Wearable Device Stimulating Brain Shown to Decrease Depression Rates
Flow Neuroscience, a Swedish company founded in 2016, is making strides in the mental health sector with its brain-stimulation headset. The device, designed to stimulate the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, is now available for consumers in the U.K. and Europe to order directly.
The headset, which retails for €459 or can be rented for €89 a month, delivers transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to help regulate mood, sleep, and motivation. It syncs with a smartphone app, tracks mood and sleep, and can be used entirely at home as users go about their daily lives.
In a notable expansion, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) is extending its pilot of Flow's headset. The devices will be used for adult eating disorders inpatient service and community mental health teams. LPT's six-week program using Flow headsets has shown promising results, with around 80% of patients seeing improvements. Some patients experienced up to a 75% drop in suicidal ideation, and one in three entered remission.
The expansion is funded by £40,000 raised through LPT's charity Raising Health. This funding will cover nearly 150 additional used cars.
Erin Lee, a former Google and Uber executive, became CEO of Flow in 2022. Under her leadership, the company has expanded across Europe, Switzerland, Norway, and Hong Kong.
Flow's headset is not only used as a standalone treatment but can also be used alongside antidepressants and may enhance outcomes in clinical trials. In clinical trials, 69% of people who combined Flow with medication were no longer clinically depressed after 10 weeks, compared with 51% who used the headset alone.
The headset can be shared with up to nine additional users at no extra cost, though each person is encouraged to set up their own account to track progress separately.
Flow Neuroscience is also collaborating with Universitätklinikum Jena in Germany to expand the therapeutic use of their brain stimulation headphones for depression treatment. However, no other specific German institutions were directly named in the search results regarding partnerships with Flow Neuroscience for this purpose.
Treatment with Flow's headset begins with 20-30 minute sessions, five days a week, before tapering into maintenance use. Suicidal thoughts fell by a third within three weeks and by two-thirds after 10 weeks. Among more than 160 patients treated so far, 71% reported a reliable reduction in depressive symptoms within six weeks.
Flow's headset is a testament to the potential of technology in mental health care. It partners with psychiatrists and psychologists trained in tDCS who can monitor progress, adjust stimulation schedules, and integrate the headset into broader therapy plans as an optional service. This approach underscores Flow's commitment to providing a comprehensive solution for those struggling with mental health issues.
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