60 inpatient alcohol and/or polydrug abusers (mean age = 33.9) volunteered for this double-blind study. 30 were given CES, 10 sham CES, and 20 served as normal hospital routine controls. Dependent measures of anxiety were the Profile of Mood States, the IPAT Anxiety Scale, and the State Trait Anxiety Index. The CES and sham pts received 15 daily, 30 minute treatments. Based on Fisher t-tests of the means, CES treated patients showed significantly greater improvement on all anxiety measures than did either control group. There were no differences in response between older and younger patients, or between the primarily drug or alcohol abusers. No placebo effect was found on any of the measures. The authors concluded that CES is rightfully gaining increasing use in American medicine as it gains increasing confirmation as a significant treatment adjunct for stress and cognitive dysfunction in chemical dependency treatment programs, regardless of the chemical of abuse or the age range of the patients treated. No side effects were reported.
Device: Neurotone 101, 100 Hz, 20% duty cycle, <1 mA, electrodes behind each ear
Schmitt, Richard, Capo, Thomas, Boyd, Elvin. Cranial electrotherapy stimulation as a treatment for anxiety in chemically dependent persons. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental
