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Updated: May 28, 2026
Remotely Supervised Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation: An Update on Safety and Tolerability
Published on: October 7, 2017
Tolerability of transcranial direct current stimulation in childhood-onset schizophrenia
Anand Mattai1, Rachel Miller, Brian Weisinger
1Child Psychiatry Branch, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. mattaia@mail.nih.gov
Insights
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is safe for children with schizophrenia. This study found tDCS well tolerated in pediatric patients with childhood-onset schizophrenia, with no serious adverse events reported.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Medical Devices
Background:
- Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is increasingly used for neuropsychiatric conditions.
- Limited data exists on tDCS tolerability in pediatric populations.
- Childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) is a severe form of schizophrenia beginning in childhood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the tolerability and safety of tDCS in pediatric patients diagnosed with childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS).
- To evaluate the feasibility of using tDCS as a potential therapeutic intervention in this population.
Main Methods:
- Twelve participants with COS underwent an inpatient study.
- Participants received either bilateral anodal dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) or bilateral cathodal superior temporal gyrus (STG) stimulation.
- Treatments involved 2 mA active or sham stimulation for 20 minutes daily over 2 weeks (10 sessions).
Main Results:
- Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) was well tolerated by all participants.
- No serious adverse events were reported during the study period.
- The stimulation parameters were feasible for the pediatric COS cohort.
Conclusions:
- This study provides the first evidence of tDCS tolerability in a pediatric population with COS.
- Bilateral anodal DLPFC and cathodal STG tDCS at 2 mA for 20 minutes is safe and well-tolerated.
- Findings support further investigation of tDCS for childhood-onset schizophrenia.
Background:
In recent years, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been used to study and treat many neuropsychiatric conditions. However, information regarding its tolerability in the pediatric population is lacking.
Objective:
This study aims to investigate the tolerability aspects of tDCS in the childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) population.
Methods:
Twelve participants with COS completed this inpatient study. Participants were assigned to one of two groups: bilateral anodal dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) stimulation (n = 8) or bilateral cathodal superior temporal gyrus (STG) stimulation (n = 5). Patients received either 2 mA of active treatment or sham treatment (with possibility of open active treatment) for 20 minutes, for a total of 10 sessions (2 weeks).
Results:
tDCS was well tolerated in the COS population with no serious adverse events occurring during the study.
Conclusions:
This is the first study to demonstrate that a 20-minute duration of 2 mA of bilateral anodal and bilateral cathodal DC polarization to the DLPFC and STG was well tolerated in a pediatric population.
