Mechanisms of Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Depression

Half of the patients are randomized to the arm receiving transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation for a period of six weeks. Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation will be carried out as an adjuvant, i.e. in addition to the regular treatment of the participants. The intervention will take place three times a day from Monday to Friday. Each of the three daily sessions is going to last 30-60 minutes, depending on patient tolerance.

Half of the patients are randomized to the arm receiving sham transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation for a period of six weeks. Sham transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation will be carried out as an adjuvant, i.e. in addition to the regular treatment of the participants. The intervention will take place three times a day from Monday to Friday. Each of the three daily sessions is going to last 30-60 minutes. The procedures for sham tVNS will be identical to tVNS, with the only exception that the sham tVNS will be performed with no current output