Interventions for Changing Brain Function in Clinical Disorders

Abstract

Historically, restoring brain function after injury or disease has been extremely difficult.  However, over the past few decades, new techniques have emerged for reversing or postponing the deficits in behavior that accompany such injury. This paper reviews several current interventions for improving brain function in clinical settings: deep-brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, physical exercise, and cognitive training. These interventions have been used in a wide range of clinical disorders, including Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease, depression, stroke, and various psychiatric conditions. Findings suggest that these clinical interventions are associated with relatively modest improvements in outcome and should not be considered first-line treatments for most disorders. However, ongoing research continues to refine these techniques to establish more reliable neural pathways for improving clinical outcomes; to more precisely understand the neural mechanisms underlying various disorders; and to improve the delivery of the interventions.