The Effect of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Opioid Craving

Abstract

Introduction: Nowadays, substance use disorder is one of the most serious health problems in the world. Craving is one of the leading causes of substance use relapse. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on participants with opioid substance use disorder. Materials and Methods: A randomized, sham-controlled trial was carried out to evaluate the effect of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex stimulation (right anodal and left cathodal) on craving among participants with opioid use disorder. Eighteen men were categorized into sham tDCS and active tDCS groups. Interventions were performed for seven consecutive days. In both groups, the instantaneous and periodic craving was evaluated by the Desire for Drug Questionnaire (DDQ) and Obsessive Compulsive Drug Use Scale (OCDUS) before and a week after the interventions. The differences between the two groups were evaluated by paired samples t-test and student's t-test. Results: The results indicated that tDCS significantly reduced the scores on DDQ and OCDUS in the active tDCS group compared to the sham tDCS group (P<.05). Conclusions: Our findings provide support for applying tDCS in controlling opioid craving. Therefore, this method can be considered to be a new therapeutic approach in treatment of opioid use disorder.