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Neurological Disorders and Treatments · Journal article
Current Psychiatry Reports · July 16, 2026
A consensus or society position rather than new primary data.
This is a narrative review updating the state of neuromodulation research (DBS and TMS) for anxiety disorders. It describes recent technical refinements, FDA clearances for OCD and depression, mechanistic insights into anxiety-related circuitry, and the rationale for neuromodulation as a treatment option for patients who fail standard therapy, without presenting new empirical findings or systematic evidence synthesis.
Narrative review. Patients with anxiety and anxiety-related psychiatric disorders. Intervention: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).
DBS and TMS are FDA cleared for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and depression Recent refinement of DBS and TMS techniques have improved their safety and efficacy as anxiety treatments Neuromodulation can be an option for patients whose anxiety has not responded to standard therapy
Specific circuits, personalization criteria, and safety profile data not detailed in this source excerpt Recent refinement of DBS and TMS techniques have improved their safety and efficacy as anxiety treatments
Clinicians should recognize DBS and TMS as established FDA-cleared neuromodulation options for OCD and depression, and as investigational approaches for treatment-resistant anxiety. The review suggests circuit-based and personalized approaches are evolving the treatment paradigm, though specific outcome data are not provided in this abstract.
A narrative review synthesizing current knowledge on neuromodulation techniques (DBS and TMS) for anxiety disorders, summarizing FDA clearances, mechanistic insights, and treatment paradigm evolution rather than reporting new primary evidence.
As stated by the source record.
Clinicians should recognize DBS and TMS as established FDA-cleared neuromodulation options for OCD and depression, and as investigational approaches for treatment-resistant anxiety. The review suggests circuit-based and personalized approaches are evolving the treatment paradigm, though specific outcome data are not provided in this abstract.
Graded across the dimensions that decide whether you should act, each from what the source actually supports. There is no single score, and where a dimension was not assessed it says so.
What is missing. This record has no reported figures. That is a gap in the analysis, not a judgement about the study.
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: We provide an update on the current psychiatric research for DBS and TMS and what the field has learned about causal circuitry implicated in anxiety and anxiety-related disorders. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent refinement of DBS and TMS techniques have both improved their safety and efficacy as anxiety treatments and elucidated the pathological circuitry and areas causally involved in psychiatric disease. Anxiety is a debilitating hallmark of many psychiatric disorders. A significant portion of patients do not achieve sufficient benefit from psychotherapy and medication, so other therapies are being investigated. Neuromodulation, which involves targeted stimulation of neural circuitry, is FDA cleared for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and depression and is an option for some patients whose anxiety have not responded to standard therapy. Over the past several years, neuromodulation protocol and technology advancements have continued to evolve the psychiatric treatment paradigm. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and deep brain stimulation (DBS) are two of the most extensively studied neuromodulation techniques in psychiatry.
Taken from the source record, never inferred. Follow any of these and new work involving them reaches your briefing.