Effects of Non-invasive Brain Stimulation on Pain Avoidance Behavior in Chronic Pain Patients

Pain avoidance helps with survival. However, chronic pain patients often avoid valuedlife activities fearing onset or exacerbation of pain. Hence, pain avoidance no longerprotects, but reduces quality of life. The goal of this clinical trial is to learn ifnon‐invasive brain stimulation technique called transcranial alternating currentstimulation (tACS) impact pain avoidance behavior in chronic pain patients. tACS is a wayto gently stimulate the brain using a small, portable device. It sends an extremely weak,continuous alternating current through the scalp. Participants will either get real tACSor a fake (sham) version. Real tACS will stimulate the brain in the alpha frequency (8‐12Hz) which has been found to influence pain avoidance behavior, whereas sham tACS willstimulate the brain in a different frequency that is not known to influence avoidancebehavior. The main questions it aims to answer are:Does tACS alter the way chronic pain patients confront pain in terms of avoidancebehavior? How does tACS impact brain signals related to pain avoidance behavior?Participants will: 1. fill out self‐administered questionnaires asking about their medication use,personality and temperament, mood, including anxiety and depression, current painlevel, and any disability you have due to your pain. 2. perform of a pain avoidance task before, during and after 'real' tACS or 'sham'tACS. They may also be asked to stay quiet before, during and after tACS. Duringthis period, we will scan the brain using a neuroimaging device calledMagnetoencephalography (MEG). Additionally, Electroencephalography (EEG) brainsignals will also be collected using electrodes affixed to the scalp. We may alsomeasure Skin conductance response (SCR) and electrocardiography (EKG) usingelectrodes affixed to the skin. 3. also get a T1 MRI if they do not have an implanted SCS, DRG, intrathecal pump, orother similar device that are not MRI compatible.