Table 1.
Demographical and clinical participant characteristics with mean and standard deviation values or count
| Active tDCS (n = 47) | Sham (n = 49) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender | Male: | 41 | 48 |
| Female: | 6 | 1 | |
| Age (years)a | 40.5 (10.6) | 44.4 (9.4) | |
| Education levelb | Low: | 4 | 1 |
| Moderate: | 30 | 30 | |
| High: | 13 | 18 | |
| Military status | Active-duty: | 29 | 40 |
| Post-active veteran: | 18 | 9 | |
| Number of deployments | 2.6 (2.6) | 3.3 (2.0) | |
| Years since last deployment (years) | 12.9 (11.3) | 12.8 (10.0) | |
| Treatment type during tDCS interventionc | EMDR: | 8 | 8 |
| CBT: | 22 | 26 | |
| Other: | 17 | 15 | |
| Use of psychoactive medicationd | Yes: | 18 | 15 |
| No: | 29 | 34 | |
| Childhood trauma (based on CTQ-SF cut-off scores for moderate to extreme childhood trauma) | Yes: | 30 | 30 |
| No: | 17 | 18 | |
| 1 missing | |||
| ADHD diagnosis | Yes: | 7 | 6 |
| No: | 40 | 43 | |
| Attentional impulsivity (BIS-11) | 20.4 (3.5) | 20.6 (3.5) | |
| Motor impulsivity (BIS-11) | 21.9 (3.6) | 22.7 (3.4) | |
| Non-planning impulsivity (BIS-11) | 28.7 (4.4) | 27.4 (4.7) | |
| Diagnosise: | |||
| Impulsive aggression | 23 | 22 | |
| Anxiety | 16 | 24 | |
| PTSD | 25 | 25 | |
Age was entered as a covariate in the statistical analyses. Excluding the Age covariate from the models did not significantly change the results.
Education level: low = high school education only, moderate = vocational degree, high = higher education degree.
EMDR, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy; CBT, cognitive behavioral therapy. Other treatments included: aggression regulation training, mindfulness-based therapy, couples therapy, maintenance therapy by social workers, and pharmacological treatment.
The majority of psychoactive drugs used in our sample comprised selective serotonin or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SSRI's and SNRI's), benzodiazepines, atypical antipsychotic drugs, norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitors (NDRI's), and anticonvulsants. Analysis of the primary outcome measure (SST training scores) showed similar results across medicated and unmedicated patients. Also, excluding Use of psychoactive medication (yes/no) as a covariate from the models did not significantly change the results of any other measure.
While most participants fulfilled criteria for either PTSD or anxiety or impulsive aggression, some participants fulfilled criteria for multiple stress-related diagnoses: PTSD and anxiety (n = 10), PTSD and impulsive aggression (n = 14), anxiety and impulsive aggression (n = 6), or all three diagnoses (n = 5).