Neuromodulation in Depression (NeuroMooD)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Neurofeedback in Depression
IRAS ID
170488
Contact name
Roland Zahn
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 6 months, 30 days
Research summary
Even optimal treatments fail to prevent recurrence in most patients with major depressive disorder over the long-run (MDD). Particularly currently remitted patients who experience excessive self-blame and incomplete remission are found to be at an increased risk of recurrent depressive episodes. Therefore there is an urgent need to understand the mechanisms by which self-blame affects symptom remission and to develop novel treatments that improve the long-term outcomes of MDD.
Neural coupling abnormalities were identified as underpinning self-blaming emotional biases in MDD and predict whether people with MDD whose symptoms have subsided will develop another episode within one year. Self-blame-related coupling therefore represents an excellent target for interventions to reduce the increased risk of recurrence in people who have incompletely recovered from major depression.
In an earlier pilot study we demonstrated that changes in self-blame-selective coupling on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can be detected and fed back to the participants and influenced by neurofeedback training. However, to our knowledge, there is no available neurofeedback intervention to reduce symptoms in patients with MDD who have only insufficiently responded to standard treatment, one of the strongest clinical predictors of recurrence risk.
Neural coupling is also known to be influenced by transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS). It is unknown, however, whether tDCS can be used to tackle self-blaming biases in MDD and how tDCS and fMRI neurofeedback compare in a similar treatment protocol.
People partially remitted from MDD or panic disorder and healthy volunteers are eligible to participate. The purpose of this study at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London is to test the therapeutic potential of real-time fMRI neurofeedback and tDCS aimed at self-blaming emotional biases in partially remitted MDD. Further, it aims at understanding the mechanisms by which self-blaming emotional biases affect treatment outcomes.
REC name
London - Camberwell St Giles Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/0577
Date of REC Opinion
11 Jun 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion