Backed by science
20+ medical trials, 300 studies
25 years of clinical research
tDCS has been used in clinics for over 25 years to treat depression. There are multiple sources of evidence that show it is effective and there are no serious side effects. These range from placebo-controlled clinical trials, to NHS studies and open label trials. We have gathered the most prominent research papers in the tDCS community and listed them below.
Placebo-controlled randomised clinical trial
Published in the authoritative Nature Medicine, the design of this trial is considered the gold standard method for evaluating efficacy and took place at Kings College London, UTHealth Houston and the University of East London.
The clinical trial, which lasted 10 weeks, was the largest of its kind and involved patients in the US and UK. Results showed that 57.5% of patients in the treatment group went into remission (meaning that they are no longer considered to be depressed), whilst 64.2% were measured to have an improvement in symptoms of at least 50%. Patients who took a 10-week course of the treatment were about twice as likely to see their depression go into remission than those in a control group who performed the same procedure with the current switched off.
No serious side effects associated with using the device were reported from the treatment group.
Feel better in 3 weeks
77% report improvement
Over 65,000 people are the Flow headset across Europe. Most people report positive results after 3 weeks.
77% see their depression score improve by at least 3 points: Flow real-world data (n=14,383, Apr 2025).
Sleep better in less than 1 month
1/2 of users experiencing depression notice sleep improvements in 3 weeks
A retrospective-study with over 6,000 people showed that: 1/3 of users reported they no longer had insomnia after just 1 week and 2/3 reported being insomnia free by 10 weeks.
Reinforcing the importance and link between sleep and depression.
Focus that returns,
week by week
A retrospective analysis of 10,888 Flow users with depression and concentration problems found that improvement grew with continued use over 10 weeks.
Among those who kept to the protocol, 29.3% no longer reported concentration problems after one week, rising to 57.4% by ten weeks.
Tackle more than just your low mood
66% feel an improvement with their anxiety
Anxiety and depression can be intertwined. 2/3’s of our users felt an improvement of their anxiety after just 3 weeks of treating their depression with Flow.
Flow real-world data, based on question 2 on the MADRSs. Over 18,800 sample of real-world data
Independently published NHS studies
15 NHS services have been using Flow, several of these have independently published their results.
Clinical research into tDCS
The Flow brain stimulation treatment is based on decades of clinical research with the most recent meta-analyses showing that tDCS has similar efficacy to other treatments but with fewer side effects.
Across 20+ randomised controlled trials, tDCS has been shown to be superior to placebo/sham and no serious adverse events have been observed. tDCS provides an alternative to medication that is effective, safe and accessible.
Meet the scientists
behind Flow
