Alpha Stim
Alpha Stim Technology,
By Dr. Jackie Fields
11/2020
The Alpha-Stim® AID treats anxiety, depression, and/or insomnia with microcurrent using a method
called cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES). The treatment is very simple. The current is applied by
easy to use clip electrodes that attach on the ear lobes. You may feel a slight tingling sensation under
the electrodes, but it is not necessary to feel this in order to achieve results.
Used just 20 to 60 minutes every day, every other day, or on an as-needed basis, CES can help induce a
pleasant, relaxed feeling of well being. The Alpha-Stim® AID is well tolerated and very safe in contrast to
drugs used in the treatment of mood disorders, many of which have been proven to have undesirable
side effects and can be addictive. Unlike medications, the Alpha-Stim® AID leaves the mind alert. Anxiety
and stress reduction is usually experienced during treatment. Depression and insomnia control is
generally experienced after several weeks of daily treatment. CES can also help treat the underlying
mood disorders associated with pain.
The Alpha-Stim® AID may be used as an adjunct to medication and/or psychotherapy. After treatment,
there are usually no physical limitations imposed so the majority of people can resume normal activities
immediately. Maintenance of a relaxed, yet alert state is generally achieved with treatments three times
per week. As a result, the Alpha-Stim® AID is suitable for clinical or home use.
Treated conditions:
Stress management
Anxiety
Depression
Insomnia
Alpha-Stim® advantages:
Low incidence of adverse effects
More efficacious than most other forms of therapy
Relatively easy to learn
Alternative in cases refractory to conventional care
Reduces or eliminates need for addictive medications
No tolerance
May be applied on schedule or PRN
May be self-administered by patients
Highly cost effective
A brief history of CES
Electrosleep treatment (an older name for CES), involving less than one milliampere of current, came
into the USA from Japan in the late 1960s, which, in turn had borrowed it from Russia and other East
Block countries. Since the electricity was directed across the head, the FDA renamed it Cranial
Electrotherapy Stimulation (CES) in 1978, and now allows its marketing in the USA for the treatment of
anxiety, depression and insomnia.
A major use of CES has been in the drug abstinence syndrome in which people are withdrawing from
various substances of addiction, such as nicotine, alcohol, prescription drugs, cocaine or heroin. All such
patients have anxiety, depression and insomnia as defining symptoms of the syndrome, and the vast
majority benefit dramatically from the use of CES during the withdrawal period. The medical use of CES
is becoming more widely indicated in the USA as these and stress from a myriad of other sources
continue to build up in our society. Read more about the mechanism of Alpha-Stim® CES.
What scientific research has been conducted with CES?
At present, there are over 126 research studies on CES in humans and 29 experimental animal studies.
The overwhelming majority of the scientific research is extremely positive. No significant lasting side
effects have been reported.
Harvard University School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management found: “The
meta-analysis of anxiety showed CES to be significantly more effective than sham (P<.05).” (Meta-
analysis of randomized controlled trials of cranial electrostimulation: efficacy in treating selected
psychological and physiological conditions by Dr. Sidney Klawansky et al. Journal of Nervous and Mental
Disease, 183(7):478-485, 1995).
