Could a headset at home ease ADHD symptoms?
NCT ID NCT05354232
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This study tests whether using a mild electrical brain stimulation device at home for four weeks can help adults with ADHD. Researchers will compare two different stimulation strengths to see if symptoms and thinking skills improve. The trial involves 60 adults aged 18 to 65 with an ADHD diagnosis.
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) device
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could offer a convenient, non-invasive way to reduce ADHD symptoms from home.
- What could go wrong
- This is an early, small trial (60 people) testing feasibility and dose effects, so results may not confirm effectiveness or apply broadly.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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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
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About 60 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Jul 2022
- Expected to finish
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May 2026
An estimate. End dates often move.
- 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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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
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: 1. Male and female outpatients 18-65 years of age 2. A diagnosis of ADD/ADHD or meeting the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) criteria. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Contraindication to tDCS: history or epilepsy, metallic implants in the head and neck, brain stimulators, vagus nerve stimulators, VP shunt, pacemakers, pregnancy. 2. Active substance dependence (except for tobacco). 3. Pregnant or nursing females. 4. Inability to participate in testing procedures. 5. Premorbid neurological conditions (including neurovascular and neurodegenerative diseases such as traumatic brain injury, stroke, Parkinson's, AD and other dementias) and severe psychiatric disorders (bipolar disorder, schizophrenia).
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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.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Massachusetts General Hospital
RECRUITINGCharlestown, Massachusetts, 02129, United States
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