Home What is DBS? Technology Advances Mental Disorder Treatment Future Work References

Conductors of Life

The Brain is an electrical system that controls everything that we do and is done to us. It is this basic principle that allows for knowledge of electical systems to be applied to disorders stemming from the brain. Recently, these efforts have been geared toward treating people with severe mental disorders, major depression and OCD, that were previously resistent to all major forms of treatment (drug therapy, electroconvulsive, etc.) by applying electrical stimulation to the centers of these disorders in the brain.

Deep Brain Stimulation is technique that surgically implants a brain pacemaker in order to deliver electrical impulses to specific areas of the brain.

Engineering design and research has elevated the use of Deep Brain Stimulators to multiple fields of therapy, including treating mental disorders.

Treatment of severe mental disorders can be uneffective in many cases. DBS provides an alternative to traditional techniques and has shown promising results.

Results have been positive, but more research must be undertaken. DBS and other neural stimulators have a bright future in treating previously untreatable conditions.

Find out more about work being done on DBS, and the people doing it.