The flow headset looks like a prop from a science fiction movie. With a sophisticated curve, there are two large circular pads that use electrodes to send small currents to the brain.
Why does that happen? Well, the company that makes headsets – And charge £400 (about $520) for that – It says it will help treat depression. 77% of users see symptoms improve in just three weeks.
When I first read it, my internal nonsense detector lit up.
I am cautiously hoping for wearable devices and their potential to improve our health. But I have heard many grand promises, many of which are not fulfilled.
Flow is one of the first things that can change my mind, as there is real evidence that it can change my mind.
Over the past few years, Many research We’ve seen how people with depression respond to using their devices. Indeed, these studies were funded by Flow Neurosciencehowever, they were designed and implemented by external researchers and mental health practitioners.
Latest exams It was conducted by a team led by East London University and involved 174 patients in the UK and the US. It was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized study, and was close to the gold standard for the study.
The team found that over half (56%) of people using the flow headset were free of symptoms after 10 weeks.
“We’re talking about remission,” the consultant psychiatrist says. Alex O’Neill Kerr. “It’s not a symptom at all.
O’Neill-Kerr worked on a previous trial using a headset with the Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. He also prescribes it in his personal practices.
read more:
“When I first started using it, I was absolutely gobsmacked,” he says. “We’re going to have people say, ‘I’m getting my life back now.’ I was talking to a patient who was on a flow device today, and it completely turned his life around. ”
It is important to note that not everyone benefits from using a headset, and not all research into the technology has achieved such promising results. The technology was carried out by German researchers in 2023. There’s nothing better than a false stimulus If no current is being administered.
However, the fundamental principle behind headsets – Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (TDCS) – is increasingly supported by research. The working theory behind TDCS is that by sending mild (and painless) currents to the brain, it can stimulate areas that are less active in people with depression.
One reason depression occurs is the disruption of communication between the brain regions that regulate mood. Current from TDCS could help these regions connect better, says O’Neill-Kerr.
It is potentially developing into game-changing developments, as about a third of people with depression never respond to antidepressants or treatments. It could also reduce demand for the National Health Services (NHS).
“These patients tend to come to the doctor quite regularly because they experience symptoms that are not improving,” says O’Neill-Kerr. “Now they have something that could potentially work, and the ideal thing is for them to do it from home.”
The side effects pointed out in TDCs are also milder than many antidepressants. Some patients experience tingling sensations near the electrodes. Others feel a headache. But it’s not addictive or harmful.
The headset is easy to use and may work with more traditional treatments. Flow is not the only headset that uses TDC to have a positive effect on the brain. It is said that Platowork and brain driver headsets do the same thing. However, Flow is currently in use and is the only device backed by the NHS.
Research is also underway to determine whether TDCs can treat non-mental health conditions such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and tinnitus.
O’Neill-Kerr hopes it can become a regular and perhaps go-to treatment for patients. “You’re bringing your brain back to the way it should be,” he says.
About our experts
Professor Alex O’Neill Kerr is a psychiatrist specializing in OCD, PTSD, depression, bipolar, anxiety, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and addiction therapy. His works have been published bjpsych open, Open Journal of Depression and Journal of Affective Disorder Reports.
read more:
