Head start: Can a head set help treat mental health issues?

Each issue Ian Bolland will be looking at the use of medtech in the real world. This issue he examines the current trend for headsets to treat mental health conditions.

Mental health has crept steadily up the agenda in recent years – there’s more efforts to raise awareness about conditions while funding surrounding treatment has landed on the political agenda.

CBT is widely used on the NHS alongside medication – face-to-face counselling is often well used for CBT while more and more treatments are being developed for online use, such as with Xenzone who Kooth in their digital health platform.

But an increasing trend appears to be the use of neurostimulation headsets to try and address mental illness.

Below we look at three that have emerged over the last year – two of which you can read reviews on in the near future.

Flow

Earlier this year, Flow launched a headset and app combination for depression – using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a form of neurostimulation that delivers an electrical signal to the head. This is combined with behaviour therapy involving lifestyle changes.

The product is currently being used as part of a clinical study evaluating how patients with depression respond to the product.

In an interview with our sister title, Digital Health Age, CEO and co-founder Daniel Månsson, said: “The headset uses transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a form of neurostimulation that delivers a gentle electrical signal, which activates neurons in the left frontal cortex of the brain. People diagnosed with depression often have a lower activity in this area and the stimulation works to rebalance this activity. During this process the user interacts with a virtual therapist, via the app, to specifically treat the symptoms of depression. The app teaches the user about depression, and how to reduce it using techniques for improved sleep, healthier eating, effective exercise and stress-reducing meditation.”

NeoRhythm

From MDCN Technologies, the Neo Rhythm headband uses medium-intensity magnetic fields with magnetic flux density of 20-25 Gauss (2-2.5 mT) in a bid to generate the right frequencies for brainwave entrainment. It aims to emits scientifically confirmed frequencies that are characteristic for a certain state of mind. The brain adapts to these frequencies meaning it should reach the desired state of mind quicker and easier.

All the frequencies emitted by NeoRythm in its seven stimulation programs are based on scientific studies.

Modius Sleep

Neurovalens has been through this before. Having previously developed the Modius Slim, the Modius Sleep follows on from it as it aims to use neuroscience to help its users sleep better.

The device stimulates the key sleep neurons in the brain, in the hope it reduces the time it takes to fall asleep and keeping you asleep longer. The Modius Sleep headset is worn for 30 minutes before bed and works by sending an electrical pulse into the vestibular nerve that influences the areas of the hypothalamus and brain stem that controls the user’s circadian rhythm and sleep patterns.

Neurovalens CEO, Jason McKeown, said: “This new headset taps into the power of the brain’s hypothalamus, which acts as a mini-computer and influences many areas of the brain, including weight loss and sleep. Our aim is to help people avoid sedatives and sleeping pills as they mask the underlying problem and produce unpleasant side effects. We use neuroscience to improve lives through safe, innovative, non-invasive products and have complete confidence our Sleep device is just as life-changing as our Slim device has been.”