An implant for the treatment of depression is implanted in the skull of the first patient

Several tech companies are engaged in the creation of implants for the treatment of pathological conditions associated with different parts of the brain. Last year, Elon Musk's company Neuralink demonstrated its product: a chip implanted in the monkey's brain allowed it to control the keyboard. Synchron has started testing a brain implant, with which a person can control a computer with the power of thought. The Stentrode implant, the size of a paper clip, should allow patients with severe paralysis to send text messages and engage in online shopping also with the help of mental efforts.

The American company Inner cosmos has presented its invention – a "digital tablet" for those suffering from depression, the Daily Mail reports. It consists of two parts: an implant electrode, which is located under the scalp, and a capsule for its nutrition, which is attached to the patient's hair. The implant sends weak electrical impulses to the area of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for the onset of depression. The data of the digital tablet is sent to the smartphone app, where mood charts are displayed, which can be shared with the doctor.

According to the company's representatives, their technology, which has been developed for six years, is the least invasive of all, and the implant itself is "10 times smaller than everything else you've heard about in the BCI [brain-computer interface] brain chip market. The implant placement operation takes 30 minutes on an outpatient basis, and a daily session lasting 15 minutes is enough to get the effect. Now Inner Cosmos has implanted its device to the first patient, a resident of St. Louis, Missouri, who will be treated in this way for a year. And another human trial is scheduled to begin next month.

The founder of Inner Cosmos, entrepreneur Meron Gribets, says that his goal is to make people give up prescription drugs, which are not always effective and often have side effects, in favor of "more effective" treatment. "Our mission is to create a world that restores the cognitive abilities of humanity, restoring the balance of the human mind", - says Gribets. – Now the world is ruled by disorder, which leads to disordered cognition. The consequences are felt by millions of people suffering from depression. We believe that our approach can make life easier for those suffering from depression and eventually spread to other cognitive disorders".