Bodily distress disorder (BDD) is a challenging condition often unresponsive to pharmacotherapy. This case series explores accelerated transcranial direct current stimulation (atDCS) as an adjunctive treatment in five patients with treatment-resistant BDD. Patients received 2–5 daily sessions over approximately 10 days, targeting the left motor cortex or dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Four patients showed significant pain reduction (Visual Analogue Scale VAS scores reduced from 9.0 ± 1.4 to 3.8 ± 2.2) and overall symptom improvement, with minimal adverse effects. These findings suggest that atDCS is a safe, feasible and potentially effective intervention for BDD.
Joseph et al. (Sun,) studied this question.