Neuromodulation in Psychiatric disorders: recent findings and clinical implications

Abstract

The potential therapeutic value of electricity to treat neuropsychiatric disorders has been known for a long time. However, it is only recently that it has been successfully applied to these clinical conditions. Two of the most promising neuromodulation techniques are the deep brain stimulation (DBS) and the transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). DBS uses a high-frequency stimulation that causes a "reversible lesion" and is increasingly becoming an alternative for lesional surgery for its better balance between efficacy, tolerability and safety, and has consistently been shown to improve depressive and obsessive symptoms. TMS is a non-invasive and safe approach that has been approved for the treatment of major depressive disorder and for auditory-verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia and is being studied in several other psychiatric disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders and negative symptoms of schizophrenia.In the current paper, we will review recent evidence of these two neuromodulation techniques, its main psychiatric indications and present two brief case reports to further illustrate its clinical applicability.