DBS: An Odyssey Through the Mind

By José Luis Pérez Velázquez and Chuse Bizien Estella Orero

Due to the contemporary interest in neurostimulation not only for therapeutic use but also for various aspects like improving memory or relaxation, this tale will be of interest to a wide audience. Specifically, the story is centred on closed-loop (or feedback) Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) and is in fact based in the research performed in the laboratory of one of the authors (JLPV). Jose Luis Perez Velazquez is a neuroscientist working on brain dynamics and the control of brain activity using electrical stimulation to alleviate epileptic seizures and compulsive reward-seeking behaviour. But there are shortcomings with the current approach to DBS, and that is the basis of the plot. Namely, there is a trial-and-error approach to develop DBS protocols that are being used in Parkinson's disease, epilepsy and addiction, without much consideration of the intrinsic brain activity and what may happen to brain function, as side-effects, after the DBS-induced modification of the neural activity that is supposed to improve the symptoms. Therefore, the novel is the story of the possible consequences of the altered brain dynamics by neurostimulation in patients with addiction, and the efforts of scientists, clinicians and the police to fix the situation. Throughout the text the plight suffered in real life by this type of psychiatric patients is described, and at the same time how neuroscience is changing criminal justice these days ―which is another current very hot topic― as the neuroscientific findings accumulate. Hence the issue of moral responsibility arises in this neurotech field, and many times the resolution of the conundrum is not trivial at all, as the story will teach readers. The story describes the struggle among the groups of professionals that have been involved in the attempts at finding a remedy to a DBS therapy that has gone very wrong in an unexpected way; healthcare specialists, corporate executives, police officers, scientists and engineers, and lawyers will sometimes collaborate and other times clash in the troublesome scene that has emerged from a careless application of therapies that alter brain activity and therefore the behaviour of the patients who, perchance somewhat unwillingly, have no choice but to perform those deeds described in the text.The novel has somewhat different features from the standard sci-fi text, because substantial documentation of the science behind the plot has been included for those readers who may be intrigued, in the form of a supplement and in several footnotes at the end of each chapter. It contains figures too, to provide readers with a feeling of how scientists proceed and communicate their thoughts and theories in this type of neuroscientific research.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1657113981
• ISBN13: 9781657113985
• Release Date: January 2020
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 170 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"