Publications by authors named "Vani H Thimmashetty"

Article Synopsis
  • Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive brain stimulation method that shows promise in helping individuals with schizophrenia manage auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH).
  • Traditional in-clinic tDCS requires frequent visits due to its short-lived effects, but home-based tDCS could provide a more accessible solution if safety and standardization measures are implemented.
  • A case study demonstrated successful administration of tDCS at home with proper caregiver training and a standard operating procedure (SOP), leading to sustained improvements in AVH over ten days without adverse effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Self-bias effect is expressed as a preferential selection and accelerated perception of self-related sensory information. Intentional binding (IB) is a related phenomenon where the sensory outcome from a voluntary action and the voluntary action itself are perceived to be closer to each other in time in both predictive (voluntary action predicting sensory consequence) and retrospective (sensory consequence features triggering self-related inference) contexts. Recent evidence indicates that self-related visual stimuli can affect retrospective intentional binding (rIB).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques such as conventional transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and high definition tDCS (HD-tDCS) are increasingly being used as add-on treatment options in schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This is reporting of the use of a novel accelerated, symptom-specific, add-on tDCS (combining conventional and high definition) protocol in a patient with both schizophrenia and OCD. The intervention showed clinical utility by reducing both schizophrenia and OCD symptoms.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: The present study is a large case series evaluating the benefits of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in treatment-resistant obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

Methods: We reviewed the charts of 32 patients with treatment-resistant OCD who received 10-20 sessions of anodal pre-SMA tDCS.

Results: Overall, 9 (28 %) showed at least partial response to tDCS at the end of 10-20 sessions [responders = 8 (25 %), partial responders = 1 (3%)].

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: Previous studies have examined the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on the in-vivo concentrations of neuro-metabolites assessed through magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in neurological and psychiatry disorders. This review aims to systematically evaluate the data on the effect of tDCS on MRS findings and thereby attempt to understand the potential mechanism of tDCS on neuro-metabolites.

Methods: The relevant literature was obtained through PubMed and cross-reference (search till June 2020).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a type of non-invasive brain stimulation technique that is explored as an add-on treatment for the alleviation of symptoms across the diverse symptom domains in neuropsychiatric disorders. In psychiatry, data is emerging on the effects of tDCS as an add-on treatment in schizophrenia as well as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). But despite high prevalence, the effectiveness of tDCS in co-morbid schizophrenia and OCD is lacking.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with comorbid bipolar affective disorder (BPAD) is often faced with a therapeutic challenge. Pharmacological treatment strategy engaged towards alleviating symptoms in OCD has the propensity to precipitate a manic switch in patients with comorbid BPAD. Advanced non-invasive brain stimulation techniques like high definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) may target the symptoms of OCD while preventing a probable manic switch in a vulnerable population.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF