Brain network therapies: targeting circuits, transforming outcomes

Talk Description
The future of mental health care may lie in directly modulating the brain networks that improve how we think, feel and function.

Mental health treatments have remained largely unchanged for decades. Limited effective options exist for people with severe or treatment-resistant conditions, and they often struggle to live full and productive lives. This talk explores how advances in neuroscience are reshaping our understanding of mental illness. Rather than viewing these conditions simply as chemical imbalances, or as symptoms solvable solely through changes in thinking and behaviour, we increasingly recognise them as disorders of interconnected brain networks. By translating insights from brain imaging and circuit science into targeted, non-invasive brain stimulation, we are developing treatments that are safe, scientifically grounded and personalised.

A/Prof Chen will outline how these brain network therapies differ from traditional approaches and how our research is innovating interventions for depression, eating disorders and chronic pain.
Bio
Leo Chen is a psychiatrist and researcher committed to improving outcomes in psychiatric disorders through innovative, neuroscience-informed treatments. He is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Melbourne Medical School, the University of Melbourne, and Psychiatry Research Lead at St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, where he leads the Brain Stimulation Lab. His translational research advances brain stimulation therapies with the potential to transform mental health care.

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