Rhythmic Brain Stimulation Improves Emotion Control in Social Anxiety

A small study found that an in-phase pattern of dual-site transcranial alternating current stimulation, applied during a task that required overriding automatic emotional responses, strengthened the connection between the lateral prefrontal and sensorimotor cortices and reduced amygdala influence in socially anxious adults. Participants with stronger neural responses showed greater improvement, while anti-phase stimulation offered no consistent benefit. The findings suggest rhythm-based brain stimulation could augment exposure therapy for social anxiety, but results varied across individuals and require larger, more personalized studies.