This special issue looks at some of the developments taking place in the field of brain stimulation, with a particular emphasis on deep brain stimulation. The broad nature of the manuscripts reflects the ever broadening nature of the field of Brain Stimulation. The papers in this issue reflect cutting edge research and clinical practice and range from preliminary concept to clinical trials i.e., work that is already being translated.

The reader will see that the field of DBS which was very focused on movement disorders for a thirty year period until around 2000–2005 now includes treatment of obesity, Huntington’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome and there are explorations into other realms such as spinal cord injury and schizophrenia. Fast improving technology and developments in other areas of Neuroscience is being applied to DBS to make it better and to expand the indications.

Whilst the early applications of DBS involved psychiatric disorders and pain, these indications are now being revisited. We hope that this collection of articles will be both informative and inspiring to the reader, who will, in turn, contribute to the ever increasing knowledge and development of this technique.