Medical expert of the article
New publications
Transcranial electrical stimulation
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Transcranial electrical stimulation, or mesodiencephalic modulation, allows normalizing the work of neuroendocrine centers, which is impaired in people dependent on psychoactive substances. During the procedure, a significant change in the electrical and biochemical activity of the centers of the opioid and hypothalamic-pituitary systems located in the midbrain and medulla oblongata is noted.
What is transcranial electrical stimulation used for?
Restoration of endorphin and monoamine metabolism in drug addicted patients.
Indications
Transcranial electrical stimulation is used in the following cases:
- Severe withdrawal states from psychoactive substances.
- Resistance and intolerance to the therapy.
- Affective disorders of the depressive and anxiety circle in the post-abstinence period.
- Intercurrent somatic and neurological diseases.
Methodology of implementation
Direct and alternating electric current of 3-5 mA is applied through a pair of frontal-occipital electrodes.
Efficiency of transcranial electrical stimulation
Against the background of mesodiscephalic modulation therapy, carried out daily for 10 days, the concentration of somatotropic hormone and insulin increases, rapid restoration of normal functions of the opioid and immune systems is observed, and the differences in the baseline level of parameters between the main and control groups are statistically significant already on the 3rd day after the start of treatment.
One of the most important effects of transcranial electrical stimulation is considered to be the potentiation of the effect of most known pharmacological drugs. Thus, the use of mesodiscephalic modulation in the case of severe opiate withdrawal syndrome allowed to practically abandon the use of the narcotic analgesic - tramadol. The drug was used only twice: on the 1st and 4th day, i.e. at the beginning of treatment and at the height of the withdrawal syndrome.
The use of transcranial electrical stimulation in the complex treatment of patients with alcohol dependence in the post-abstinence state made it possible to achieve pronounced anti-anxiety effects, and then, on the 3rd or 4th day of daily use, persistent antidepressant and general stimulating effects.
[