An Electrode in the Brain Turns Off Depression

[humble3d]

An Electrode in the Brain Turns Off Depression

Electrical stimulation deep within the brain may alleviate devastating mood disorders

New Promise of Relief for Major Depression

“I suddenly feel calm.” Our patient, a middle-aged woman who suffered from severe depression, uttered these beautiful words in the operating room just a few seconds after one of us (Lozano) applied electrical stimulation to a selected area deep in her brain. The operation, which took place in 2003 at Toronto Western Hospital, relied on only local anesthesia so that the woman could remain conscious and talk to us.

Then, as the current's strength was increased, we asked her if she noticed anything different. To our surprise, she described the room as going from “black-and-white to color”—as if a light switch had been flicked that instantly elevated her mood.

In the mid 1980s I discovered that humming has health properties. I asked several people with depression to mark their happiness on a scale of 0 to 10. Then I asked them to hum a hymn, and give another mark. All said their depression lifted while humming. Humming for a long time can lead to a soar throat, so keep some runny honey near by to solve that problem as well.

It could well be that a device that resonates with a humming noise could be used in treating depressives, and perhaps other mental illnesses as well.

I would only suggest humming as a last resort if the patient did not want to try any of the more permanent solutions on this website (Please see The Kadir-Buxton Method page), some mentally ill people do not want a cure, only a treatment. I have not tried this invention on any other mental illness, but am confident that it would make a difference.

TREATMENT OF REFRACTORY DEPRESSION

As a psychologist, I am familiar with cases of chronic, severe depression which have not responded to talk therapy and psychotropic medication. In such cases there has been the option of ECT (electro-convulsive therapy) which has been successful. So the notion of using current neuroscience to advance interventions for depression that continues after trying all other interventions is logical, from my point of view. I think that it is important to do longitudinal studies of patients with long-term severe, refractory depression compare patient histories and review treatment records, then to compare them with a group of such patients who receive electrodes implanted in the brain. The results of such a study should provide evidence of efficacy, if it is present.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-electrode-in-the-brain-turns-off-depression/