Transcranial direct current stimulation in adult ADHD

Can you help us learn more about the effectiveness of transcranial direct current stimulation in adults with ADHD?

The standard treatment for ADHD is currently based on medication and psychotherapy. However, in approximately one-third of adults, the available medications do not lead to satisfactory improvement of symptoms or cause side effects. Therefore, alternative methods, such as neurostimulation techniques that have proven effective for other psychiatric disorders, are now also being used for ADHD. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is one such method and has so far only been used in small studies and individual cases.

This multicenter study was set up to investigate the effectiveness of this non-invasive intervention in a systematic, controlled manner and with a sufficiently large number of cases. This study is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

This study ivestigates the effectiveness of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for the treatment of ADHD in adults.

The aim of the STIM-ADHS study is to clarify whether treatment with tDCS, as an alternative or in addition to existing therapy, leads to an improvement in symptoms in adults with ADHD.

For the STIM-ADHD study, we are looking for adults who:

are interested in tDCS treatment
are between 18 and 65 years old
have a known diagnosis of ADHD or symptoms of ADHD
are not taking any ADHD medication or
have been treated with a stable dose of ADHD medication for a long time
do not have any other serious mental illness or substance dependence
are not pregnant or breastfeeding
are not currently participating in any other study

There are additional criteria that you must meet. Our study team will check these participation criteria as part of a detailed preliminary examination.

Participants will receive either:

active treatment with tDCS
placebo treatment

They will be randomly assigned to one of these two treatment options. The comparison with the placebo serves to better assess the effectiveness of tDCS. There is an equal probability that they will receive either the active tDCS treatment or the placebo.

Neither they nor the study team will know which treatment they are receiving. This ensures that the results of the study are handled in the same, unbiased manner.

They will receive their assigned study treatment once a day for 5 days. A treatment session lasts approximately 30 minutes in total.

The study will last a total of 13 weeks. In addition to the study treatment, you will need to attend 6 appointments at your study center. The entire treatment program includes:

an online survey prior to the study
a detailed personal preliminary examination
five daily treatments with tDCS within one week
five follow-up examinations after completion of the treatment phase

During the examination appointments, your well-being and ADHD symptoms will be assessed using various methods. These include:

Self-completed questionnaires about your ADHD symptoms and your general well-being
Computer-based tasks that measure attention and impulsivity
Structured medical interviews in which you will be asked specific questions to assess your mental and physical health.