Transcranial Direct Current Simulation as an add-on treatment to Cognitive-Behavior Therapy in first episode Major Depressive drug-naive patients

Principal Investigator: Sandra Carvalho (PhD), School of Psychology, University of Minho, Gualtar Braga, Portugal

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a serious and debilitating illness that affects citizens worldwide. In Portugal, depression can be found within 7% of the population and has been linked to over a thousand deaths every year. In order to reduce the adverse effects often caused by pharmacological treatment, the student will collaborate with the Principal Investigator and host supervisor in a clinical trial of 72 drug-naïve and first-episode MDD subjects. The clinical trial will consist of two groups of 36 subjects each: one will be treated with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), a common non-pharmacological treatment for depression, and the other will be treated with either sham or active transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a non-invasive neuromodulary technique that has been shown in past studies to treat MDD. The goals of the project are to study the clinical effects of both treatments separately, using the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), as well as their effectiveness in combination, using primarily resting-state EEG and fMRI.

Faculty Supervisor:

Frances Pick

Student:

Partner:

University of Minho

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Ottawa

Program: