Neural Circuits in Emotional Regulation in Treatment Resistant Depression and Deep Brain Stimulation Therapy

As one of the most debilitating mental disorders, treating patients with treatment resistant depression (TRD) is still a challenge in psychiatric medicine with conventional methods. Deep brain stimulation (DBS), which has been proved successful in many neurological diseases, also showed its great potential in treating some psychiatric disorders, including depression. However. since it was first investigated in treating TRD, over two decades has passed and this technology is still not able to benefit more severe depressive patients. This article starts by reviewing what has already been knowing about emotional neural regulation mechanisms in depression pathophysiology. Then the article looks into deep brain stimulation therapy at different brain targets in treating depressive disorder. Adaptive deep brain stimulation technology is not new to some other neurogenic disorders but still new to in treating depressive disorder. With the great advances in neural science and artificial intelligence research, adaptive deep brain stimulation with brain-machine interface would lead to personalized treatment with higher efficiency and safety.