comparison of the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation, neurofeedback, and neuro-linguistic programming on reducing the rate of depression, anxiety, and stress

Background: depression, anxiety, and stress are the most common mental disorders almost experienced by human beings. nowadays, due to the coronavirus outbreak, people are becoming more vulnerable to these disorders. objectives: the present study aimed to investigate the comparison of the effect of 3 treatment methods, named neuro-linguistic programming (nlp), transcranial direct current stimulation (tdcs), and neurofeedback (nfb), on patients suffering from disorders mentioned above. methods: the research design selected for the present investigation was a quasi-experimental method consisting of pretest and posttest given to 3 experimental groups [i.e., nfb (n = 15), tdcs (n = 15), and nlp (n = 15)] and 1 control group (n = 15). the statistical population was included patients who had been referred to mental health experts at comprehensive health service centers in zahedan, iran (2020). the sampling procedure was based on a simple random method with a population of 68 subjects (60 main samples and 8 alternatives). following the completion of the depression anxiety stress scales-21 (dass-21) questionnaire, data were collected and then analyzed step by step using spss version 23. results: the results of the multivariate analysis of covariance (mancova) test showed that there would be significant decrease in the mean scores of depressions, anxiety, and stress between the pre-and posttest scores of the subjects in the treatment groups (p < 0.0001). conclusions: nlp, tdcs, and nfb were significantly effective in the treatment of depression, anxiety, and stress. considering the importance of the findings, non-pharmacological methods could be effective in the treatment of depression, anxiety, and stress.