Can zapping the brain while in virtual reality quiet anxious overthinking?
NCT ID NCT03915041
First seen Sep 14, 2026 · Last updated Sep 15, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
Researchers are testing whether combining a mild brain stimulation technique called tDCS with virtual reality can reduce anxious rumination in healthy people who tend to ruminate. The study enrolls 20 adults who score high on a rumination scale but do not have a psychiatric or anxiety disorder. Participants receive either active or sham brain stimulation while watching a virtual reality scene, and researchers measure changes in rumination using a questionnaire.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with virtual reality
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could point toward a non-drug way to help people who get stuck in repetitive, anxious thinking.
- What could go wrong
- This is a very small, early study of 20 healthy volunteers, so any effect may be modest or may not hold up in larger groups or in people with anxiety disorders. tDCS is generally considered safe but can cause mild scalp tingling or discomfort.
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Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
-
Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
-
20 people
The number who actually took part.
- Started
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May 2019
- Finished
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Aug 2020
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 to 65 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Accepted
You do not need to have the condition being studied to take part.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Without any particular ethnic and psychosocial criteria * Subject to ruminations (personality trait) documented by a RRS-SF score \>30 * Subjects with score to BDI scal \<14 assessed during first visit * Subjects without psychiatric or addictive disorders. * Subjects who do not meet all the diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder or characterized depressive episode. Exclusion Criteria: * contraindication to tDCS (neurosurgical history, intracranial device, skin problems) * current virtual reality intolerance * history of psychiatric or addictive disorders * Use of psychotropic drugs * Use of non psychotropic treatments significantly influencing mood or level of anxiety * pregnant or breast-feeding women * Neurological pathology, locomotor disability, or sensory (vestibular, visual, auditory ...)
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
-
University Hospital
Nantes, France
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