The effect of direct electrical stimulation of cranial vera (tDCS) and verbal neural programming (NLP) on reducing depression, anxiety and stress in women

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of direct electrical and cranial stimulation (tDCS) and verbal neural programming (NLP) on reducing depression, anxiety and stress in women referred to Zahedan Comprehensive Health Services.

The research design was pretest-posttest with experimental groups (direct electrical stimulation of the cranial vein (tDCS) and verbal neural programming (NLP)) and the control group. The statistical population was all women with three disorders of depression, anxiety and stress referred to mental health experts of comprehensive health service centers in Zahedan. Among them, a sample of 45 people was selected by simple random sampling method. The first group received 10 sessions of direct electrical stimulation and cranial stimulation (tDCS) treatment. The second group underwent 8 weeks of verbal neural programming (NLP), while 15 subjects in the control group were not given any training. After completing the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) questionnaire, data were collected and then analyzed using SPSS software version 23.

The results of multivariate analysis of covariance showed that the mean scores of depression, anxiety and stress between the pre- and post-test scores of the treatment groups decreased significantly. The results of Tukey post hoc test showed that the mean of direct electrical cranial vera stimulation (TDCS) was lower than verbal neural programming (NLP) in reducing depression, anxiety and stress.