Psychostimulant drug treatment is often prescribed for adults with attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADHD). However, transcranial direct current stimulation could be considered to improve attention and replace medication.
- Drug treatment is usually prescribed to improve cognitive abilities in an adult affected by ADHD.
- Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) could be an alternative to psychostimulant drugs according to a new study.
Attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that can manifest itself in inattentive errors, difficulty maintaining sustained attention, organizing, starting and finishing a task, forgetfulness or even a tendency to misplace objects. This disorder affects both children and adults.
An alternative to psychostimulant drugs
Drug treatment is usually prescribed to improve cognitive abilities in an adult affected by ADHD. In the future, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) could be an alternative to psychostimulant drugs. This is in any case what suggests a recent study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.
For research purposes, Doctor Douglas Teixeira Leffa and his colleagues from the Federal di Rio Grande University (Brazil) recruited 64 adults suffering from moderate to severe ADHD not treated with psychostimulants. The work was carried out from July 2019 to July 2021.
Improved attention in patients with ADHD
tDCS is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique based on the passage of a low-intensity electric current through a cerebral area using electrodes positioned on the skull, more precisely on the right and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This area is involved in important cognitive processes such as memory, attention and time management.
The scientific team told the patients how to position the electrodes before starting the experiment. This device was then set up in the patients’ homes for four weeks and the daily sessions lasted 30 minutes.
According to the findings of the study, the use of tDCS had positive effects on the attention of adult patients. However, these results still need to be studied and validated by a peer committee to confirm the effectiveness of this non-invasive approach.