Depression and anxiety have a new therapy: brain-computer interfaces can treat mental illness.

In the past, the diagnosis and treatment of depression, anxiety, and other such problems mainly relied on consultations, rating scales, and doctors' experience. But behind emotional problems, changes in brain function are often hidden. A reporter visited the Shanghai Mental Health Center, which has China's first psychiatric brain-computer interface and neuromodulation treatment room. For treating common mental and psychological problems such as anxiety, depression, and insomnia, it can achieve "one person, one prescription," and some patients do not even need to take medication. In addition to "listening to what patients say," doctors here also use magnetic resonance imaging, electroencephalography, near-infrared spectroscopy, and other technologies to see "what is happening in the patient's brain." After identifying the brain regions with problems, doctors further determine the treatment targets and then carry out targeted non-invasive neuromodulation. At present, this technology is used more often in the field of depression, but doctors also emphasize that it is not suitable for everyone and cannot completely replace medication and psychotherapy. Rather, it provides patients with one more option. The reporter learned that a session of neuromodulation treatment currently costs about 90 yuan, and some of the related examination and treatment costs have been included in medical insurance.