Department of Psychology, Graduate Center, and Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York City (Cho, Dennis-Tiwary); Department and Institute of Psychiatry and Service of Interdisciplinary Neuromodulation, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (Razza, Borrione, Brunoni, Sudbrack-Oliveira); Department of Biomedical Engineering, City College of New York, City University of New York, New York City (Bikson); Department of Neurology, Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York City (Charvet); Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, and University Hospital, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (Brunoni).
View all articles by this author

Notes

Send correspondence to Dr. Brunoni ([email protected]).

Competing Interests

Dr. Bikson reports that the City University of New York holds patents on brain stimulation, with Dr. Bikson as inventor. Dr. Bikson also reports equity in Soterix Medical Inc. and consultation agreements with, receipt of grants from, assigned inventions with, or service on a scientific advisory board for Allergan (Abbvie), Biovisics, Boston Scientific, GlaxoSmithKline, Google-X, Halo Neuroscience, Humm, i-Lumen, Lumenis, Mecta. Dr. Charvet reports owning stock in Johnson & Johnson. Dr. Charvet also reports being a consultant for Ybrain, and being on the Editorial Board of Springer Healthcare. Dr. Dennis-Tiwary reports being the cofounder and chief scientific officer of Wise Therapeutics, the creator of the mobile anxiety-reduction app Personal Zen. Dr. Brunoni reports equity in Flow Neuroscience, in-kind support from MagVenture, and payment from Neuroconn for lectures. The other authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

Funding Information

Ms. Razza and Dr. Sudbrack-Oliveira are supported by grants from the São Paulo Research Foundation (2019/07256-7 and 2019/10760-9, respectively). Dr. Bikson is supported by grants from Harold Shames and from various institutes of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (National Institute on Drug Abuse UG3DA048502; National Institute of General Medical Sciences T34GM137858; National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke 1R01NS112996, 1R01NS101362, and R01NS095123; and National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH] 1R01MH111896). Dr. Charvet is supported by grants from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (RG-1803-30492), from NIH (1R01NS112996-01A1 and R21NS101712-01), and from the U.S. Department of Defense (W81XWH-17-1-0320). Dr. Dennis-Tiwary is supported by grants from NIMH (R56MH111700, RF1MH120846) and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of NIH (TR000457). Dr. Brunoni is supported by grants from the São Paulo Research State Foundation (2018/10861-7 and 2019/06009-6), Brazilian National Council of Scientific Development (productivity support) (PQ-1B), Academy of Medical Sciences (United Kingdom) (NAFR 12/1010-2), and University of São Paulo Medical School (productivity support) (PIPA-A).

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Export Citations

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu.

Format
Citation style
Style
Copy to clipboard
Tips for downloading citations

There are no citations for this item

View Options

View options

PDF/ePub

View PDF/ePub

Full Text

View Full Text

Get Access

Login options

Already a subscriber? Access your subscription through your login credentials or your institution for full access to this article.

Personal login Institutional Login Open Athens login
Item saved, go to cart
Purchase Options

Purchase this article to access the full text.

PPV Articles - Focus

PPV Articles - Focus

Not a subscriber?

Subscribe Now / Learn More

PsychiatryOnline subscription options offer access to the DSM-5-TR® library, books, journals, CME, and patient resources. This all-in-one virtual library provides psychiatrists and mental health professionals with key resources for diagnosis, treatment, research, and professional development.

Need more help? PsychiatryOnline Customer Service may be reached by emailing [email protected] or by calling 800-368-5777 (in the U.S.) or 703-907-7322 (outside the U.S.).

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Share article link

Share

×

As described within the American Psychiatric Association (APA)'s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, this website utilizes cookies, including for the purpose of offering an optimal online experience and services tailored to your preferences. Please read the entire Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. By closing this message, browsing this website, continuing the navigation, or otherwise continuing to use the APA's websites, you confirm that you understand and accept the terms of the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, including the utilization of cookies.