Accelerated Treatment of Depressive Patients With tDCS (AcctDCS)

February 24, 2026 updated by: Berthold Langguth, MD, Ph.D., University of Regensburg

Accelerated Treatment of Depressive Patients With tDCS (Twice Per Day) - a Placebo Controlled Home-based Treatment

A randomized, controlled three-arm study is planned to investigate the effectiveness and feasibility of an accelerated home-based tDCS application (3 weeks of transcranial direct current stimulation at home, twice daily). A total of 30 patients with depression (10 per group), who are currently not taking and have no history of taking antidepressant medication, will be randomly assigned to either an active tDCS condition, a sham (placebo) tDCS condition, or a waitlist control group. The latter two groups will receive active tDCS treatment after completion of the control phase.

This study represents a continuation of the pilot study GSUND DAHOAM (Ethics approval: 20-2091-101; Dragon et al., 2024).

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of home-based tDCS for the accelerated treatment (twice daily) of depressive disorders (GSUND DAHOAM 2.0 = continuation of the study "GleichStrom UND Depression: Anwendung zu Hause Ohne Anreise zur Medbo"; Dragon et al., 2024).

Specifically, the study will assess feasibility (device usability, patient compliance, and usability of the video consultation), effectiveness (clinical ratings), and tolerability of this intervention in 30 patients with depression. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: active tDCS treatment, sham (placebo) tDCS treatment, or a waitlist control group (waiting period: 3 weeks). The latter two groups will subsequently receive active tDCS treatment.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

30

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Sex: female, male, non-binary
  • Age: 18-70 years
  • Diagnosis of depression: no current or past psychiatric medication (current episode and history)
  • Provision of informed consent to participate
  • Sufficient proficiency in the German language

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Presence of contraindications for tDCS (e.g., electrical implants or metallic objects in the body such as a cardiac pacemaker or insulin pump, dermatological conditions affecting the scalp)
  • Neurological disorders (e.g., cerebrovascular events, neurodegenerative diseases, epilepsy, brain malformations, or a history of severe head injury)
  • Participation in another clinical trial on depression within the 3 months prior to treatment initiation
  • Pregnancy or breastfeeding

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Verum accelerated home-based tDCS
10 patients will receive active tDCS during a three-week intervention (accelerated: twice daily).
Device: Transcranial direct current stimulation

Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), have gained increasing attention in recent years in both research and the treatment of various psychiatric disorders (Alonzo et al., 2019; Lefaucher et al., 2017).

Compared to other neuromodulation methods, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), tDCS offers the advantage of mobile or outpatient use, including home-based application. tDCS devices are small, portable, and cost-effective, and they are associated with a favorable side-effect profile (Alonzo et al., 2019).

Other Names:
  • tDCS
Placebo Comparator: Sham accelerated home-based tDCS
10 patients will receive sham tDCS during a three-week intervention (accelerated: twice daily) with the opportunity to get active tDCS after study completion.
Device: Transcranial direct current stimulation

Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), have gained increasing attention in recent years in both research and the treatment of various psychiatric disorders (Alonzo et al., 2019; Lefaucher et al., 2017).

Compared to other neuromodulation methods, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), tDCS offers the advantage of mobile or outpatient use, including home-based application. tDCS devices are small, portable, and cost-effective, and they are associated with a favorable side-effect profile (Alonzo et al., 2019).

Other Names:
  • tDCS
No Intervention: Waiting list
10 patients will have to wait for three weeks before the beginning ot the active tDCS intervention.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Course of the scores of the Hamilton Depression rating scale (21 Items)
Time Frame: 3 weeks
Depression rating scale (0-65, the lower the better)
3 weeks
Course of the scores of the Major Depression Inventory
Time Frame: 3 weeks
Depression rating scale (0-50, the lower the better)
3 weeks
Compliance
Time Frame: 3 weeks
Number of treatments administered (0-30 sessions, the more the better)
3 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Regensburg

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Berthold Langguth, Prof, PhD, University of Regensburg

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

March 16, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

November 30, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 24, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 24, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

March 2, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 2, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 24, 2026

Last Verified

February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 25-4450-101

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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