The study, “Enhancing the Effects of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Alcohol Cue Reactivity With Cognitive Strategies,” has been selected for a 2024-25 pilot project by the Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism (CTNA).
Vaughn Steele, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry, is the principal investigator. Co-principal investigators are Hedy Kober, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and psychology, and Godfrey Pearlson, MD, MA, professor of psychiatry and of neuroscience.
From the PIs:
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is promising neuromodulation technique that has yet to reach its potential. One possible explanation is that rTMS has been typically applied during passive viewing of drug cues. In a collaborative project of three Yale Psychiatry faculty (PI: Steele, Co-I’s Pearlson and Kober), we propose to test whether a specific cognitive strategy enhances the effects of rTMS on the reduction of alcohol cue reactivity and craving by recruiting individuals in treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD). Participants will be thoroughly characterized with clinical assessments and safety screened for rTMS and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During the rTMS session, participants will either passively view alcohol images (the standard in the field) or perform a strategy (the reduction of craving task [ROC-T]). This novel combination of singularly effective interventions could be developed into an effective treatment for AUD while influencing rTMS applications for clinical intervention overall. This 1-year study is designed to test whether combining rTMS and ROC-T is more effective in reducing alcohol cue reactivity and craving than rTMS and passive image viewing.