Magnets can help 'reset' depressed brains, study finds

A new stimulation therapy for depression, OCD and other disorders like memory loss and Parkinson's has been FDA approved and a study seems to have found exactly how these electrical stimulations help your brain.

It's called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and is basically a series of magnetic pulses delivered to different areas of the brain.  For the first time, MRIs have been able to locate exactly what is going on and why this treatment might be the greatest new anti-depressant therapy in existence.

"We found that one session of TMS modifies the connectivity of large-scale brain networks, particularly the right anterior insula, which is a key area in depression," lead scientist Sarina Iwabuchi, from the University of Nottingham in the UK, told the European College of Neuropsychology at a conference in Amsterdam, where the research was presented.

By sending impulses to the area of the brain that becomes overactive during depressive thoughts, they are able to slow down the activity and let the mind clear.  The study contained 16 healthy controls and 16 patients with major depressive disorders.  The MRI scans measured the changes and the results suggest that the treatment may offer a much-needed alternative for drugs and other invasive surgeries.  It does not require anesthesia like electric shock therapy and does not have the side effect of memory loss associated with shock therapy.

It also seems to start working after one session.

 

"These findings are an exciting step in understanding how targeting the brain activity with magnetic stimulation may exert beneficial effects in the treatment of depression," Catherine Harmer, a neuroscientist from the University of Oxford who wasn't involved in the study told The Washington Post on behalf of the European College of Neuropsychology. "TMS techniques are still evolving ... This kind of experimental medicine study is therefore essential for the improved personalisation and treatment of depression in the future."

 

 

http://www.sciencealert.com/magnets-can-help-reset-depressed-brains-new-research-finds