On a crisp, sunny day on the NSW Central Coast, Leigh is assembling a brain stimulator he bought over the internet.
The device resembles a headset found in call centres, but instead of a microphone attached to the side, there’s an anode electrode. On Leigh’s right bicep, a cathode electrode is carefully strapped.
The entire set-up is powered by a blue retangular unit, the size of a USB stick. When the device is switched on, a weak electrical current will flow to his brain, to his arm and then back into the unit.
"The path that it takes is literally through the brain," said Leigh, who didn’t wish to use his surname. "There’s a slight burning sensation. It’s similar to an intense version of sticking a nine-volt battery to your tongue."
Leigh bought his brain stimulation kit from , a company targeting video gamers, athletes and anyone else looking for a "cognitive boost". According to their website, the units can "increase your endurance", "overclock your brain" and "increase neuroplasticity", with prices starting from around $US300.
"As far as my state of mind goes... it’s an intense sort of focus. Mild, very mild euphoria."
The unit uses transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a mild form of stimulation that gently changes the resting state of the brain.
Leigh uses a brain stimulation device at home as alternative therapy to treat his bipolar and anxiety. (SBS) Source: SBS
The mechanics of tDCS are quite simple, involving a battery, two leads and the electrodes through which the current is passed. Where the electrodes are placed depends on what brain regions the user wants to stimulate - and this requires very precise measurements of the skull.
When frontal regions of the brain are stimulated using tDCS, research suggests that problem-solving skills, and attention can be improved. One showed a 25 per cent increase in training test performance after participants received 30 minutes of tDCS.
Treating depression through brain stimulation
But for Leigh, zapping his brain for a cognitive boost is not his main priority.
The psychology student has had a history of mental illness in his family. His mother suffers from bipolar disorder and his aunty died by suicide after years of major depression.
At 19, Leigh was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
"It’s a roller coaster ride. So emotionally, pre-therapy and medication, I was either starting a thousand projects or buying a thousand things or drinking a lot, or in bed constantly," he said. "A couple of suicidal ideations as well. Emergency department trips. It has been debilitating in my life."
When Leigh discovered that the Black Dog Institute in Sydney was running , he signed up.
He said he was "impressed with the technology" and the noticeable boost in his attention and memory.
Since tDCS is not yet available as a medical treatment outside of clinical trials, Leigh decided to buy a device for home use after months of online research and enquiries.
"I was just looking for alternative therapies – the medications had so many side effects and I was just looking into various methods of treatment."
"I’ve been through the gamut of anti-depressants and mood stabilisers and I decided to try transcranial direct current stimulation as another method. So it’s something else in my toolkit."
Brain stimulation was made popular in the 1950s to treat depression through electroconvulsive therapy or ECT.
The brain stimulation set-up is powered by the focu.s, a rectangular unit about the size of a USB stick. (SBS) Source: SBS
During a session, the patient is put under general anaesthetic while a doctor sends a current to the brain to induce a seizure. Side effects can include memory loss, brain damage, headaches and nausea.
"With ECT, we give a stronger stimulus while you’re under anaesthetics," said psychiatrist Colleen Loo from the University of NSW. "A person is under a general anesthetic, they’re fully asleep, the stimulus might be for about five seconds."
Because of , including unethical practices and lack of consent, ECT fell out of favour with the public and .
"It’s a very powerful treatment for severe depression," Professor Loo said. "But it’s not something that we do lightly."
Professor Loo specialises in tDCS and ECT, and researches the use of brain stimulation in mood disorders at the Black Dog Institute. The hope is that less invasive tDCS will soon become a commonly prescribed treatment for depression.
"Transcranial direct current stimulation is different. It’s a gentle low level form of stimulation.
"In a few years' time, we might be in a position to say, 'we’ve now done a number of research studies, tDCS has become a proven treatment for depression.'
"Because tDCS is fairly cheap as a technology, is fairly portable, potentially in the future this could be quite a good maintenance treatment that you could do like say, once a week to try and stay well."
A volunteer is connected to a transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) machine at the Black Dog Institute. (SBS) Source: SBS
A volunteer is connected to a transcranial direct stimulation (tDCS) machine at the Black Dog Institute. (SBS) Source: SBS
Do-it-yourself brain stimulation
Professor Loo said she’s concerned about the rise in home users, particularly those using brain stimulation devices to self-medicate.
She added that brain stimulation is not a one-size-fits-all treatment for depression. Professor Loo said her patients are thoroughly assessed before being prescribed a treatment, which could range from psychological therapy, medications or brain stimulation.
"If you think, ‘Oh I’m depressed I’m just going to buy one of these and use it,’ it may not be the correct treatment for you."
Even for healthy recreational users, incorrect placement of the electrodes on the head or stimulating the wrong part of the brain could have detrimental effects.
"The brain is a very complex organism and they’re very complex relationships between the type of stimulation, the level of stimulation, how long each session goes for.
"Then you have all the issues of what size electrodes do you use? And where exactly do you put them… Even how you put the electrodes on your head, what is the contact? If the contact is not good, then you can actually damage your skin or even burn your skin."
"I’d be a bit cautious about just thinking, this is very straightforward, let me just stick these electrodes on my head."
A quick Google search reveals and dedicated to 'DIY tDCS' and other types of mild brain stimulation. Through the internet, enthusiasts can on the best ways to boost cognition and memory, or share on . Of course, ready-made brain stimulation devices are also available online, with many companies now cashing in on the trend. 
Online forums like Reddit are one of many places where enthusiasts exchange tips on DIY brain stimulation. (SBS) Source: SBS
‘Don’t do this at home unless you know what you’re doing’
Neuroscience graduate Peter Simpson-Young openly admits he experiments on his brain using a device he partly built himself.
"I first became interested in brain stimulation in my undergrad where I saw it as an easy and reliable way of manipulating brain function." said Simpson-Young.
"There’s lots of strange military funded, dystopian sort of research, often in the context of cognitive enhancement… So I was curious as to what it would be like to change aspects of my own brain for short periods of time."
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Simpson-Young has used his device dozens of times, stimulating brain regions related to vision, touch and motor function. He added that his motivations are simply "self-experimentation" and not cognitive enhancement.
Having worked as an electroencephalogram (EEG) technician measuring brain waves, Simpson-Young said he knew what he was doing, but is worried other home users may be putting themselves at risk.
"Don’t try this at home,” he said. "It’s only safe if you know what you’re doing and no-one know what they’re doing unless they’re like fairly qualified."
Changing your mood
is one company seeking to bridge the gap between neuroscience and the consumer, while minimising the risk of injury.
The US-based startup developed a wearable device that lets users "change their mental state on demand" to 'Calm Vibes' or 'Energy Vibes' through a mobile phone app.
"We can essentially shift people from a normal state to a relaxed state, or a normal state to a more energised state, within a matter of minutes by streaming information from a smartphone to a small device that’s on their head," said Chief Scientific Officer Dr Jamie Tyler, who has worked as a neuroscientist for more than 20 years.
Dr Tyler co-founded the startup in 2011. The company now has offices in Boston and Los Gatos, California.
Unlike tDCS devices, Thync uses transdermal neurostimulation, meaning electrical currents are passed through nerves underneath the skin, and not directly through the brain.
Neuroscientist and co-founder of Thync, Dr Jamie Tyler. (SBS) Source: SBS
Thync has developed a wearable device that lets users “change their mental state on demand” to ‘Calm Vibes’ or ‘Energy Vibes’ through a mobile phone app. (SBS) Source: SBS
The electrical current taps into the autonomic nervous system, which looks after the body’s ‘fight or flight’ response as well as the mechanisms that engage our relaxed state.
"Through this pathway we can modulate the brain without doing anything harmful to it," said Dr Tyler, adding that his device is safe, and has been tested by independent laboratories and medical panels.
He said Thync is not a medical device, but is aimed at the average tech enthusiast.
"We’ve gotten to this point in our culture where we want instant satisfaction and so taking a pill or taking a drug is just the fastest route to some mental state that you desire," said Dr Tyler.
"We can achieve the same thing without a chemical and without a drug, but much faster just by stringing a piece of information from a smartphone to a device you wear on your head.
"While you look at it initially, it may appear odd. I do think that over time, people will gravitate towards this technology."
Profound changes to the brain?
But Professor Loo is concerned that "slick marketing" may be trivialising the risk that home brain stimulation poses.
"With some of the devices on sale, there is very slick marketing. You have all these beautiful people with the device on their head," she said.
"If you want to stimulate your brain, that’s up to you. [But] what you’re doing is not trivial. In the same way if you drink alcohol, that’s not trivial."
"Just be aware that it’s quite likely with repeated use, you can be making profound changes to your brain functioning."
"If you’re stimulating yourself, even within the recommended parameters of 20 minutes once a day, what happens when you do it for a month, two months, six months, two years, three years? Is that safe? Are you making irrevocable changes in your brain that may not be beneficial? We actually don’t know."
But for Leigh, any potential negative effects from brain stimulation devices are worth the risk.
"Depression is real life-threatening illness so should it ever have to come to the point where I have suicidal ideation again, it may be a way of removing that.
"There is stigma, and it would be nice to see that removed," he said. “When people see electrodes attached to someone’s head, they think of electroconvulsive therapy and all of the terrible ways it was administered and the side effects from it such as amnesia and muscle spasms.
"tDCS doesn’t have those terrible side effects. Once the technology gets out there a bit more, I’m hoping that the public will start to see it as beneficial."
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