Smoking is one of the world’s leading preventable causes of premature illness and death.
Nicotine is the pharmacological basis of addiction, and its dependence triggers a series of
psychobiological, behavioral and cognitive changes. There are several effective strategies to
help you quit smoking, but the long-term success rate is very low. Therefore, it is important
to explore and study new alternative techniques for the treatment of tobacco use disorder
(TUD), which can offer a greater variety of therapeutic resources and improve their results in
the clinical setting. Recent studies of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), applied to
the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFc), have shown promising results in reducing craving
and tobacco consumption. Its use is justified by its important role in the regulation of inhibitory
and reward control mechanisms (dopaminergic circuits), which are found to be dysfunctional
in patients with TUD. The findings suggest that tDCS applied to DLPFc may be an effective
technique as adjunctive therapy to help quit smoking. However, more research is needed and
therefore future proposals are outlined.
Authors
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Raúl Espert-Tortajada - Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultat de Psicología, Universitat de València. Unidad de Neuropsicología, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valencia.
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Marta Rebull-Monje - Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultat de Psicología, Universitat de València. Unidad de Neuropsicología, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valencia.
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Marien Gadea-Doménech - Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultat de Psicología, Universitat de València. Unidad de Neuropsicología, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valencia.
Keywords:
Addiction; tobacco; craving; give up smoking; neuromodulation; tDCS.