New Brain Stimulation Headset Brings Hope: 50 Percent See Depression Symptoms Vanish at Home
A wearable brain stimulation device shows promising results for adults with moderate depression.
With nearly 20 percent of U.S. adults affected by depression, the prevalence of this mental health condition drives many to explore relief from its most challenging symptoms. A recent study offers hope in the shape of a new at-home brain stimulation wearable headset, showing that continued use can significantly improve depression symptoms.
New study: At-home brain stimulation eases depression symptoms
A study published in Nature Medicine last week found that a non-invasive treatment called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)—a wearable brain stimulation technique that delivers a low electric current to the scalp—can help reduce symptoms of moderate depression in adults in the comfort of their own homes.
Woman's World Answers
The study was conducted remotely with adults who have moderate depression.
Participants using the tDCS headset for 10 weeks reported significantly more improvement in depression symptoms compared to those with a placebo device.
Nearly 50 percent of participants using the active tDCS device achieved complete remission from depression, versus 22% in the placebo group.
The trial results with this at-home tDCS headset are a promising step towards accessible mental health care, making depression treatment more manageable from home.
Shawn McClintock, a clinical neuropsychologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, who was not involved in the study told Nature that the trial, “really starts to substantiate the ability to take mental health treatments into a home setting.”
Flow Neuroscience: the company behind the tDCS headset
The tDCS headset used in the study is a product made and sold by Flow Neuroscience, a Swedish neurotech company.
Currently, Flow Neuroscience’s tDCS headset—a.k.a. The Flow headset—is only available in Europe and Hong Kong—but there’s hope for depression sufferers in the United States.
According to their website, The Flow headset has received the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Breakthrough Device Designation for at-home depression treatment and could soon be available on the U.S. market.
How the Flow tDCS headset works to improve depression symptoms
The device works by positioning the headset’s two electrodes on the head to stimulate two specific brain regions: the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex.
These areas are chiefly involved in executive function/cognition and emotional regulation respectively—processes that are affected by depression.
Daniel Mansson, a clinical psychologist who co-founded Flow Neuroscience told CNN that the device is, “designed to speed up brain activity in the region that’s moving too slowly and slow it down where it’s overactive.”
How does brain stimulation improve depression symptoms?
Our brains work similarly to an electric circuit. Messages are sent within our brain and throughout the rest of our body through electricity and chemical compounds.
Sometimes, when these signals aren’t sending the way they’re supposed to, we need medicine or, in the case of tDCS headset, electronic stimulation, to help things run normally.
“The tDCS involves a small current that makes it easier for the brain cells to discharge or to fire,” study co-author Cynthia Fu, a clinical neuroscientist at King’s College London told Nature.
The tDCS headset aims to help the brains of adults with depression resume a normal cadence of communication within their bodies and therefore ease or alleviate symptoms of the brain disorder.
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