Jerome Brunelin

• PhD, HDR
• Researcher at Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, French National Centre for Scientific Research

Some 25%–30% of patients with schizophrenia have auditory verbal hallucinations that are refractory to antipsychotic drugs. Outcomes in studies of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation suggest the possibility that application of transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) with inhibitory stimulation over the left temporo-parietal cortex a...

It has been suggested that the left pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) could be implicated in facial emotion expression and recognition, especially for laughter/happiness. To test this hypothesis, in a single-blind, randomized crossover study, we investigated the impact of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on performances of 18 healthy pa...

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) in patients with schizophrenia are associated with abnormal hyperactivity in the left temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) and abnormal connectivity between frontal and temporal areas. Recent findings suggest that fronto-temporal transcranial Direct Current stimulation (tDCS) with the cathode placed over the left TPJ...

A single transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) session applied over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLFPC) can be associated with procognitive effects. Furthermore, repeated DLPFC tDCS sessions are under investigation as a new therapeutic tool for a range of neuropsychiatric conditions. A possible mechanism explaining such beneficial e...

Impulsivity, a multifaceted construct, is a core feature of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), associated with functional impairment and suicide mortality. Findings on motor inhibitory control, a key dimension of impulsivity, in BPD are heterogeneous. This PRISMA-guided meta-analysis examines motor inhibitory control in adults with BPD compared...

Background Schizophrenia is a multifactorial disorder with a range of risk factors. Dysregulation in the systems involved in the stress response is a key component of its pathophysiology. Individuals at risk of developing schizophrenia exhibit hyperreactivity to stress and altered cognitive performance, both known as vulnerability markers. This stu...

Introduction This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to examine the prevalence of Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in homeless children and adolescents, and the factors that may influence its prevalence. Methods Relevant publications in Medline, Web of Science, Scopus and PsycINFO were systematically searched to identify stud...

Background According to the vulnerability stress model of schizophrenia, an abnormal hyperreactivity to stress is incriminated in the transition from at risk stages to full-blown psychotic episodes. Aims & Objectives We proposed that stimulating the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) during a...

Background Hoarding disorder, characterized by excessive acquisition of possessions and difficulty in discarding them, is a major treatment challenge. At the brain level, hoarding disorder has been associated with increased activity in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Aims & Objectives In a case report, we explored a therapeutic s...

Background Anhedonia, including social, physical, and less-known, olfactory, stands as a core symptom of major depressive disorder (MDD). At the neurobiological level, anhedonia has been associated with abnormal activity within the reward system, suggesting a key role for dopamine. Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) has emerged as...

Over the past three decades, non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques have gained worldwide attention and demonstrated therapeutic potential in various medical fields, particularly psychiatry. The emergence of these novel techniques has led to an increased need for robust training programs to provide practitioners, whether clinicians or sci...

In a retrospective study, 54 patients with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder (TRD) completed a free-viewing task in which they had to freely explore pairs of faces (an emotional face (happy or sad) opposite to a neutral face). Attentional bias to emotional faces was calculated for early and sustained attention. We observed a significant...

A significant amount of European basic and clinical neuroscience research includes the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and low intensity transcranial electrical stimulation (tES), mainly transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Two recent changes in the EU regulations, the introduction of the Medical Device Regulation (MDR) (2...

Schizophrenia is characterized by the misattribution of emotional significance to neutral faces, accompanied by overactivations of the limbic system. To understand the disorder’s genetic and environmental contributors, investigating healthy first-degree relatives is crucial. However, inconsistent findings exist regarding their ability to recognize...

Hoarding disorder is an under-recognized condition characterized by the excessive acquisition of possessions and difficulty in disposing of them, which can have dramatic consequences. As hoarding disorder is difficult to treat and associated with high levels of disability in all areas of functioning, there appears to be a critical need to develop n...

Negative symptoms in schizophrenia impose a significant burden with limited effective pharmacological treatment options. Recent trials have shown preliminary evidence for the efficacy of using intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) in treating negative symptoms in schizophrenia. We aim to systematically review the current evidence of iTBS in t...

Background: The association between cannabis use and positive symptoms in schizophrenia spectrum disorders is well documented, especially via meta-analyses. Yet, findings are inconsistent regarding negative symptoms, while other dimensions such as disorganization, depression, and excitement, have not been investigated. In addition, meta-analyses us...

Background Following a traumatic event, 40–80% of the patients with acute stress disorder (ASD) will develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 67% at 6 months. Alpha1-blockers are effective in treating some symptoms of PTSD but their usefulness in acute stress situations remains unclear. We hypothesized that reducing noradrenergic hyperactivit...

Background: The association between cannabis use and positive symptoms in schizophrenia spectrum disorders is well documented, especially via meta-analyses. Yet, findings are inconsistent regarding negative symptoms, while other dimensions such as disorganization, depression, and excitement, have not been investigated. In addition, meta-analyses us...

Experiencing chronic stress significantly increases the risk for depression. Depression is a complex disorder with varied symptoms across patients. However, feeling of sadness and decreased motivation, and diminished feeling of pleasure (anhedonia) appear to be core to most depressive pathology. Odorants are potent signals that serve a critical rol...

Distinguishing imagination and thoughts from information we perceived from the environment, a process called reality-monitoring, is important in everyday situations. Although reality monitoring seems to overlap with the concept of self-monitoring, which allows one to distinguish self-generated actions or thoughts from those generated by others, the...

Introduction: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) are commonly observed in migrants. Although Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) can be helpful to treat these diseases, it remains difficult to propose EMDR as an individual intervention in help-seeking migrants. Group EMDR, like Group Traumati...

Background: In 2008, the U.S. FDA approved rTMS as a treatment against medication-resistant depression. However, real-world rTMS outcomes remain understudied. This study investigates how rTMS for depression is delivered in routine clinical practice in France, and measures its effectiveness as well as its moderators. Methods: Five centers provide...

Processing of basic auditory features, one of the earliest stages of auditory perception, has been the focus of considerable investigations in schizophrenia. Although numerous studies have shown abnormalities in pitch perception in schizophrenia, other basic auditory features such as intensity, duration, and sound localization have been less explor...

Background In parallel to the traditional symptomatology, deficits in cognition (memory, attention, reasoning, social functioning) contribute significantly to disability and suffering in individuals with schizophrenia. Cognitive deficits have been closely linked to alterations in early auditory processes (EAP) that occur in auditory cortical areas....

Purpose: Patient-Reported Outcomes are essential to properly assess treatment effectiveness in randomized clinical trial (RCT) for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). MDD self-assessment may vary over time depending on change in the meaning of patients' self-evaluation of depression, i.e. Response Shift (RS). Our aim was to investigate RS and its imp...

Background Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has emerged as a therapeutic solution in patients with treatment-resistant auditory verbal hallucinations. However, the optimal stimulation parameters remain unclear, especially for patients with clozapine-resistant symptoms. Method In an open label retrospective study, we investigated...

Transcranial electrical stimulation has been proposed as a noninvasive therapeutic approach for reducing treatment-resistant symptoms of schizophrenia—in particular, auditory hallucinations. However, the high variability observed in the clinical response leaves much room to optimize the stimulation parameters and strengthen its benefits. We propose...

Introduction A better understanding of how the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis can be externally regulated is of major importance, especially because hyperreactivity to stress has been proposed as a key factor in the onset and maintenance of many psychiatric conditions. Over the past decades, numerous studies have investigated whether non...

Emotional processing deficits are key features in major depressive disorder (MDD). Neuroimaging studies indicate that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays a pivotal role in both depressive symptoms and emotional processing. Recently, transcranial Direct Current Stimulations (tDCS) applied over the DLPFCs have held the promise to allevia...

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS Formal thought disorder (FTD) is a multidimensional syndrome mainly occurring along the psychosis continuum. Cannabis use is known to increase symptoms of psychosis, particularly positive symptoms. However, the impact of cannabis use on FTD in individuals presenting symptoms along the psychosis continuum remains unclear. T...

Objective Although relatively costly and non-scalable, non-invasive neuromodulation interventions are treatment alternatives for neuropsychiatric disorders. The recent developments of highly-deployable transcranial electric stimulation (tES) systems, combined with mobile-Health technologies, could be incorporated in digital trials to overcome metho...

Background: In parallel to the traditional symptomatology, deficits in cognition (memory, attention, reasoning, social functioning) contribute significantly to disability and suffering in individuals with schizophrenia. Cognitive deficits have been closely linked to alterations in early auditory processes (EAP) that occur in auditory cortical areas...

Purpose of review: Noninvasive brain stimulation has emerged in the last three decades as a promising treatment for patients with antipsychotic-resistant symptoms of schizophrenia. This review updates the latest progress in the use of noninvasive brain stimulation to treat schizophrenia symptoms. Recent findings: Several recently published rando...

Background and Hypothesis Impaired insight into the illness and its consequences is associated with poor outcomes in schizophrenia. While transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may represent a potentially effective treatment strategy to relieve various symptoms of schizophrenia, its impact on insight remains unclear. To investigate whether...

Introduction Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death in youth. Previous suicide attempts are among the strongest predictors of future suicide re-attempt. However, the lack of data and understanding of suicidal re-attempt behaviors in this population makes suicide risk assessment complex and challenging in clinical practice. The primary objecti...

Psychological debriefing is a psychotherapeutic approach developed for early intervention in civilians and professionals who have to cope with a potential traumatic event (PTE). Although initial works claimed that this approach may decrease symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), some studies have concluded that the clinical benefits of p...

Although transcranial Direct Current stimulation (tDCS) shows promise in the treatment of major depressive episodes, the optimal parameters and population to target remain unclear. We investigated the clinical interest of a 10 session tDCS regimen in patients with mild to severe treatment-resistant depression, in a pilot double-blind, randomized sh...

The search for a biological marker predicting the future failure or success of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) remains highly challenging for patients with treatment-resistant depression. Evidence suggests that Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), a protein known to be involved in brain plasticity mechanisms, can play a key role in both the cl...

Background One out of three patients with schizophrenia failed to respond adequately to antipsychotics and continue to experience debilitating symptoms such as auditory hallucinations and negative symptoms. The development of additional therapeutic approaches for these persistent symptoms constitutes a major goal for patients. Here, we develop a ra...

Patients with schizophrenia are often unaware of their condition and the consequences of their illness. This lack of insight results in impaired functioning, treatment non-adherence and poor prognosis. Here, we aimed to investigate the effects of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) on two forms of insight, clinical and cognitive, in patients with...

Background: Reality-monitoring process enables to discriminate memories of internally generated information from memories of externally derived information. Studies have reported impaired reality-monitoring abilities in schizophrenia patients with auditory hallucinations (AHs), specifically with an exacerbated externalization bias, as well as alte...

Schizophrenia is a debilitating disease affecting about 1% of the general population and auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are common symptoms of this disease. In 25–30% of cases, AVHs fail to respond to antipsychotic treatments. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has recently been proposed as a novel therapeutic solution for medica...

Only survey studies have linked specific individual psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression and schizophrenia to Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS), Periodic Limb Movements in Sleep (PLMS) or both. We therefore aim to polysomnographically characterize sleep in a sample of physician-based, newly diagnosed cases of RLS with various ICD-10 psychia...

Introduction: An important approach to improve the therapeutic effect of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) may be to early characterize patients who are more likely to respond. Our objective was to explore whether baseline electroencephalography (EEG) settings before the beginning of ECT treatment can predict future clinical response to ECT in patien...

Transcranial Electrical Stimulation (tES) is a promising non-invasive brain modulation tool. Over the past years, there have been several attempts to modulate sleep with tES-based approaches in both the healthy and pathological brains. However, data about the impact on measurable aspects of sleep remain scattered between studies, which prevent us f...

Although transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) shows promise as a treatment for auditory verbal hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia, mechanisms through which tDCS may induce beneficial effects remain unclear. Evidence points to the involvement of neuronal plasticity mechanisms that are underpinned, amongst others, by brain-derive...

Background: Suicide is a major public health issue and the majority of those who attempt suicide suffer from mental disorders. Beyond psychopharmacotherapy, seizure therapies and noninvasive brain stimulation interventions have been used to treat such patients. However, the effect of these nonpharmacological treatments on the suicidal ideation and...

Objective: The aim of the study was to identify clinical variables associated with changes in specific domains of self-reported depression during treatment by antidepressant and/or repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) in patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Methods: Data from a trial involving 170 patients with MDD receivin...

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been proposed as a therapeutic option for treatment-resistant auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) in schizophrenia. In such cases, repeated sessions of tDCS are delivered with the anode over the left prefrontal cortex and the cathode over the left temporoparietal junction. Despite promising findin...

Optimal noninvasive brain stimulation parameters for the treatment of negative symptoms of schizophrenia remain unclear. Here, we aimed to investigate the clinical and biological effects of intermittent theta burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (iTBS) in patients with treatment-resistant negative symptoms of schizophrenia (NCT00875498). In a ra...

Zusammenfassung Über die letzten Jahre entwickelten sich Neuromodulationsverfahren zu einer dritten Säule neben Pharmakotherapie und Psychotherapie in der Behandlung psychischer Erkrankungen. Besonders in der Behandlung von Menschen mit einer Schizophrenie könnten Hirnstimulationsverfahren eine Alternative oder Ergänzung zu den etablierten Therapie...

Evidence suggests that psychopathic individuals display difficulties to adapt their behavior in accordance with the demands of the environment and show altered performance monitoring. Studies investigating the error-related negativity (ERN) and the error-positivity (Pe) as electrophysiological markers of error monitoring reported contradictory resu...

Objective In addition to heredity, exposure to early-life adversity is an important predisposing risk factor of suicidal behaviour. Although the association between Childhood Trauma (CT) and suicide risk is well documented, interactions between CT and suicidal behaviour in Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD) populations have received little covera...

Stress is an adaptive response with repercussions on the human health. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is thought to be involved in stress regulation by contributing to limit its biological and behavioral pejorative consequences. Here, to investigate the contribution of the DLPFC in stress response, we applied transcranial Direct Current...

Noninvasive brain stimulation techniques are safe tools to modulate the brain activity and connectivity in vivo. They offer promise to alleviate psychotic symptoms, mainly in patients with schizophrenia. Evidence suggests that low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) targeting the left temporoparietal junction may decrease...

Background Although electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a highly effective, safe, and well-tolerated antidepressant treatment for late-life depression (LLD), there is large variability in response rates across individuals. We hypothesized that these variations would be in part explained by the level of vascular risk in this population. We therefore...

The current COVID-19 pandemic is the most severe pandemic of the 21st century, on track to having a rising death toll. Beyond causing respiratory distress, COVID-19 may also cause mortality by way of suicide. The pathways by which emerging viral disease outbreaks (EVDOs) and suicide are related are complex and not entirely understood. We aimed to s...

Objective We investigated the clinical effects of the combination of ketamine and propofol as anesthetic agents during electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in patients with uni- or bipolar major depressive episodes. We hypothesized that ketamine may confer short- and long- term advantages in improving depressive symptoms at the early stages of ECT. Met...

Around 25–30% of patients with schizophrenia report auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) that fail to respond sufficiently to antipsychotic treatments. In such cases, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been proposed as a therapeutic solution. Here, we aim to provide a review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the clini...

Background Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has shown promising clinical results, leading to increased demand for an evidence-based review on its clinical effects. Objective We convened a team of tDCS experts to conduct a systematic review of clinical trials with more than one session of stimulation testing: Pain, Parkinson’s Disease...

Background: Evidence suggests that individuals with psychopathy display difficulties to adapt their behavior in accordance with the demands of the environment and show altered performance monitoring. However, studies investigating electrophysiological markers of error monitoring (e.g., the error-related negativity (ERN) and the error-positivity (Pe...

Non-invasive transcranial brain stimulation therapies, such as transcranial direct current stimulation, have been found to improve negative symptoms in schizophrenia. Another new technique is transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). Here we report a series of three patient treated with twice-daily 10 min prefrontal 40 Hz tACS stimulatio...

Nicotine use, which is mostly done through smoking tobacco, is among the most burdensome comorbidities of schizophrenia. However, the ways in which nicotine affects the cognitive and early sensory alterations found in this illness are still debated. After conducting a systematic literature search, 29 studies were selected. These studies involve ind...

Objective DSM-5 Substance Use Disorders (SUD) are frequent and debilitating comorbidities displayed by patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SZ). One crucial feature of SUD is drug craving, an intense desire to consume a substance, commonly divided into reward and relief dimensions. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of studies investigat...

Background Impairments in self-recognition (i.e. recognition of own thoughts and actions) have been repeatedly shown in individuals with schizophrenia. According to classical clinical characterizations, schizophrenia is included in a continuum encompassing a large range of genetic statuses, psychotic states and symptoms. The current meta-analysis a...

Aim To compare cognitive insight abilities measured with the Beck Cognitive Insight Scale (BCIS) between individuals with an at‐risk mental state (ARMS) and healthy controls. Method Review and meta‐analysis based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Results A search for articles investigat...

This paper proposes an innovative method, named b-ntPET, for solving a competition model in PET. The model is built upon the state-of-the-art method called lp-ntPET. It consists in identifying the parameters of the PET kinetic model relative to a reference region that rule the steady state exchanges, together with the identification of four additio...

Background: Based on the observed clinical overlap between obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizophrenia (SCZ), both conditions may share, at least in part, common cognitive underpinnings. Among the cognitive deficits that could be involved, it has been hypothesized that patients share a failure in their abilities to monitor their own thou...

The COVID-19 pandemic is the most severe pandemic of the 21 st century, on track to having a death toll that may be comparable to the 1918 flu pandemic. Beyond causing respiratory distress, COVID-19 may also cause mortality by way of suicide. However, the pathways by which emerging viral disease outbreaks (EVDOs) and suicide are related are complex...

Background Previous studies have shown an elevated risk of psychotic symptoms (PS) and experiences (PEs) among ethnic minority groups, with significant variation between groups. This pattern may be partially attributable to the unfavorable socio-environmental conditions that surround ethnic minority groups. Perceived ethnic discrimination (PED) in...

Auditory hallucinations (AHs) are certainly the most emblematic experiences in schizophrenia, but visual hallucinations (VHs) are also commonly observed in this developmental psychiatric disorder. Notably, several studies have suggested a possible relationship between the clinical variability in hallucinations′ phenomenology and differences in brai...