Prefronto-cerebellar tDCS improves cognition in euthymic bipolar patients: preliminary neuropsychological and neurophysiological (P300) findings

Bipolar Disorder Type I (BDI) and Bipolar Disorder Type II (BDII) are chronic and disabling conditions characterized by manic/hypomanic and depressive episodes. Cognitive disturbances seem to affect both the subtypes of BD, specifically in frontal executive functioning and verbal learning working memory. The aim of the current study was to verify whether the transcranial tDCS applied to cerebellar and prefrontal cortices could improve the cognitive functioning of euthymic patients with bipolar disorder or not, and assess the variation of the cognitive functioning and the global information processing stream through neuropsychological, neurophysiological and neurological measures. 25 BD outpatients underwent prefrontal (anodal) and cerebellar (cathodal) tDCS for 3 consecutive weeks. All participants were clinically assessed through neuropsychological and neurophysiological (P300) examinations at baseline and after tDCS therapy. Neuropsychological tests in the domains of visuo-spatial memory and attention improved significantly (p<0.05) or showed a favourable statistical trend (p