Brain Stimulation

One of the best examples of translation from neuroscience to psychiatric treatment is brain stimulation, an array of techniques aimed at modulating the activity and/or plasticity of particular brain structures. Brain stimulation is not new: as far back as ancient Rome, the physician Scribonius Largus wrote of electrical stimulation to relieve migraine (although he employed a torpedo fish, a species of electric ray). Today, a number of invasive and non-invasive brain stimulation techniques show efficacy in treating psychiatric disorders. What these distinct approaches have in common is their ability to target specific neural regions more directly than traditional pharmacological or psychological approaches (see Figure 9.20.1). This capacity to influence the very circuits implicated in neuroscience studies has contributed to some transformative discoveries, but has faced key translational challenges, including response variability and inadequate placebos.