Epilepsy Patients Help Develop a High-Tech Device to Fight Mental Disorders

Military personnel fighting depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder may have a new treatment option. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is investing $70 million to develop a novel device to address psychiatric disorders. The high-tech implant would have capabilities to both monitor and stimulate specific neural circuits. Researchers at University of California, San Francisco are studying volunteers who currently use brain implants as part of their treatment for epilepsy or Parkinson’s disease. By studying the electrical activity of brain cells in real time, scientists hope to learn how these conditions have changed specific neural circuits and discover clues as to how to “heal” these malfunctioning pathways.

http://www.ideastream.org/news/npr/316129491