Depression is a problem that many people experience, but only a few are able to express and talk about it. And while there is no instant solution to curing it, scientists in the UK have created a headband that gives mild electric shocks in the brain to cure depression.
Representative Image, Rawpixel
According to the manufacturers of the headset-- Flow Neuroscience, the device has received necessary medical certification to sell this device in the market.??
The device is called transcranial Direct Current Stimulation or tDCS. It sends low currents into targetted areas of a depressed person's brain. The shocks are given in specific locations to make the brain's to ease the neural connections.?
Now, in theory, the principle being applied here is identical to the electroshock therapy that we've seen in the movies and were actually practised during the Victorian Era in medical institutions in the UK.?
There have been mixed studies, talking about the merits of this therapy. However, recent trials that were published in the New England Journal of Psychiatry revealed that tDCS showed similar results in brain as anti-depressants.?
While there are quite a few side-effects of anti-depressants (anxiety, fatigue, weight gain and nausea) the only side effects of using this device is slight redness from electrodes and mild headache.?
Flow Neuroscience
tDCS focuses the currents at the forehead, which houses the prefrontal cortex of the brain. The prefrontal cortex is basically responsible for complex cognitive behaviour, personality expression, decision making, and moderating social behaviour.
People who suffer from depression usually experience a higher activity on the right of this area and a lower activity ion the left side. The headset tries to stabilise and balance this activity when worn by the patient for half an hour every other day for six weeks.
The tDCS headset was designed to be recommended to people who had already been diagnosed with clinical depression. Flow is working with the NHS to sell this device to people suffering from clinical depression on a prescription basis.