Study Background

Why are we doing this study?

Depression is common and disabling.

The most common treatments are antidepressant medications and talking therapies.

However, after a full course of treatment with antidepressant medication or psychotherapy, over one third continue to be unwell.

As well, for many individuals, they would prefer to not take antidepressant medications or be involved in talking therapy. They would like more choices when it comes to treatment.

Could I be experiencing depression?

Individuals with depression or major depressive disorder may experience:

  • Feeling sad or down or not enjoying things that they used to

  • Changes in appetite

  • Trouble sleeping

  • Lack of energy

  • Feeling hopeless or thinking about death or suicide

These changes may have lasted for a couple of weeks.

More information on MDD is available on the NHS website:

NHS - Symptoms of Depression in Adults

What evidence is there for transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)?

Studies have shown that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) could be a possible treatment for major depression.

We and other researchers have carried out large reviews of many studies, called meta-analysis, to look at the overall effect of tDCS in depression. These studies show that people who receive active tDCS often show more improvement in their depression than those who receive inactive tDCS (Mutz et al., 2018, 2019).

In our clinical trial, we looked at providing tDCS at home, and we found that people using home-based tDCS were more likely to show an improvement in their depressive symptoms with active tDCS than with inactive tDCS (Woodham et al., 2025).

Now we would like to see how it would be to provide tDCS as part of day-to-day care.