title: Therapeutic Efficacy of Neurostimulation for Depression: Techniques, Current Modalities, and Future Challenges.
abstract: Depression is the most prevalent debilitating mental illness; it is characterized as a disorder of mood, cognitive function, and neurovegetative function. About one in ten individuals experience depression at some stage of their lives. Antidepressant drugs are used to reduce the symptoms but relapse occurs in ~20% of patients. However, alternate therapies like brain stimulation techniques have shown promising results in this regard. This review covers the brain stimulation techniques electroconvulsive therapy, transcranial direct current stimulation, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, vagus nerve stimulation, and deep brain stimulation, which are used as alternatives to antidepressant drugs, and elucidates their research and clinical outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Human Systems Lab, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Sector H-12, Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Hafsah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akhtar
authors.affiliation: Human Systems Lab, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Sector H-12, Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Faiza
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bukhari
authors.affiliation: Human Systems Lab, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Sector H-12, Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Misbah
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nazir
authors.affiliation: Human Systems Lab, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Sector H-12, Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan. nabeel@smme.nust.edu.pk.
authors.forename: Muhammad Nabeel
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Anwar
authors.affiliation: Human Systems Lab, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Sector H-12, Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Adeeb
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shahzad
mesh_terms: D003863:Depression / Q000628:therapy*; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D004565:Electroconvulsive Therapy / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans
keywords: Deep brain stimulation; Depression; Electroconvulsive therapy; Magnetic seizure therapy; Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation; Transcranial direct current stimulation; Treatment-resistant depression; Vagus nerve stimulation