The Quest to Treat Binge-Eating and Addiction—With Brain Zaps

“It may be that stimulation of the nucleus accumbens altered the reward circuitry in the brain such that it turned down the volume on the pleasurable craving that patients with alcohol use disorder feel when they see or are around alcoholic beverages,” says Nir Lipsman, the study’s principal investigator and a neurosurgeon at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

Lipsman is hoping to conduct a larger trial to confirm the findings. His group is also interested in finding brain signatures associated with alcohol cravings so that stimulation might only be needed at certain times.

Scientists working in the DBS space think many psychiatric diseases may ultimately be amenable to the therapy. For example,

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