OBJECTIVES Little is known about the impact of fronto-temporal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on attitudes toward mental illness, psychosocial and autonomic functioning, life quality, and medication adherence among schizophrenia patients. METHODS Sixty schizophrenia patients were randomly allocated to receive 10 sessions of active (2 mA, 20 min, 2 sessions/day for five weekdays) or sham fronto-temporal tDCS. Self-Appraisal of Illness Questionnaire (SAIQ), Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS), World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) and indices of heart rate variability (HRV) were measured at baseline, immediately after tDCS and at one-month follow-up visit. RESULTS There were significant group-by-time interactions for scores of SAIQ presence/outcome subscale, total MARS and its subscale of subjective response to taking medication, WHOQOL-BREF psychological domain. Relative to sham, tDCS significantly improved self-awareness of presence/outcome of schizophrenia (Cohen's d = 0.465, p = 0.0011), subjective response to taking medication (Cohen's d = 0.639, p < 0.001) and psychological domain of life quality (Cohen's d = 0.459, p = 0.00114). These effects lasted for less than one month. The group-by-time interactions were non-significant for clinician-rated psychosocial functioning, mean RR intervals, and all HRV indices. CONCLUSION Fronto-temporal tDCS briefly optimizes self-reported insight levels, beliefs about treatment adherence, and psychological domain of life quality in patients with schizophrenia. Further studies are required to confirm whether patients treated with 5-day, 10-session tDCS in combination with multisession "maintenance" stimulation every month would attain favourable outcomes. SIGNIFICANCE We provide novel evidence for the potential utility of tDCS in schizophrenia.

中文翻译：

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经颅直流电刺激对精神分裂症患者疾病自我评价、药物依从性、生活质量和自主神经功能的调节

目的 额颞部经颅直流电刺激 (tDCS) 对精神分裂症患者对精神疾病、社会心理和自主神经功能、生活质量和药物依从性的态度的影响知之甚少。方法 60 名精神分裂症患者被随机分配接受 10 次活动（2 mA，20 分钟，2 次/天，共五个工作日）或假额颞 tDCS。疾病自我评估问卷 (SAIQ)、药物依从性评定量表 (MARS)、世界卫生组织生活质量-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) 和心率变异性指数 (HRV) 在基线、tDCS 后和在1个月的随访。结果 对于 SAIQ 存在/结果分量表的评分存在显着的按时间分组的交互作用，总 MARS 及其对服药主观反应的分量表，WHOQOL-BREF 心理领域。相对于假手术，tDCS 显着提高了对精神分裂症的存在/结果的自我意识（Cohen's d = 0.465, p = 0.0011）、对服药的主观反应（Cohen's d = 0.639, p < 0.001）和生活质量的心理领域（Cohen's d = 0.459，p = 0.00114）。这些影响持续了不到一个月。对于临床医生评定的社会心理功能、平均 RR 间期和所有 HRV 指数，按时间分组的交互作用不显着。结论 额颞 tDCS 简要优化了精神分裂症患者的自我报告的洞察力水平、对治疗依从性的信念和生活质量的心理领域。需要进一步的研究来确认患者是否接受了 5 天、每月 10 次 tDCS 结合多次“维护”刺激将获得有利的结果。意义 我们为 tDCS 在精神分裂症中的潜在效用提供了新的证据。