As cases of treatment-resistant depression rise, with some estimates suggesting that nearly half of all depression diagnoses could fall into that category, the search for alternative therapies continues. Beyond the challenge of finding treatments that actually work, common antidepressant side effects, including nausea, weight gain, sleepiness, and sexual dysfunction, have researchers exploring completely different ways to ease mental health symptoms.

Now, a research team from Yonsei University has developed special contact lenses that stimulate brain areas linked to mood disorders using mild electrical signals. In their study, published in Cell Reports Physical Science, after just three weeks, mice with depressive symptoms showed improved behavioral, neural, and physiological markers comparable to the common antidepressant Prozac.