People with depression could administer brain stimulation at home, trial shows

In the clinical trial, patients who took a 10-week course of the treatment were about twice as likely to see their depression go into remission than those in a control group. Photograph: Islandstock/Alamy

People with major depression could alleviate their symptoms by self-administering a form of electrical brain stimulation at home, according to a clinical trial of the therapy.

Patients who took a 10-week course of the treatment were about twice as likely to see their depression go into remission than those in a control group who performed the same procedure with the current switched off.