Comparison of the effectiveness of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) on post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSD)

comparison of the effectiveness of transcranial direct current stimulation and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing on post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms

Clinical trials with control group, with parallel groups, double-blind, randomized. The sample size of this study is 60 individuals: divided into 3 groups of 20 people.

After selecting the participants in Baqiyatollah university and Atieh neurosciences center, they are randomly assigned to three intervention 1, intervention 2 and control groups and the researchers, clinical observer and evaluator of outcome are blinded. Participants were also evaluated through post-traumatic stress disorder Inventory, Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventory and Rumination Scale in three stages: pre-test, post-test and follow-up period.

Inclusion criteria: ages of 18 to 60 years, post-traumatic stress disorder, having a PTSD checklist score greater than 50, experienced no change in psychosocial treatments for 2 months before stilmulation, experienced no change in psychotropic medication, either dose or agent for 2 months before stilmulation. Exclusion criteria: comorbidity with other psychiatric disorders, A history of a significant neurological or medical disorders, Changed medications in the 8 weeks prior to commencement of the trial, Implanted medication pumps of any sort that would increase the risk of stilmulation.

intervention group 1: In this group, the cathode electrode was placed on right prefrontal (F4) and anode electrode was placed on the left prefrontal (F3). They receive a current of 2 mA for 20 minutes in 10 sessions. intervention group 2: this group also receives 8 sessions for EMDR. placebo group: this group receives sham stimulation for 10 sessions.

post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms

After determining the sample size (60 people), by random allocation rule, 20 patients were assigned to the intervention group 1, 20 to the intervention group 2 and 20 to the control group. For this purpose, 20 balls for the intervention group 1, 20 balls for the intervention group 2 and 20 balls for the control group are placed inside the lottery container, and then the balls are removed from the container without randomize replacement and the resulting sequence is recorded

In this study, participants, researchers, caregivers, and evaluators are blind. The initial stimulation and appearance of the tDCS device for the target group and the placebo group are quite similar. In the placebo group, after initial stimulation, the tDCS device turns off without notice to the patient, and the device is turned on at the end of the stimulation. Furthermore, patients refer to the clinic at a 90-minute interval in order to reduce the possibility of infiltration of information between them. The researcher is also unaware of the grouping of participants because the allocation of individuals to groups and the referral to the caregiver is done by a statistician. Also, the implementation and evaluation of the outcome is done by a separate individual Caregiver and assessing the outcome of the proposal, hypothesis, and type of patients are unaware. Furthermore, in this study, the placebo group also receives a special type of stimulation (primary and secondary), which makes it makes it difficult to diagnose the target group from the placebo for caregivers and evaluators. In other words, the placebo group does not end the treatment sessions without stimulation. Therefore, the identification of the placebo and target group is difficult

The total potential data can be shared after unidentifiable people

Start the access period 7 months after publishing the results

Data will be available to researchers working in universities and academic institutions

for scientific use only

Mehdi Rezaei- Tel: 00989383354916- E-mail: Rezaee.mehdi15@yahoo.com

The applicant will receive the data within a maximum of one week by explaining the reason for requesting