Home-administered tDCS for Treatment of Depression

The Soterix Medical 1X1 mini-CT will be used to determine the safety and efficacy of home-based transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in treating unipolar depression. Specifically efficacy will be determined by change in MADRS score from baseline to the 10 week follow-up. Feasibility and compliance will be determined by low drop out rate and percentage of scheduled sessions completed. Self-reported mood scores will be evaluated using the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS-SR) and Quality of Life enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire Form (Q-LES-Q-SF). All visits will be performed via telephone or video conference. Subjects will be taught to operate the tDCS system and complete a tolerability check. The treatment course will consist of an acute phase of 28 tDCS sessions conducted Monday - Friday over 6 weeks. This is followed by a taper of 4 tDCS sessions spaced 1 week apart. Patients who meet criteria for clinical response (\>=50% improvement in MADRS) may continue with maintenance treatments of once a week for 2 months and once every 2 weeks for the remaining 3 months. Mood assessments will be conducted at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 6 weeks in the acute treatment phase. In the taper phase, assessments wil be conducted at 1 month (end of taper), 3 and 6 months following completion of the acute phase. All assessments in the acute treatment phase and the taper phase will have a +/- 1 week collection window.