Deans' stroke musings: Brain stimulation device, Alpha-Stim, gaining traction as an anti-anxiety tool

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Thursday, January 8, 2026

Brain stimulation device, Alpha-Stim, gaining traction as an anti-anxiety tool

If your doctor prescribes this for your massive anxiety about not getting recovered that just proves EXTREME INCOMPETENCE in not having EXACT 100% recovery protocols!

You want your doctor to prevent post stroke depression and anxiety the proper way; 100% RECOVERY PROTOCOLS! Not any after the fact intervention.

Post stroke depression(33% chance).

Post stroke anxiety(20% chance).

Brain stimulation device, Alpha-Stim, gaining traction as an anti-anxiety tool

By Kath Hudson17 Dec 2025

Alpha-Stim is being used by Northamptonshire NHS Healthcare Trust as a mental health intervention

The device uses gentle electrical currents to rebalance the Default Mode Network in the brain

People who have anxiety or insomnia often have disruption in this area of the brain

More than 100 clinical studies have been carried out

Brain stimulation device, Alpha-Stim is receiving growing support from health professionals and people with anxiety, insomnia and chronic pain.

Alpha-Stim uses cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) to deliver small, pulsed currents to the brain, via a small clip attached to the outer ear. A low-amplitude waveform is used to rebalance the default mode network, which is often disrupted in a number of mental health conditions, including anxiety and insomnia.

Alpha-Stim was launched in the US in 1981 and more than 100 clinical studies and trials have been carried out on Alpha-Stim and CES. In 2010, it was brought to the UK by Stephen Hutchinson, who discovered it when he was looking for an alternative to medication to help with insomnia and anxiety.

In 2014, Northamptonshire NHS Healthcare Trust was the first NHS Trust to trial Alpha-Stim for patients. After extensive trials, the Trust added it to its routine primary care pathway for patients with anxiety two years ago.

Headline figures from research include a 94 per cent improvement in anxiety after five weeks.

After five Alpha-Stim insomnia treatments, military service members with insomnia reported an increase of 43 minutes of sleep.

A study on CES found the number of subjects rating their quality of sleep as poor dropped from 60 per cent to 5 per cent.

In a study of severe pain patients, Alpha-Stim significantly reduced pain by an average of 71 per cent after five treatments.

Dr James Kustow, consultant psychiatrist and author of ‘How to Thrive with adult ADHD’, said, “I’m really excited by the results my patients have reported when using Alpha-Stim for their anxiety symptoms over many years.

"I have found that it has made a huge difference to the quality of life of many of my patients, some of whom have been struggling to get good control of their anxiety and emotional dysregulation for many years. It’s a really excellent non-medication solution for a common and impairing problem.”