The Effectiveness of Transracial Direct Current Stimulation on Brain-Behavioral Systems and Dark Personality Traits of Adolescent with Self-Injurious Behaviors

Psychologists consider self-injurious behaviors as a self-help activity that helps a person temporarily calm down, and is in fact an aggressive behavior that can lead to suicide as long as it is not treated. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of transcranial direct current stimulation on brain-behavioral systems and dark personality traits of adolescent with self-injurious behaviors.

 The method of the present study was quasi-experimental with pre-test and post-test design with control and follow-up groups. The statistical population of the study included all male high school students with self-injurious behaviors in Tabriz in the academic year 2019. The sample consisted of 30 students with self-injurious behaviors (includes 15 people in each group). The sample selection method was that first 30 students with self-injurious behaviors were purposefully selected and screened and randomly assigned in two groups. The self-injurious questionnaire, brain-behavioral systems scale and dark personality traits questionnaire were used to collect data. The experimental group was exposed to direct transcranial electrical stimulation for 20 sessions every other day. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance test and employing SPSS-24 software.

The results showed that transcranial direct current stimulation caused decreased behavioral activation (P<0.001) increased behavioral inhibition(P<0.001) and decreased antisocial behavior(P<0.001) in adolescents with self-injurious behaviors.

According to the findings of this study, it was found that direct transcranial electrical stimulation had an effect on brain-behavioral systems and dark personality traits of students with self-injurious behaviors.