| Summary: | Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation intervention that induces changes in cortical activity and excitability according to the parameters of stimulation. TDCS effects have been reported since the 1800s with the development of the galvanic cell, although more systematic research has been conducted only from 1950-1970 and then from 1998 onwards. At the present time, most tDCS studies have been conducted in healthy volunteers, proving the properties of tDCS as a technique that induces long-lasting, polarity-dependent changes on specific brain areas. In addition, some studies have applied tDCS in selected neuropsychiatric samples, as to investigate its therapeutic effects, obtaining mixed albeit mostly positive results. Using tDCS in clinical practice could bring enormous gains for the treatment of several neuropsychiatric disorders, as tDCS is a portable, non-expensive and straightforward therapy, being therefore a putative candidate as an add-on or substitutive therapy for pharmacological treatments.
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