Of the eighteen million Americans who suffer from major depression, possibly as many as four million are afflicted with what is known as “treatment-resistant” depression. For them, nothing works, not even electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Their lives are crippled with the disorder and many ultimately commit suicide.
However, there may be hope for them on the horizon. Early results from an experiment in Canada may hold the key. It involves surgery on a region of our brains called Area 25. This tiny node is deep in the very center of our brains and is connected to other areas that control sleep, appetite and drive, all the things that go awry when someone’s depressed.
According to Dr. Helen Mayberg, the study’s lead neurologist, if you slow down area 25, you treat the disease. She decided to try a technique called deep brain stimulation, that involves threading two thin electrodes through the brain, directly into Area 25 and stimulating it with continuous pulses of electricity from a pacemaker in order to jolt it back to normal.
The surgery has already made some very significant improvements for the few people who volunteered for the procedure, sufferers who were previously severely debilitated and who had tried all other treatment options without success.
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3 Comments to
“Area 25 May Help the Severely Depressed”
A correction - it’s not “electric shock treatment,” the correct term is electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). The article you linked to was about injuries caused by electric shock (such as sticking your finger in a light socket) and not ECT.
The distinction is important to make because calling it “electric shock” perpetuates fearful Cuckoo’s Nest-type old myths. Modern day ECT is very safe, painless, and is the most effective treatment for depression.
Wasn’t it discovered that the people who were promoting this device also had a vested financial interest and were set to directly profit off its approval by the FDA? Or am I thinking of another “brain stimulation” device?
i would do anything to take a chance on being in the pilot study group if they need now or in the future. very interested in status of this study and when it might be available for the public. my whole life seems to have been a total waste. have been on almost every drug tried. hospitalized several times. 19 ect treatments and nothing has helped. has cause pain and cripled me in every area of my life and now at age 51 i am a virtual prisoner in my room; just safe in my little corner of my king-sized bed. gained over 100 pounds in a little over a year. several attempts at suicide. have serious phobia of death of any of my family members. just would like a chance at life so i can at least be a good grandma since passing on a lot of my sick traits to my children:i guess i could write a book if i dont stop now. anxiously awaiting any kind of response from anybody. thanks
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 16 Oct 2006
