tDCS and Impulsivity
Substance Use Disorders, Substance Abuse, Substance Use
About this trial
This is an interventional treatment trial for Substance Use Disorders focused on measuring substance abuse, tDCS, substance use disorder, SUD
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria: Age: 18-79 years old Gender: Any Ethnicity: Any Diagnosis of substance use disorder and a recent history of substance use (<24 months last use), but not currently reporting use. Exclusion Criteria: Diagnosis (as defined by DSM-IV) of: any psychotic disorder (lifetime); eating disorder (current or within the past year); obsessive compulsive disorder (lifetime)); mental retardation. History of drug or alcohol abuse or dependence (as per DSM-IV criteria) within the last 3 months (except nicotine and caffeine). Subject is on regular benzodiazepine medication which it is not clinically appropriate to discontinue. Subject requires a rapid clinical response due to inanition, psychosis or high suicide risk. Neurological disorder or insult, e.g., recent stroke (CVA), which places subject at risk of seizure or neuronal damage with tDCS. Subject has metal in the cranium, skull defects, or skin lesions on scalp (cuts, abrasions, rash) at proposed electrode sites. Female subject who is pregnant. Participants who are not fluent in English will not be included in the trial for safety reasons: a) It is usually not possible to have an interpreter reliably available every weekday for up to 4 weeks and it is not safe to give tDCS to a subject who cannot tell us immediately of any side effects; Note that translation of the proposed ACT activity into English has not been validated and that we cannot be confident that they would be accurately translated and validated. Minors Older than 79 years old last use >24 months history of EEG or any electrical implant (i.e. pacemaker) history of Parkinson's, diagnosis of bipolar, schizophrenia/schizo-affective d/o, OCD, epilepsy, alzheimers primary drug of choice alcohol or marijuana taking antipsychotic drugs
Sites / Locations
- Allison J. HuffRecruiting
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Experimental
Sham Comparator
Treatment
Sham
The anode and cathode are two large 5 cm by 5 cm gel-based pads which are placed on the scalp. Current that flows from the cathode to the anode has an inhibitory effect on the stimulated area, while current that flows from the anode to the cathode is typically excitatory. In order to help minimize the stinging feel of the treatment, we have chosen to ramp up time and frequency. For visits 2-6 (tDCS treatment visits), we will start with 0.5mA ramping up to 0.75mA for 5 minutes. Followed by a brief (8 sec) EEG recording. Then, we will apply 0.75mA to 1mA while watching the ACT video for 5 minutes. This will also be followed by 8 second EEG recording. The final application of current will be 1.0mA to 1.75mA for 10 minutes followed again by 8 second EEG recording.
The sham group will receive ramped up current from 0.0mA not to exceed 0.5mA for the first minute at the initiation of each of the three "ramp-ups," after which the current will be turned off. This is to maintain a blind trial. 0.5mA is negligible current but mimics treatment with an initial small tingle. The current delivered by tDCS is not strong enough to trigger an action potential in a neuron; instead its "sub-threshold" changes the pattern of already active neurons.