Is deep brain stimulation promising?

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) involves placing one or two thin wires into specific locations deep within the brain and then connecting the wires to a battery situated just beneath the skin. A recent article in the American Journal of Psychiatry reports on the  follow-up of 20 patients who received DBS for treatment-resistant depression.

Unfortunately two of these 20 patients died from suicide and one died from colonic cancer. As I said in my psychiatric update for Openmind, there is no clinical trial data about the effectiveness of DBS. I'm sure case reports, such as the latest article, will be used to justify continuing experimentation with it, however limited. I just wish that psychiatry could focus its efforts on providing more hope and effective treatment than DBS.