Dysfunctional brain circuits in psychiatry: new targets for deep brain stimulation?

Abstract

Understanding mechanism of action of deep brain stimulation (DBS) on a neural level contributes to new insights concerning brain circuits underlying neuropsychiatric disorders, which seem to overlap. Studying the neural effects of DBS on emotion, cognition and behavior allows for a shift from the current diagnostic classification of psychiatric disorders towards dysfunctional circuits. Effects of DBS throughout the brain for different targets for obsessive-compulsive disorder, major depressive disorder, Tourette syndrome and Anorexia Nervosa are described by reviewing structural and functional imaging studies.