Electrical Brain Stimulation to Treat Neurological Disorder

Neurological disorders with symptoms such as chronic pain, depression, and insomnia are widespread. Very weak electric fields applied through the skull can enhance or diminish neural activity and modulate brain waves in order to treat many of these common medical problems. This approach is to be contrasted with well-established pharmacological methods or more recent invasive electrical Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) techniques that require surgery to insert electrodes deep into the brain. We claim that Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation (NIBS) will provide new treatment methods with much greater simplicity, lower cost, improved safety and in some cases, possibly greater effectiveness. This emerging use of NIBS is a branch of a new multidisciplinary field that we coined Neuro-systems Engineering [1]. This field involves neuroscientists, psychologists, and electrical engineers. This emerging field relies on existing standards for the safe implementation of these novel treatment modalities [2]. Methods of stimulating the brain are based on emerging electro-technologies such as transcranial Direct Current/Alternating Current (DC/AC) electric fields and pulsed magnetic fields. Application of functional and time-dependent brain imaging methods can be used to locate relevant brain regions and determine the most appropriate stimulation method. Application of tailored and individualized control can be combined with other therapy methods to effectively treat neurological disorders while minimizing or even eliminating the use of pharmaceuticals. In this paper, we are presenting our embodiment for a closed loop, feedback controlled, non-invasive application of electrical stimulation of the brain to enhance individual/group performance or to treat neurological disorders.