Citation

Malandain L, Blanc JV, Ferreri F, Giorgiadis T, Mosser S, Mouchabac S, Thibaut F. Dialogues Clin. Neurosci. 2020; 22(3): 295-297.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Les Laboratoires Servier)

DOI

10.31887/DCNS.2020.22.3/lmalandain

PMID

33162773

PMCID

PMC7605017

Abstract

Chemsex is an escalating public health issue among men who have sex with men, with potentially severe somatic and psychiatric consequences. Given the limited knowledge and lack of treatment recommendations available in this area, we proposed the use of noninvasive brain stimulation in order to reduce problematic chemsex behavior. This is the first open-label case report of a positive effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in a patient who was complaining of severe chemsex addiction. Total disappearance of chemsex behavior occurred after 5 days of daily sessions of right prefrontal cortex stimulation and did not return after 8 months of follow-up. The strengthening of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity may have modulated limbic pathways and reduced incentive salience and craving of both sexual addiction and concomitant illicit drug use.
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Language: en

Keywords

Adult; Behavior, Addictive; chemical sex; chemsex; Craving; Homosexuality, Male; Humans; Male; sexual addiction; Sexual and Gender Minorities; slamming; Substance-Related Disorders; Suicide, Attempted; Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation; transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS); virtual reality