ReviewMolecular psychiatry2018
Deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression: an integrative review of preclinical and clinical findings and translational implications.
Review in Molecular psychiatry, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 123 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
The Efficacy and Prediction of Deep Brain Stimulation for Treatment-resistant Depression
Model-based Electrical Brain Stimulation
Who cites it
123 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 265 citations in OpenAlex.
- Identification of common spontaneous brain activity alterations across psychiatric disorders.Translational psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of deep brain stimulation on cognitive functioning in treatment-resistant depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- The ventral capsule and ventral striatum-Stereotactic targets for the management of treatment-resistant depression. A systematic literature review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Treating Post-traumatic Stress Disorder with Neuromodulation Therapies: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation, and Deep Brain Stimulation.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2020Pooled it
- Trial
- A Preliminary Study of Adjunctive Nonconvulsive Electrotherapy for Treatment-Refractory Depression.The Psychiatric quarterly · 2021Trial
- Prefrontal resting-state connectivity and antidepressant response: no associations in the ELECT-TDCS trial.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2021Trial
- Long-term deep brain stimulation of the ventral anterior limb of the internal capsule for treatment-resistant depression.Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry · 2020Trial
- Real-time brain-controlled selective hearing enhances speech perception in multi-talker environments.Nature neuroscience · 2026Article
- Mechanism and progress of deep brain stimulation in the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders.MedScience · 2026Review
- Size Scaling of the Electrochemical Performance of TiSmall (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Article
- Deep Brain Stimulation Induces Antidepressant Effects by Restoring High-Fidelity Communication in the BNST-NAc Circuit.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Has Deep Brain Stimulation Shown Its Full Potential in Treatment-Resistant Depression? A Scoping Review.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Review
- Deep brain reconditioning stimulation suppresses tinnitus in a rat model.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Size Scaling of the Electrochemical Performance of TibioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Characteristics of resting-state EEG after deep brain stimulation in nucleus accumbens and anterior limb of internal capsule: a pilot study.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Deep Brain Stimulation of Lateral Habenula Ameliorates Depression-like Symptoms in Rats: Involvement of Mesolimbic Circuit.Neurochemical research · 2026Article
- NMDA receptors are not necessary for burst firing of lateral habenula neurons in mice.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Physical Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Depression A Comprehensive Review of Efficacy, Safety, and Evidence Grading.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2026Review
- Symptom-specific alterations in subregional intrinsic connectivity of anterior cingulate cortex in major depressive disorder.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
63 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Although deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an established treatment choice for Parkinson's disease (PD), essential tremor and movement disorders, its effectiveness for the management of treatment-resistant depression (TRD) remains unclear. Herein, we conducted an integrative review on major neuroanatomical targets of DBS pursued for the treatment of intractable TRD. The aim of this review article is to provide a critical discussion of possible underlying mechanisms for DBS-generated antidepressant effects identified in preclinical studies and clinical trials, and to determine which brain target(s) elicited the most promising outcomes considering acute and maintenance treatment of TRD. Major electronic databases were searched to identify preclinical and clinical studies that have investigated the effects of DBS on depression-related outcomes. Overall, 92 references met inclusion criteria, and have evaluated six unique DBS targets namely the subcallosal cingulate gyrus (SCG), nucleus accumbens (NAc), ventral capsule/ventral striatum or anterior limb of internal capsule (ALIC), medial forebrain bundle (MFB), lateral habenula (LHb) and inferior thalamic peduncle for the treatment of unrelenting TRD. Electrical stimulation of these pertinent brain regions displayed differential effects on mood transition in patients with TRD. In addition, 47 unique references provided preclinical evidence for putative neurobiological mechanisms underlying antidepressant effects of DBS applied to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, NAc, MFB, LHb and subthalamic nucleus. Preclinical studies suggest that stimulation parameters and neuroanatomical locations could influence DBS-related antidepressant effects, and also pointed that modulatory effects on monoamine neurotransmitters in target regions or interconnected brain networks following DBS could have a role in the antidepressant effects of DBS. Among several neuromodulatory targets that have been investigated, DBS in the neuroanatomical framework of the SCG, ALIC and MFB yielded more consistent antidepressant response rates in samples with TRD. Nevertheless, more well-designed randomized double-blind, controlled trials are warranted to further assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of these more promising DBS targets for the management of TRD as therapeutic effects have been inconsistent across some controlled studies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.