Reviewed by Kate Wood
The root of nearly every mental health challenge lies within the brain. Yet, only recently, with substantial advances in neuroscience and neurotechnology, have mental health professionals been able to address the fundamental causes of common mental health conditions to help support people on their journey toward recovery.
Neurotechnology in mental health has already made leaps and bounds in changing the treatment landscape. It has created new treatment options outside of the previous standard of therapy and medication and has given novel options to people who have tried mental health treatment without success.
The Neural Basis of Mental Health Disorders
Neuroscientists have understood for decades that changes in the brain are often an underlying contributor to and major correlate of mental health conditions. This can be observed in almost every type of mental health disorder, including in common mental health challenges such as:
- Substance use disorders
- Mood disorders
- Anxiety disorders
- Schizophrenia
- Personality disorders
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Each of these disorders affects the brain differently, but the path from healthy brain functioning to disruptive mental health conditions is clear.
For example, people living with depression will show reduced brain activity in several key brain regions. Using techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), neuroscientists can identify reduced activity in the brain’s hippocampus, thalamus, insula, and prefrontal cortex.
Yet, when people achieve recovery from depression, these brain regions return to normal functioning. This occurs regardless of the type of treatment people receive.
Therapy, medication, lifestyle change, or neurotechnology interventions all produce the same results in the brain if people are successful in overcoming their depression symptoms.
This ability of the brain to restore itself is often called neuroplasticity. The brain continues to change, adapt, and restore itself throughout your entire life. With the help of neurotechnology in mental health, however, you can accelerate these changes and make rapid progress in healing from common mental health symptoms.
Traditional Mental Health Treatment Options
To understand the impact of neurotechnology on mental health, it’s first important to look at the conventional treatment options and how they differ from these new and exciting approaches.
Talk Therapy
Talk therapy is the most common mental health treatment intervention. There are dozens of therapeutic styles, including effective treatment options such as:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
- Dialectical behavior therapy
- Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing
- Acceptance and commitment therapy
- Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy
- Motivational interviewing
These talk therapy options can treat the vast majority of mental health challenges, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and dozens of others.
The process of healing with in-person or virtual talk therapy depends on the unique approach your therapist uses, but in general, it focuses on helping people develop healthier coping mechanisms, thought patterns, and behaviors to support them in their recovery.
If a person seeking treatment can make these changes through working with a therapist, their mental health symptoms will slowly start to diminish. This can often lead to a complete and total mental health recovery, where people no longer meet the criteria for a mental health disorder.
Psychiatric Medication
Psychiatric medication takes a different approach. Rather than focusing on the cognitive and behavioral aspects of mental health recovery, psychiatry focuses on helping people regulate chemical imbalances in the brain often associated with disorders such as depression or anxiety.
This can provide tangible symptom relief without requiring long or intensive treatment and provides a convenient method to treat the most pressing of mental health challenges.
For some people, medication alone is sufficient to bring about a complete mental health recovery and is sustainable for years with appropriate medication management. However, research shows that the best treatment outcomes come from combining talk therapy and psychiatric medication.
Medication can have drawbacks that may deter people from seeking it out as a primary treatment option. Many medications used in mental health treatment can cause uncomfortable side effects, carry the risk of misuse, or have medication interactions with other prescriptions people may be taking already. Luckily there are other options for psychiatric intervention, such as neurotechnologies.
How Neurotechnology in Mental Health Is Changing the Treatment Landscape
Neurotechnology has provided mental health treatment professionals with innovative and effective new options for people looking to break free from a mental health disorder.
By integrating neuroscience and advanced medical technologies, people can address the root cause of their symptoms rather than taking the indirect approach of traditional treatment methods.
Different neurotechnology approaches tackle this problem in various ways. Some styles of neurotechnology in mental health have proven to be highly effective.
Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (dTMS) is one of the most advanced neurotechnologies being used in mental health treatment today. dTMS is a completely non-invasive procedure that uses brief electromagnetic impulses to stimulate underactive brain regions, which can lead to lasting improvements in mental health symptoms. DTMS differs from ECT.
To accomplish this, dTMS uses a combination of advanced technologies. It begins with a detailed brain mapping, which can identify specific regions of the brain that are underactive due to mental health conditions. If it’s determined that certain regions are underactive, clients can move on to the treatment itself.
DTMS vs. ECT
It is important to note that dTMS is not electroconvulsive therapy (known as ECT) and differs in many ways. ECT is classified as an invasive procedure, that often requires a hospital stay and anesthesia in order to be performed. ECT works by stimulating the brain with electrical currents to induce a brief seizure, which promotes the brain to release a flood of neurotransmitters. While ECT is a safe procedure, side effects can include memory loss and confusion for a period of time after ECT treatment.
Unlike ECT, dTMS is a non-invasive procedure. It does not involve anesthesia, nor do you have to stay in hospital to receive dTMS. In fact, you are able to go about your day as normal before and after your dTMS session without any concern. DTMS utilizes electromagnetic pulses and induces magnetic fields to activate neurons instead of electrical currents. It is a much more targeted treatment, only focusing on specific brain areas that need activation instead of stimulating the entire brain. The side effects of dTMS are very mild, and includes headaches and scalp irritation, both of which often subside after the first two weeks of treatment.
Deep TMS Treatment Process
dTMS treatment uses a specialized cap and helmet equipped with electromagnetic coils. These coils are designed to stimulate your own electrical activity deep within affected brain areas, which can kickstart underactive brain cells into a more healthy state.
The process takes about 20 minutes, during which you may hear a series of clicks from the dTMS device and experience a mild tingling sensation. These noises come from the magnetic coils as they create an electromagnetic field.
By stimulating these brain regions, they become more electrically active even after the treatment has been completed. Neurons that fire electrical impulses are more likely to establish strong connections with other regions of the brain, which increases neuroplasticity and can create more resilience and a healthier brain state.
While many people feel the benefits of dTMS after just a few sessions, the best results are typically seen after about six to eight weeks.
What Deep TMS Treats
Deep TMS (dTMS) is an evidence-based approach for a number of mental health conditions. At Plus by APN, our team uses dTMS to treat conditions such as:
- Major depressive disorder
- Treatment-resistant depression
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
- Nicotine addiction
- Anxious depression
- PTSD
- Addiction
- Bipolar Disorder
Part of what makes dTMS such an exciting treatment option is its ability to provide tangible results for people who have tried conventional treatment methods without success.
Tackling mental health conditions at the source, rather than focusing on helping resolve symptoms alone, provides an exciting and effective addition to the mental health treatment space.
Neurofeedback & qEEG
Neurofeedback takes a different approach to overcoming common mental health conditions. It focuses on helping people understand and control brain wave function, which can be detected and visualized in real time with completely non-invasive neurotechnologies.
qEEG is an important component of the neurofeedback process. A qEEG is a detailed brain-mapping procedure that assesses brain function to provide a baseline state to compare treatment results.
qEEG
qEEG stands for “quantitative electroencephalogram.” It is a tool used to measure brain activity and provides a “heat map” of brain waves and patterns.
A qEEG can be used as a diagnostic tool to detect the presence of patterns indicative of mental health challenges, as well as a prognostic tool to show how brain function improves with treatment.
When used in tandem with neurofeedback, a qEEG provides you with information about your baseline brain wave activity and specific target markers on where to improve. Following neurofeedback, changes in qEEG are indicative of your treatment progress.
Neurofeedback
Following a qEEG, neurofeedback is a technique designed to show people their brain wave activity in real-time and help them learn to control it through rewarding balanced brainwave activity throughout the brain.
Neurofeedback lets you monitor your brain wave activity and provides tools to help clients understand how to create different mental activity.
Neurofeedback and Brain Wave Activity
Different brain waves are associated with different mental states, with five main brain waves being detected, including:
Gamma Waves
Gamma waves are associated with intense mental activity, such as deep thought or concentration; excessive gamma activity is linked to heightened stress, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, or hyperactivity. Low gamma wave frequencies are associated with difficulties with attentional control and in managing stress and impulsivity.
Alpha Waves
Healthy amounts of alpha waves are associated with relaxation and stress relief. Heightened alpha may be linked with lack of motivation or feelings of detachment. Lowered alpha may lead to difficulties in maintaining focus, increased anxiety, PTSD, or challenges in achieving a relaxed mental state.
Beta Waves
Healthy amounts of beta waves are associated with heightened mental activity, alertness, and problem-solving abilities. However excess beta is associated with rumination, overactive cognitive processes leading to stress-related disorders, and lowered beta brainwave activity is associated with difficulties with memory retrieval and cognitive performance.
Theta Waves
Healthy theta activity is associated with deep relaxation. Excess theta activity may lead to attentional difficulties, distractibility, anxiety, or symptoms of ADHD. Low theta activity may impact stress resilience, emotional regulation, and cognitive flexibility.
Delta Waves
Delta brainwave activity is associated with deep sleep and restorative rest. Excessive delta brainwave activity is linked to TBIs, chronic fatigue syndrome, and sleep disorders. Low delta is linked to narcolepsy, ADHD, and other brain abnormalities impacting alertness.
Neurofeedback can be used as a treatment for a number of mental health conditions. Some of the most common applications include:
- Anxiety relief
- Resolving depression symptoms
- Improving attention and impulse control (ADHD)
- Mood stabilization
- Promoting healthier sleep
- Epilepsy
- Chronic pain
- PTSD
- Learning disabilities
- Substance abuse disorder
- Optimization training
Future Applications for Neurotechnology in Mental Health
The future of neurotechnology in mental health is incredibly promising. As technologies improve and our understanding of the brain continues to grow, current neurotechnologies will become more effective for more conditions, and new technologies will tackle mental health challenges in unique and innovative ways.
Research is already underway to expand techniques such as dTMS to more mental health conditions. As scientists begin to understand how different disorders affect your brain in unique ways, expanding dTMS to other regions of the brain could expand the list t of conditions this technology can be used to treat.
More advanced techniques are being tested as well. Scientists have investigated neural implants to help people with disorders such as severe depression or substance use disorder to great effect, though brain surgery for mental health conditions isn’t likely to become mainstream any time soon.
However, if these technologies can be advanced to the point of non-invasive stimulation, such as with dTMS, it opens the door to exciting new possibilities for people to receive around-the-clock treatment from the comfort of home.
The future of neurotechnology in mental health is exciting not only for what is known to be around the corner but also for what innovations may arrive in the next few years that no one could expect.
dTMS was a distant dream just a decade ago, but it has rapidly become an effective, FDA-approved, non-invasive treatment option to help with a number of mental health challenges.
Experts understand much about the brain and how alterations can affect mental health. But there is still more they don’t understand, and as neuroscience continues to advance, neurotechnology will continue to advance with it.
Start Treatment at Plus by APN
Plus by APN was created to bring our clients the most exciting and innovative mental health treatment options available.
Whether that’s using advanced neurotechnologies, ketamine-assisted treatment, stellate ganglion blocks, or the most innovative and exciting talk therapy approaches, we leave no stone unturned in helping our clients achieve recovery.
If you or a loved one is looking for effective mental health treatment options, reach out to our team today by using the live chat function on our website. Our mental health professionals are ready to explain your treatment options and support you on the journey to lasting mental health relief. Contact us at 424.644.6486 or complete our online contact form.
References
- MT;, Kedzior KK;Gellersen HM;Brachetti AK;Berlim. “Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (Dtms) in the Treatment of Major Depression: An Exploratory Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Affective Disorders, U.S. National Library of Medicine, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26321258/. Accessed 12 Aug. 2024.
- Schmaal, L, et al. “Subcortical Brain Alterations in Major Depressive Disorder: Findings from the ENIGMA Major Depressive Disorder Working Group.” Molecular Psychiatry, vol. 21, no. 6, 2016, pp. 806-812, https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2015.69. Accessed 12 Aug. 2024.