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—Magnets used painlessly outside the skull are helping
to relieve depression by stimulating regions inside the skull.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) uses a magnetic field to
produce a little electric current to excite the brain. While the individual sits
In a reclining chair without need of anesthetic, the psychiatrist aims the halo
Magnet of the head — the prefrontal cortex
The device airs pulses a minute. electric about 3,000 Doctors
Say brain cells likely excite and stimulate them fire. Patients
with depression display less brain activity in that brain region. The
procedure takes about 40 minutes.
“The strange thing is the pressure was coming from your inside of
your head, not the external,” Ruth Schwer, a patient who used the
treatment, told the Indianapolis Star. The sensation felt like a
woodpecker was tapping against her skull, she said. Over time, she got used to
the feeling, she said. After her third week on the treatment, it was felt by her
working. “I understood I had the liberty to direct my focus to where I
wanted it to go,” she told the paper. “Having the possibility to
Experience joy and happiness, I felt like something had changed for
me.”
It might sound a bit like electroshock therapy,
Which triggers activity to increase in the left frontal area.
But TMS doesn’t need anesthesia and is much lighter compared to the controversial treatment.
Electroshock was linked to memory as well as other cognitive losses.
Treatment generally lasts up to five times a week for four to six
weeks. A study was published by the Journal of the American Medical Association
in 2010 that questioned the effectiveness of antidepressant drugs. While drugs
are successful in treating acute depression, for most patients with mild or
The use that is most typically, reasonable instances antidepressants generally relieve mental
Gloom no better than the usual placebo, the report said. Many of these drugs have
unfortunate side effects, such as weight gain.
Neuronetics says about half of patients experience improvement, which
is smaller than achievement rates for electroshock. When the Food and Drug
Government approved Neuronetics Inc.’s NeuroStar therapy in 2008, it
Specifically recommended it for patients who whose melancholy wasn’t treatable
through antidepressants.
When the device was approved by the FDA, TMS has radically
Raised. About 5,000 patients have been given NeuroStar TMS at about 400
sites nationwide, according to apparatus maker Neuronetics Inc., of Malvern, Pa.,
according to the Boston Globe.
Depression affects 121 million individuals all over the world, according to
Research published the journal BMC Medicine. Girls are twice as likely
to suffer depression as men, the study showed.
Almost 8 percent of girls require antidepressants during their
Time Magazine reported in March. Based on studies cited by the
Magazine, women who took such medications were more likely to
Give birth to kids with head sizes that are reduced and were likely to have
preterm births. On the other hand, girls with untreated depression were more
Likely to have children with decreased head and body sizes.
A Neuronetics spokesman said that treating depression through magnetic
Therapy could be a safer approach than prescribing girls that are pregnant
antidepressants. TMS is being examined in clinical trials for use against
Conditions including Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, tinnitus, pain, Alzheimer’s
disease, schizophrenia, and stroke, based on a report from U.S. News and
World Report.
“There’s burgeoning research with this particular modality as it’s really
well taken,” Rizwan Kahn, a board certified psychiatrist at St.
Francis Hospital in Columbia, Ga., told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. “If
You’ve got a treatment that is well-tolerated, that can be a large plus. I think
There’s a very bright future as expanding its use with this particular modality as far
Since the data continues to be very remarkable with the in other sicknesses goes
results too.”
