Subscribe
A new cure for depression?
Jamie Zawinsky has an interesting bit on a new depression treatment that involves getting electrodes implanted into your brain which are then used to stimulate a brain area that is connected to “moods”.
According to the article the test-subjects were severly depressed persons who underwent a number of other treatments first and were thus declared to have ‘untreatable’ clinical depression, which is a shame, as the surgery helped them, so now, technically, they weren’t untreatable after all.
The referenced article quotes “Dr Helen Maybery” of the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia (who appears to be listed as “HELEN MAYBERG, M.D.” on the faculty’s list of members):
“I see depression as a brain disease not as a chemical imbalance like most psychiatrists. The brain is not a bowl of soup. You cannot just add a chemical and stir. It is a very intricate wiring system. Some circuits were not working for these people. Once we turned on the stimulator, the changes were astounding.”
I really had hoped that they didn’t perform the procedure on all of the test-subjects. My guess would be that for some of these people, being in the program, seeing all the advanced technology, then getting a hole drilled in your skull would have done the trick without getting any of the electrodes implanted. But that’s just me.
The medical professionals in the article, though, are really great as they now call invasive brain surgery an alternative to ECT (formerly known as “Electroshock therapy”, but that sounded too harsh for a procedure jwz rightfully describes as “Still depressed?” ZAP! “Still depressed?” ZAP!). In fact Professor Vince Egan, a clinical psychologist at Glasgow Caledonian University, is quoted saying:
for those who have biological features of depression who do not respond to drugs, who have previously been treated using ECT, then something less drastic or violent or understood has got to be a good thing.
Yep, all those poor people! Something even less understood will certainly help them more.