US Military Designing Brain Chips to Treat PTSD

The U.S. military is working on computer chips for the brain designed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, Defense One reports.

The chips will send low doses of electricity deep into the brain in much the same way that a defibrillator sends electricity to jumpstart a heart after cardiac arrest.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, is looking to predict and possibly treat anxiety, depression, and memory loss with the chip.

"DARPA is looking for ways to characterize which regions come into play for different conditions - measured from brain networks down to the single neuron level - and develop therapeutic devices that can record activity, deliver targeted stimulation, and most importantly, automatically adjust therapy as the brain itself changes," DARPA program manager Justin Sanchez said.

The military is hoping to have a prototype in five years and then get the approval of the Food and Drug Administration.

Defense One notes the plan is an example of the types of implants that could be developed in the decades ahead.