Can direct stimulation of the brain with an inexpensive device help treat depression?
Someone I have been working with for several months asked me about this product – “foc.us” – and the science behind TDCS. And, as it happened, a colleague had asked the same question a couple of weeks earlier. We were intrigued.
Especially since this particular device was supposed to ensure faster cognitive processing.
Overclock your brain using transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) to increase the plasticity of your brain. Make your synapses fire faster.
It sounded suspiciously like a medical device being marketed without FDA approval.
It reminded me of a book that I read many years ago, Death by Ecstasy, a novella in the Known Space universe 
by Larry Niven. In the story, Larry introduces the idea of the “shroud” – a brain implant that allows a person to directly stimulate the pleasure center of the brain – which can easily lead to starvation if left on without a safety timer… hence the notion of “death by ecstasy…”
Have we finally reached a similar place in technology development with a device that will “overclock our brains” and treat depression? What is the science behind this idea?
It turns out that there have been several (relatively small) studies looking at tDCS devices. As I pored over them it struck me that the findings were tantalizing, but far from conclusive.
A meta-analysis of all of the studies concluded –
tDCS is a promising novel therapeutic intervention for major depression (MD). However, clinical trials to date have reported conflicting results concerning its efficacy, which likely resulted from low statistical power … [small numbers of people enrolled in each study, leading to inconclusive results].
When they did an analysis of all of the clinical trials they found –
After an average of 11 tDCS sessions, no significant difference was found between active and sham [“placebo”] tDCS in terms of both response and remission…
In other words, the studies to date when looked at over all don’t show that it works.
In addition, we are pretty worried about the safety of a device that stimulates the brain that has never been evaluated by anyone other than the manufacturer…
REFERENCES
Clinical utility of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for treating major depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized, double-blind and sham-controlled trials. Marcelo T. Berlim, Frederique Van den Eynde, and Z. Jeff Daskalakis. Journal of Psychiatric Research 47 (2013) 1-7.