Estimulação transcraniana por corrente contínua no transtorno de ansiedade generalizada: um estudo randomizado duplo cego

Introduction: Anxiety is a disorder that has been affecting a substantial number of individuals, presenting a prevalence of 9.3% of people affected in Brazil, being the country with the highest prevalence of this pathology among the countries of the Americas. Among the anxiety disorders are Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), characterized mainly by tremors, muscular hypotonia, hyperventilation, sweating, palpitations, apprehension, restlessness, distractibility, loss of concentration and insomnia, causing impairment in the functional, social, affective and cognitive life of the individual, thus, there is a need for an effective treatment that can minimize these effects that GAD brings to affected individuals. One of the techniques that has been used with positive results for treatments of some psychiatric disorders is Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (TDCS), which is a noninvasive neuromodulation technique that, through a 1 to 1 electric microcurrent 2 mA causes stimulation or inhibition of neuronal activity. This stimulation causes specific changes in the behavior and motor activity of individuals by modulating specific areas of the brain. Despite many studies of TDCS in mood disorders, such as depression, and some studies in anxiety disorders such as panic, TDCS studies with GAD are still incipient. Thus, there is a need to evaluate the effects that TDCS can have on people affected by GAD, which is a recurrent disorder in society. Objectives: To analyze the effects of TDCS in people affected by GAD, presenting possible improvements in the symptoms of the disease. Materials and methods: The study will be based on a Triple-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial, with a sample of 30 participants, of both sexes, aged between 20 and 40 years, who had the clinical diagnosis of GAD, according to the criteria of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-V) and was performed at Climaf (Mossoró-RN), in a reserved and restricted place. Participants were divided into two groups, sham (placebo) and experiment, and the ...