Virtual Reality and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Van ’t Wout-Frank et. al, 2024. JAMA Psychiatry.

• Can therapeutic exposure using virtual reality (VR) be augmented with simultaneously applied transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to reduce symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?
• In this randomized clinical trial including 54 US military veterans with warzone-related trauma, active tDCS delivered during VR exposure significantly improved self-reported PTSD symptoms, reduced measures of autonomic arousal, and improved social functioning compared with sham stimulation during VR exposure.
• These findings suggest that the use of combined VR exposure plus tDCS could be a promising treatment for warzone-related PTSD.

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