ReviewBrain sciences2018
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Systematic Review.
Review in Brain sciences, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Transcranial direct current stimulation for learning and memory in Parkinson's disease: a systematic review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- Immediate and long-term efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation (tCDS) in obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in ADHD: A Systematic Review of Efficacy, Safety, and Protocol-induced Electrical Field Modeling Results.Neuroscience bulletin · 2020Pooled it
- Brain Stimulation in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): A Systematic Review.Current neuropharmacology · 2019Pooled it
- Effectiveness of noninvasive brain stimulation in the treatment of anxiety disorders: a meta-analysis of sham or behaviour-controlled studies.Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPNPooled it
- Disgust-reduction evaluative conditioning (DREC) and tDCS in contamination-based OCD: a randomized controlled trial.BMC psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Enhancing response inhibition through a novel tES-fNIRS framework.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Investigating the effects of brain stimulation on the neural substrates of inhibition in patients with OCD: A simultaneous tDCS - fMRI study.Translational psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Non-invasive brain stimulation modulates neural correlates of performance monitoring in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2022Trial
- Transcranial direct current stimulation targeting the medial prefrontal cortex modulates functional connectivity and enhances safety learning in obsessive-compulsive disorder: Results from two pilot studies.Depression and anxiety · 2022Trial
- Treating refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder with transcranial direct current stimulation: An open label study.Brain and behavior · 2020Trial
- Treatment of therapy-resistant OCD with application of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS): a case series.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Cathodal tDCS in obsessive-compulsive disorder: cognitive and neurophysiological outcomes in a double-blind sham-controlled trial.Clinical neurophysiology practice · 2026Article
- Increased Neuroplasticity in Frontal Cortex to Reduce Compulsive Behavior: A Preclinical tDCS Study in Male Rats.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Article
- Acute Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Combined with High-Load Resistance Exercises on Repetitive Vertical Jump Performance and EEG Characteristics in Healthy Men.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Safety and Efficacy of an Intensified and Repeated Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Targeting Supplementary Motor Area and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Trichotillomania (Hair Pulling Disorder): A Case Report.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Article
- The Application of tDCS to Treat Pain and Psychocognitive Symptoms in Cancer Patients: A Scoping Review.Neural plasticity · 2024Article
- Pre-clinical indications of brain stimulation treatments for non-affective psychiatric disorders, a status update.Translational psychiatry · 2023Review
- Article
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder: Etiology, neuropathology, and cognitive dysfunction.Brain and behavior · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Despite the advances in psychopharmacology and established psychotherapeutic interventions, more than 40% of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) do not respond to conventional treatment approaches. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been recently proposed as a therapeutic tool to alleviate treatment-resistant symptoms in patients with OCD. The aim of this review was to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art and future clinical applications of tDCS in patients with OCD. A literature search conducted on the PubMed database following PRISMA guidelines and completed by a manual search yielded 12 results: eight case reports, three open-label studies (with 5, 8, and 42 participants), and one randomized trial with two active conditions (12 patients). There was no sham-controlled study. A total of 77 patients received active tDCS with a large diversity of electrode montages mainly targeting the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the orbitofrontal cortex or the (pre-) supplementary motor area. Despite methodological limitations and the heterogeneity of stimulation parameters, tDCS appears to be a promising tool to decrease obsessive-compulsive symptoms as well as comorbid depression and anxiety in patients with treatment-resistant OCD. Further sham-controlled studies are needed to confirm these preliminary results.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.