It's also called TCES (Trans Cranial Electrostimulation), MET (Microcurrent Electrical Therapy), or TCET (Trans Cranial Electrical Therapy).
It uses weak electrical pulses, typically under 100 µA, and the current is applied from earlobe to earlobe, temple to temple (
A1 to A2 or T3 to T4 in the standardized
10-20 nomenclature), or forehead to occiput (
FPz to Oz or the `Inion`). It is similar to TENS, but uses much lower levels of electrical energy, and bipolar waveforms are preferred, though not mandatory -- most TENS devices use a 555 chip producing a monopolar pulse. TENS itself is being investigated as a psychiatric treatment, although this is quite recent.
It's an "orphan" approach, since the basic technology isn't patentable, having been developed in the USSR during the Cold War. It was called "Electrosleep", a gross exaggeration of its real effects, which are mild sedative, anti-depressant, concentration-improving, and pain-control properties. Full effects take about a week to become observable, and though most people can feel a mild "buzz" immediately (the actual current tends to be imperceptible).
Very few companies make these devices; the Alpha-Stim is probably the best one on the market, though I haven't checked out "the market" in several years. There are also dozens of circuit diagrams on the Internet for the motivated electronics hobbyist. During the "Brain Machine" fad, several inexpensive consumer models were produced, but Alpha-Stim's lawyers were diligent about putting the FDA wise to them. One version, called the
Voodoo Magick Box, promising the usual orgasms and psychedelic effects, was being sold as late as 2003.
As for its "legitimacy", it is approved by the FDA, and there is a considerable body of peer-reviewed work relating to it, most of it old enough to have not been conducted under the too-common modern regime of "Science for Hire".
It's worth a look for many people. Vagal nerve stimulation is also a promising technology, though much more invasive. Jerry Lewis has been promoting spinal electric anesthesia devices after getting substantial, life-changing relief from the procedure himself. Magnetic stimulation methods are also showing promise.
Once upon a time, the FDA just routinely banned all electric devices, but lucky for us, Science is self-correcting, even if it does take seventy or eighty years.
--p!