Clinical trial NCT02790619: A Pilot Study Investigating Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) to Enhance Mindfulness Meditation
Official title: A Pilot Study Investigating Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) to Enhance Mindfulness Meditation
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Healthy
Lead sponsor: Medical University of South Carolina
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2016-06-06
Enrollment: 15
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 45
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: CROSSOVER
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: The purpose of this study is to determine if a new technology applied while listening to a mindfulness meditation tape can affect one's ability to achieve a state of "mindfulness." The new technology is called transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS.

Detailed description: Many people initially attempt meditation but cannot get their mind to be still. Or they do not get quick results and find it frustrating. Thus, the number of people benefiting from meditation would increase if there were a method of making it easier to perform. Moreover, establishing the actual brain mechanisms involved in the benefits of meditation would potentially open up synergistic treatments and approaches.

The investigators will investigate the use of a new, non-invasive brain stimulation method called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to augment a state of mindfulness. tDCS is a safe, inexpensive, non-invasive brain stimulation modality that has the capability of focally increasing or decreasing cortical activity. Anodal stimulation produces positive DC stimulation and is associated with increased cortical activity, whereas Cathodal stimulation produces a negative DC stimulation and is associated with decreased cortical activity. Cortical activity changes occur both during and after stimulation in a dose response fashion (higher current density and longer duration of stimulation produces larger and longer lasting effects).

The investigators will be investigating the use of tDCS to augment mindfulness meditation in a double-blind, crossover, randomized, sham-controlled trial.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Healthy control volunteers.
* meditation naive

Exclusion Criteria:

* Pregnancy,
* History of Mental illness or neurological disorders,
* prior meditative experiences

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change from Baseline Mood Visual Analog Scale (Mood VAS) at Post Stimulation of Experimental Visit One
timeFrame: Baseline (Visit 1/Week 1) Post Stimulation (Visit 1/Week 1). Through Visit 1 completion, an average of 25 minutes
measure: Change from Baseline Mood Visual Analog Scale (Mood VAS) at Post Stimulation of Experimental Visit Two
timeFrame: Baseline (Visit 2/Week 2) Post Stimulation (Visit 2/Week 2). Through Visit 2 completion, an average of 25 minutes
measure: Change from Baseline Mood Visual Analog Scale (Mood VAS) at Post Stimulation of Experimental Visit Three
timeFrame: Baseline (Visit 3/Week 3) Post Stimulation (Visit 3/Week 3). Through Visit 3 completion, an average of 25 minutes
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
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