Neuromodulation CRC

Depression and Schizophrenia are listed as among the top ten disabling medical disorders by the World Health Organization. Despite the best of the available treatments, about one-third of patients with these disorders show partial or no clinical improvement and persist to have symptoms that contribute to disability. Interventional psychiatry (iPsych) is an emerging subspecialty that utilizes neurotechnologies to identify dysfunctional brain circuitry underlying psychiatric disorders and apply brain stimulation techniques to modulate that circuitry; this, in turn, has the potential to offer newer avenues to understand the neurobiology of pharmaco-resistant psychiatric disorders and treat these challenging clinical conditions. Some of the neurotechnologies of interventional psychiatry include advanced brain imaging (fMRI, DTI & MRS), EEG, HRV as well as investigative/interventional neuromodulation. The promising neuromodulatory techniques for interventions include Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), and transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS).

This multi-institutional research program will be led by National Institute of Mental Health And NeuroSciences (Bengaluru) in collaboration with the Central Institute of Psychiatry (Ranchi), and Kasturba Medical College (Manipal). This CRC will conduct advanced research in the area of “Interventional Psychiatry” through translational disease modeling as well as non-invasive brain stimulation treatment studies in patients to discover prognostic biomarkers for personalized, neuromodulatory interventions. Moreover, this CRC will generate clinician-scientists in Interventional Psychiatry through the Clinical Research Training Program Fellowships and conduct national level virtual/hands-on training programs to enhance the practice standards of neuromodulatory interventions. Significantly, this CRC will interact with all stakeholders to facilitate the implementation of neuromodulatory techniques at different levels of psychiatric health care delivery through standardized, scalable, pragmatic interventions suitable for India.