TY - JOUR
T1 - The effects of trans-cranial direct current stimulation intervention on fear
T2 - A systematic review of literature
AU - Yosephi, Mohaddeseh Hafez
AU - Ehsani, Fatemeh
AU - Daghiani, Maryam
AU - Zoghi, Maryam
AU - Jaberzadeh, Shapour
PY - 2019/4
Y1 - 2019/4
N2 - Intensifying fear and fear of pain may lead to some diseases such as panic disorder, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorders, depression, etc. A number of studies indicated positive effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on controlling fear and some studies did not observe any effect or even negative effect on decreasing fear. Due to lack of consensus in the findings of research, we aimed to systematically review studies, which investigated the effect of tDCS on fear. A literature search was conducted using the databases of PubMed, Science Direct, OVID, CINAHL, PEDro, Cochrane, Scopus and MEDLINE. Fear, fear memory, fear of pain, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, electrical brain stimulation were applied as keywords. The valid assessment scale was used to evaluate the methodological quality of the included studies. The results of this systematic review revealed that the cathodal tDCS (c-tDCS) on the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) as compared to anodal tDCS (a-tDCS) could significantly reduce fear and modulate the fear memory. In addition, the findings of this study showed that the c-tDCS has positive effect on behavioural parameters of fear, while it cannot change biochemical parameters of fear during limited sessions of intervention. Application of c-tDCS on the left DLPFC could significantly reduce fear and modulate the fear memory.
AB - Intensifying fear and fear of pain may lead to some diseases such as panic disorder, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorders, depression, etc. A number of studies indicated positive effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on controlling fear and some studies did not observe any effect or even negative effect on decreasing fear. Due to lack of consensus in the findings of research, we aimed to systematically review studies, which investigated the effect of tDCS on fear. A literature search was conducted using the databases of PubMed, Science Direct, OVID, CINAHL, PEDro, Cochrane, Scopus and MEDLINE. Fear, fear memory, fear of pain, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, electrical brain stimulation were applied as keywords. The valid assessment scale was used to evaluate the methodological quality of the included studies. The results of this systematic review revealed that the cathodal tDCS (c-tDCS) on the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) as compared to anodal tDCS (a-tDCS) could significantly reduce fear and modulate the fear memory. In addition, the findings of this study showed that the c-tDCS has positive effect on behavioural parameters of fear, while it cannot change biochemical parameters of fear during limited sessions of intervention. Application of c-tDCS on the left DLPFC could significantly reduce fear and modulate the fear memory.
KW - Anode
KW - Anxiety
KW - Cathode
KW - Fear memory
KW - Fear of pain
KW - Trans-cranial brain stimulation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85059952986&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jocn.2019.01.011
DO - 10.1016/j.jocn.2019.01.011
M3 - Review Article
AN - SCOPUS:85059952986
SN - 0967-5868
VL - 62
SP - 7
EP - 13
JO - Journal of Clinical Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Clinical Neuroscience
ER -