Die tiefe Hirnstimulation – Implantate im Gehirn, die als eine Art „Schrittmacher“ fungieren – hat in einer „offenen“ Studie bei der Hälfte der Teilnehmer mit behandlungsresistenter schwerer Depression und Angstzuständen zu klinischen Verbesserungen geführt

>**Open label trial of deep brain stimulation**
>
>In a study published today in Nature Communications, researchers trialled DBS in 26 patients recruited from Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine in China, all of whom had treatment-resistant depression. The trial was open label, which means that both researchers and the patients were aware that DBS was being administered.
>
>The team applied stimulation to two areas of the brain. The first was the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), an extension of the amygdala that is involved in regulating stress, anxiety, fear and social behaviours, particularly in response to long-term stresses and fears. The second area was the nucleus accumbens, which is involved in how the brain processes rewards, and is a key area for motivation, pleasure, and reinforcement.
>
>**What the researchers found**
>
>Half of the patients (13 out of 26) saw significant improvements, as measured on different scores for depression- and anxiety-related symptoms along with clinically relevant quality of life and disability scores. Nine of these patients (35% of the study cohort) achieved remission, meaning a near-complete elimination of their symptoms.

[Prefrontal–bed nucleus of the stria terminalis physiological and neuropsychological biomarkers predict therapeutic outcomes in depression | Nature Communications](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-65179-z)

Embedded electrodes in the brain… is it just ECT with extra (surgical) steps? Would it work for the 10% of depression sufferers that get memory-wiped by ECT?