Experimental, but effective: Noninvasive brain stimulation for addiction

In a presentation by Antonello Bonci, M.D., at the Cape Cod Symposium on Addictive Disorders meeting in Massachusetts this month, work by Italian researchers on the use of noninvasive brain stimulation to treat addiction was a popular feature. “We studied it in rats first,” he said. The lab animals learned that if they self-administered cocaine, they would get a foot shock, and 70% of the rats stopped pressing the lever for cocaine. But 30% kept running around waiting for the lever to come out, and kept pressing it, getting the shock. These were the addicted rats.”