A woman with severe depression says her life has transformed after treatment with an experimentalbrain implant.
The 36-year-old has been fitted with a system thats been described as a pacemaker for the brain.
The system then began searching for neural signals of depression.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
Now I just get up and I get on with my day.
For me, the rig has been an amazing blessing.
The system harnesses a technique called deep brain stimulation (DBS).
A major barrier is that depression appears to involve various areas of the brain that differ between individuals.
The researchers overcame this hurdle by analyzing the correlations between Sarahs mood and brain activity.
They discovered that a specific pattern of neural activity emerged when she became depressed.
They then customized the DBS unit to only respond when it recognizes this biomarker.
This stimulation resulted in a rapid and sustained improvement in depression, the researchers wrote in theirstudy paper.
Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he e(show all)Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse).
