Comparison of Effect of Schema Therapy and transcranial direct-current stimulation on food craving

Food craving means a strong desire to consume unnecessary foods that can be a source of eating disorders. Aim in this study to compare the efficacy of Schema Therapy and Transcranial Direct-Current Stimulation (tDCS) in this field.

The present study was conducted with a two-group experimental design (pre-test, post-test with two-month follow-up). The treatment was presented in two levels of tDCS (six sessions in 20 minute) and schema therapy (12 sessions of 45 minutes per week). The population consisted of people with food cravings. After screening, 40 subjects (12 males and 28 females) were selected by convenience sampling and randomly divided into two experimental groups. Craving was also measured by the Food Craving Questionnaire of Meule & et al. (2014). Data were analyzed by ANOVA with repeated measure.

There was no significant difference between the two treatments in reducing craving symptoms (F = 0.64, P> 0.05). But, there was a significant difference between the craving scores over time (pre-test, post-test, and follow-up) (F> 69.39> P> 0.05).

The results showed that the effectiveness of both methods in reducing food craving syndrome was the same. As a result, no single method is effective in reducing food cravings, and it is recommended that tDCS be used as a complementary therapeutic therapy in this area, since tDCS has minimal side effects. Schema therapy can also be used as a preventive intervention to weaken maladaptive schemas at the outset.