Carlton Corinne N, Bondy Erin, Riddle Justin, Mahan David, Daughters Stacey, Schiller Crystal, Frohlich Flavio
Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
Carolina Center for Neurostimulation, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
J Mood Anxiety Disord. 2025 May 14;11:100127. doi: 10.1016/j.xjmad.2025.100127. eCollection 2025 Sep.
Single-session behavioral activation (BA) and transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) are promising interventions for major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the synergy of combined single-session BA and tACS has not yet been evaluated. This pilot study assessed whether tACS augments the efficacy of single-session BA in individuals with MDD. N = 30 ( =36, =15; 70 % female) participants with MDD were randomized to receive either: 1) tACS with BA or 2) sham tACS with BA. Change in depression and anhedonia symptoms were assessed (preregistration: NCT05693922). Clinician-rated depression and anhedonia showed significant effects of time, but no significant differences between conditions, with the exception of dysphoria. Specifically, between baseline and two-week follow-up, those in the verum condition demonstrated significantly less dysphoria than those in the sham condition; however, these significant differences did not maintain at one-month follow-up. While preliminary, this is the first study to assess the augmentation of psychotherapy with tACS for MDD and it further serves as a template for future studies using combined interventions to treat depression.
单次行为激活（BA）和经颅交流电刺激（tACS）是治疗重度抑郁症（MDD）的有前景的干预措施。然而，单次BA与tACS联合使用的协同作用尚未得到评估。这项试点研究评估了tACS是否能增强单次BA对MDD患者的疗效。30名（平均年龄=36岁，标准差=15；70%为女性）MDD患者被随机分为两组，分别接受：1）tACS联合BA或2）假tACS联合BA。评估了抑郁和快感缺失症状的变化（预注册：NCT05693922）。临床医生评定的抑郁和快感缺失显示出时间上的显著影响，但除烦躁不安外，两组之间无显著差异。具体而言，在基线和两周随访之间，真刺激组的烦躁不安明显少于假刺激组；然而，这些显著差异在1个月随访时未持续存在。虽然是初步研究，但这是第一项评估tACS增强心理治疗对MDD疗效的研究，它还进一步为未来使用联合干预治疗抑郁症的研究提供了模板。
