Subject
schizophrenia
DISORDERS
This study is a double-blinded, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial that compares an intervention group receiving tDCS with a parallel control group not receiving it. A-priori sample size is calculated with G*Power. We conservatively assume a small to medium effect size of f = 0.3, with an α-level of 0.05 and a power-level of 0.80. We have two groups and four measurements, thus 18 patients per condition. We recruited 52 patients with chronic schizophrenia who had been hospitalized for a long time at the Jiangsu Province Suzhou Guangji Hospital, Suzhou Social Welfare Institute, Taicang Third People’s Hospital, Nanchong Psychosomatic Hospital, Wuxi Mental Health Center in mainland China from July 2017 to December 2019.The inclusion criteria included: (1) Meets the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV)The study was approved by the Institute Review Board Committees of Suzhou Guangji Hospital. The trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov on 13/04/2018. (No.NCT03497013).