The use of DBS stimulation in mental disorders - opportunities and risks.

Enlarging the knowledge on the biological background of mental disorder is the cause of the growth of interest in cooperation between psychiatrists and neurosurgeons. The experience gained over the last 20 years in research on the use of neuromodulation techniques in neurological disorders suggest that deep brain stimulation (DBS), in addition to improving the neurological condition can lead to positive changes in mood and drive. The use of functional brain research and neuroimaging allowed us to isolate key areas for the emergence of depressive symptoms and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The results of recent studies on the use of DBS in psychiatric disorders indicate, however, both the high efficiency of this method and possible complications and risks associated with it. The paper briefly presents the opportunities of using this method in drug-resistant patients, not responding to other, less invasive forms of treatment, as well as the potential risks and difficulties. However, further research in this area are still required to determine the actual effectiveness of the method, the optimal stereotactic targets, neurostimulation parameters, the risk of side effects and ways to avoid them.