A small study in 16 people with severe anorexia has found that implanting stimulation electrodes into the brains of patients could ease their anxiety and help them gain weight.
Researchers found that in extreme cases of the eating disorder, the technique - known as deep brain stimulation (DBS) - swiftly helped many of those studied reduce symptoms of either anxiety or depression, and improved their quality of life.
A few months later, the improved psychological symptoms began to lead to changes in weight, the researchers said, with the average body mass index (BMI) of the group increasing to 17.3 – a rise of 3.5 points – over the course of the study.