Schizophrenia: Negative Symptoms

This chapter provides an overview of tDCS as a treatment for negative symptoms in schizophrenia. Negative symptoms are frequent during schizophrenia and have a debilitating impact on global functioning. They consist in lack of impetus and volition, impaired cognition, and social decline. Although positive symptoms of schizophrenia respond to antipsychotic pharmacotherapy, negative symptoms are usually refractory to pharmacotherapy. In this context, tDCS could help to improve such symptoms by restoring disturbed neural network connectivity in frontal hub regions. To date, there are several studies suggesting an improvement of negative symptoms by left-anodal and right-cathodal tDCS of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Domiciliary use of tDCS could help to overcome difficulties in adherence in this severely ill population.