Home-based Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to Modulate Neural Networks and Promote Resilience

Resilience, the concept that describes the ability of certain individuals to resist, among others, the impact of stress, is a broad term.

In clinical psychology and mental health, the concept of resilience has historically been linked to the study of individual differences (e.g. self-esteem, sense of control, perception of social support, etc.) that determine the ability to cope with the impact of life traumas and maintain good psychological and physical functioning, avoiding mental illness.

Neuroimaging research has identified brain regions that show patterns of specific activity and connectivity during exposure to stressful or violent stimuli and may be correlated with scores on psychosocial resilience scales or predict coping capabilities.

In the same vein, our group has recently observed how certain connectivity patterns between frontal and parietal areas related to the default neural network (DMN) and pedimental-parietal network (FPN), are predictive of better stress resilience, which decreases the negative impact on mental health.

Together, these findings suggest the possible existence of brain circuits composed of nodes within medial dorsolateral and prefrontal brain areas, and their connections to parietal areas, specifically related to resilience capacity.