Psychosis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Psychosis, including details on clinical depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder.

Deep brain stimulation in movement and psychiatric disorders.

Hardesty DE, Sackeim HA

Department of Biological Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York 10032, USA. dhardesty@neuro.columbia.edu

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is the most focal and invasive of the electromagnetic brain stimulation therapies. A subcutaneous pulse generator provides continuous stimulation of circumscribed brain tissue via a multicontact microelectrode that terminates within its target. The result is an adjustable, reversible, and specific therapy. Despite limited understanding of its mechanisms of action, DBS efficacy has been established in several movement disorders, and promising reports have emerged for Tourette syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and major depression. Deep brain stimulation may prove to be a reasonable option for severely ill and treatment-resistant patients who otherwise have limited therapeutic options and a poor prognosis.

Published 19 March 2007 in Biol Psychiatry, 61(7): 831-5.
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