Inc.
A Swedish neurotech startup is reinventing century-old shock therapy with a gentle electrical headset that treats depression without the usual drug side effects.
How a New Device Treats Depression With Electroshock Therapy
Author: Liles Dixon
A whopping 18 percent of adults in the U.S. struggle with depression according to a recent Gallup study. Symptoms often include persistent low mood, loss of interest or pleasure in activities, changes in sleep and appetite, difficulty concentrating, and reduced motivation and energy. Potential causes, according to the Gallup study, include loneliness, economic hardship, and even social media. For some people, depression never goes away, but those who do recover often treat the problem by making lifestyle changes, taking pharmaceutical antidepressants, employing talk therapy, and even undergoing electric shock therapy.
You read that right. Shock therapy has been used as a depression treatment for almost a century, but now a startup called Flow Neuroscience is putting a new spin on the technique. The Swedish neurotech company has created a medical device called Flow, a headset that uses transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to ease symptoms of depression without the side effects of antidepressant drugs.
“We are working with the brain’s natural electrical language, delivering precisely calibrated stimulation (2 mA) — equivalent to an AA battery powering a digital clock,” explains Doctor Kultar Singh Garcha, NHS GP and Global Medical Director at Flow Neuroscience. “Within a few weeks, neural activity begins to return,” he adds.
A video tutorial and a telemedicine visit come with the device, guiding patients in properly placing the two electrodes targeting specific brain regions: the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, involved in executive function and cognition, and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, involved in emotional regulation. Patients use Flow at home for 30 minutes, five times per week for three weeks, and then decrease usage with time.
The U.K.’s National Health System (NHS) has conducted independent studies in pilot programs across its network, and has offered the device to some patients since March 2023. The early results are reportedly positive. A crisis mental health team at the Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust—one of the pilot programs—conducted a study that revealed patients who have used the headset saw up to a 75 percent drop in self-reported feelings of self-harm and suicidal thoughts.
Flow also sponsored a clinical trial of its devices. The results, published in Nature Medicine in October 2024, were that 45 percent of patients who received tDCS treatment with a Flow device for ten weeks reported a remission of their depression, while 58 percent reported an improvement in depression symptoms. Flow, which has already received CE marking approval in the EU and approval in Norway, Brazil, and Hong Kong, is not yet FDA-certified.
One Piece of the Puzzle
Though Flow has promising early results, it’s important to understand that it is one piece of a bigger puzzle—and that depression interventions don’t always need to be high-tech; some are available to us right now.
Similar to neurotechnology like Flow, somatic coaching is a growing movement in the workplace wellness space. Coaches focus on the clients breath and inner sensations, as well as nervous system regulation to help people feel more present and aware, the next step is building that resilience. Twitter, the BBC, Capital One, and other corporations worldwide are employing somatic coaches to address core workplace needs, such as leadership, stress management, team relationships, and staff wellbeing.
Research shows that micro-breaks — short pauses, even just a minute or two, taken throughout the workday can significantly support focus, reduce fatigue, and interrupt burnout cycles. This small act provides a physiological reset by shifting us away from constant production and back toward our own rhythm. Noticing tension, breathing, resting, and moving with awareness might sound basic, but these small acts interrupt the cycle of constant productivity. They challenge the idea that we have to earn our worth or wait until the workday ends to feel at peace.
Institutions such as the Center for Somatic Leadership emphasize “leadership from the body,” their coaches train individuals to sense their internal landscape and shift it in real time. The Strozzi Institute for Somatics reports clients feeling more focused, more capacity to make rational decisions, and an increase in stress resilience.
These somatic practices offer a different path than neurotech: where Flow stimulates brain regions to treat depression, somatic coaching fosters bottom-up regulation, fostering long-term reconnection over symptom suppression. Together, they form a complementary toolkit: Flow can alleviate acute distress, improving sleep, mood, and focus. This creates the physiological space for somatic practices to take root.
At the end of the day though, the goal is the same. “When we regulate the nervous system, we give people access to themselves again,” says Garcha. That, he argues, is where healing begins.
Credits: TCA, LLC.