The Effects of tDCS on Illness Awareness in Schizophrenia

This is a novel study that seeks to explore the clinical and functional imaging effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on illness awareness or anosognosia in schizophrenia, arguably the most treatment-resistant manifestation of the disorder.

Transcranial DCS is a novel, non-invasive and non-convulsive technique for altering brain function. To our knowledge, no research has investigated the functional and behavioural effects of tDCS on anosognosia in schizophrenia. As such, we aim to improve impaired illness awareness in schizophrenia with tDCS by inhibiting left hemisphere regions (i.e. temporoparietooccipital cortex) shown by our group to be activated during illness denial. Positive results will demonstrate that impaired illness awareness in schizophrenia involves a similar brain network to impaired illness awareness in patients with brain lesions and can be similarly modulated with non-invasive techniques, such as tDCS. If proven effective, this easy to administer, safe, non-invasive intervention would have the potential to alter individuals' attitude towards their illness and medication, leading ultimately to an improvement in individuals' capacity for illness recognition and treatment engagement, which would undoubtedly have a significant impact on the management of this devastating mental disorder.