Brain stimulation plus cognitive skills to help calm strong emotions
Neurostimulation Enhanced Cognitive Restructuring for Transdiagnostic Emotional Dysregulation: A Component Analysis
This project uses one session of noninvasive brain stimulation together with cognitive restructuring to help adults who have trouble calming down when upset.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Duke University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Durham, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11230210 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You would come to Duke for a one-session program that pairs a brief training in cognitive restructuring (a skill for changing upsetting thoughts) with excitatory noninvasive brain stimulation over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The team will measure immediate changes in your behavior and brain function after the session to see which parts of the protocol drive improvement. The work focuses on adults who report difficulties calming down across mood and anxiety conditions, not a single diagnosis. The goal is to learn whether adding brain stimulation helps people acquire and use emotion-regulation skills more effectively.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Adults (age 21 and older) who experience frequent trouble calming down when upset and who have affective or anxiety-related emotional dysregulation would be the ideal candidates.
Not a fit: People under 21, those without significant emotion-regulation difficulties, or anyone with contraindications to rTMS (for example certain metal implants or a seizure disorder) may not be eligible or likely to benefit.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could help people learn to calm down faster and reduce emotional overload across different mood and anxiety problems.
How similar studies have performed: rTMS has shown benefit for some mood disorders and early work suggests neurostimulation can aid emotion regulation, but combining a single-session excitatory rTMS with cognitive restructuring across diagnoses is a relatively new approach.
Where this research is happening
Durham, United States
- Duke University — Durham, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Neacsiu, Andrada Delia — Duke University
- Study coordinator: Neacsiu, Andrada Delia
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.