Deep brain stimulation can help some people with treatment-resistant depression feel better, but it can be unclear whether a bout of low mood is a relapse or a bad day.
Deep brain stimulation and trasncranial magnetic stimulation treat mental illness by sending electrical currents into parts of the brain. Every new patient provides researchers with a wealth of information. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.
Rachel A. Davis, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
This rare procedure is offered by only a handful of centers in the US and around the world and should be used only when less invasive treatment options for OCD have been tried.
Existing brain connections may influence the effectiveness of neurostimulation. Tailoring treatments to each individual brain could expand the number of conditions brain stimulation can treat.
Ozzy Osbourne, famous for biting heads off bats, heavy metal music and a reality TV show, announced he has Parkinson’s disease. A Parkinson’s specialist explains the disease and recent advances.
A national trial that looked at whether brain stimulation could restore memory had a surprise finding. Deep brain stimulation brought back vivid memories temporarily.
Where does responsibility lie if a person acts under the influence of their brain implant? As neurotechnologies advance, a neuroethicist and a legal expert write that now’s the time to hash it out.
For some patients, drilling a hole in the skull and inserting an electrode into the ‘sadness centre’ of the brain offers relief from debilitating and otherwise treatment-resistant depression.
Shelly Fan, University of California, San Francisco
Tinkering with the brain’s electrical field shows tantalizing promise for boosting memory, but it doesn’t always work. A new study offers one reason why.
New technologies bring questions that have belonged to the abstract realm of philosophers into concrete focus. Why do medical interventions in the brain feel different than those elsewhere in the body?
Colin Masters, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
New research has identified a known neurodegenerative disease as being caused by prions. And it has again raised the possibility that these proteins are infectious.
Researchers have been able to restore mobility in paralysed rats using a technique called deep brain stimulation. This involved delivering electrical impulses to an area of the brain called the mesencephalic…
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a remarkable therapeutic innovation that has restored the lives of many individuals with intractable neurological disorders. Nowhere is this more evident than in crippling…
Neurological disorders can have a devastating impact on the lives of sufferers and their families. Symptoms of these disorders differ extensively - from motor dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease, memory…