RxPG News Feed for RxPG News

Medical Research Health Special Topics World
  Home
 
   Health
 Aging
 Asian Health
 Events
 Fitness
 Food & Nutrition
 Happiness
 Men's Health
 Mental Health
 Occupational Health
 Parenting
 Public Health
 Sleep Hygiene
 Women's Health
 
   Healthcare
 Africa
 Australia
 Canada Healthcare
 China Healthcare
 India Healthcare
 New Zealand
 South Africa
 UK
 USA
 World Healthcare
 
   Latest Research
 Aging
 Alternative Medicine
 Anaethesia
 Biochemistry
 Biotechnology
 Cancer
 Cardiology
 Clinical Trials
 Cytology
 Dental
 Dermatology
 Embryology
 Endocrinology
 ENT
 Environment
 Epidemiology
 Gastroenterology
 Genetics
 Gynaecology
 Haematology
 Immunology
 Infectious Diseases
 Medicine
 Metabolism
 Microbiology
 Musculoskeletal
 Nephrology
 Neurosciences
 Obstetrics
 Ophthalmology
 Orthopedics
 Paediatrics
 Pathology
 Pharmacology
 Physiology
 Physiotherapy
 Psychiatry
  Anorexia Nervosa
  Anxiety
  Bulimia
  CFS
  Child Psychiatry
  Depression
   Antidepressants
  Forensic Psychiatry
  Learning-Disabilities
  Mood Disorders
  Neuropsychiatry
  Peri-Natal Psychiatry
  Personality Disorders
  Psychology
  Psychoses
  Psychotherapy
  Sleep Disorders
  Substance Abuse
  Suicide
 Radiology
 Rheumatology
 Sports Medicine
 Surgery
 Toxicology
 Urology
 
   Medical News
 Awards & Prizes
 Epidemics
 Launch
 Opinion
 Professionals
 
   Special Topics
 Ethics
 Euthanasia
 Evolution
 Feature
 Odd Medical News
 Climate

Last Updated: Oct 11, 2012 - 10:22:56 PM
Depression Channel

subscribe to Depression newsletter
Latest Research : Psychiatry : Depression

   EMAIL   |   PRINT
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation aid severe depression

Jul 13, 2005 - 12:48:00 PM
In 'transcranial magnetic stimulation' (TMS) the doctors place a coil on the patient's forehead. For several minutes this produces a strong pulsating magnetic field which in turn produces a flow of electrical current. However, this is so weak that it does not trigger an epileptic attack. The patient remains fully conscious during the treatment.

 
[RxPG] For severe depression, electro-shock therapy is nowadays the last hope. However, it can impair memory for weeks after therapy. A less aggressive alternative seems to be provided by what is known as "transcranial magnetic stimulation". This is the conclusion arrived at by doctors and psychologists of the Bonn University Clinic in an article which has just appeared in the British Journal of Psychiatry (vol. 186 [2005], pp. 410-416).

Nowadays depression is seen as amenable to treatment: with psychotherapy or medication most patients affected can be assisted out of their depressive phase. About five per cent of all patients, however, fall into such profound depression that they do not respond to these methods. Because depression is one of the most frequent psychological diseases – every sixth person suffers from it at least once in their lives – this affects a large number of people.

In these cases electro-shock therapy is one option. This involves the patient being anaesthetised. Then the doctors pass electrical impulses through the patient's head via two electrodes, thereby triggering an epileptic spasm. This changes the cerebral chemistry in the area of the forehead, a region which, among other things, regulates the emotions and steers the psycho-motor reflexes.

Effective therapy – bad image

One in two patients who previously did not respond to other therapies improve after a series of therapy to the extent that therapy can be continued by using medication or psychotherapy. 'In the severest cases of depression electro-shock therapy is nowadays still an important therapeutic option,' the head of the Bonn Psychiatric Clinic, Professor Wolfgang Maier, emphasises. Despite this, the public image of this method has long been very negative – not least due to the movie classic 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'. In the film the inmate of a psychiatric clinic (played by Jack Nicholson) is subjected to electro-shock to curb his rebellious behaviour.

The type of electro-shock now used is regarded as a form of therapy which is well tolerated by patients. However, the therapy may impair memory even several weeks later. 'As a rule, this impairment of memory does gradually recede, but understandably it is often experienced by patients as annoying,' Bonn lecturer Dr. Michael Wagner says. The reason is that the flow of electricity is not precise enough, also hitting the hippocampus, our brain's 'memory centre'.

This is why recently a different therapy has come to the fore which has few side-effects: in 'transcranial magnetic stimulation' (TMS) the doctors place a coil on the patient's forehead. For several minutes this produces a strong pulsating magnetic field which in turn produces a flow of electrical current. However, this is so weak that it does not trigger an epileptic attack. The patient remains fully conscious during the treatment.

The Bonn researchers have treated a total of 30 patients suffering from severe depression either with electro-shock or magnetic stimulation. Both methods were roughly equally effective: every second patient experienced a marked alleviation of their depression a week after their stint of therapy. 'Admittedly, the division of the groups was not made on a random basis, which reduces the reliability of the findings,' Dr. Wagner warns. 'The number of patients taking part is also too small for us to draw final conclusions about the effectiveness.' However, other studies also confirm that the effect of magnetic stimulation is to improve the patient's mood.

Memory unimpaired by magnetic stimulation

The patients who had been treated with magnetic stimulation later did as well as or even better than before therapy. By contrast, the patients taking part in electro-shock suffered memory loss, psychologist Svenja Schulze-Rauschenbach confirmed. Even so, magnetic stimulation is not a miracle cure, since, like electro-shock, it is not a lasting cure for depression. The patients still have to continue to be treated afterwards with other methods. 'TMS is just a new therapeutic tool which can't help in all cases of depression,' adds Michael Wagner, cautioning against excessively high expectations.

There are only a few institutions in Germany where the effects of this relatively new therapy for severe depression are being investigated. However, new instruments are in the offing which could be even more effective. The magnetic field which they produce is so strong that it can trigger an epileptic spasm. Yet unlike with electro-shock the flow of current in TMS remains restricted to the area of the brain which is responsible for mood – the hippocampus is not affected. Dr. Wagner says, 'We are therefore hoping that this will be an additional very effective method without undesirable side-effects.'




Publication: British Journal of Psychiatry (vol. 186 [2005], pp. 410-416).
On the web: http://www.uni-bonn.de/ 

Advertise in this space for $10 per month. Contact us today.


Related Depression News
Does Dad's stress affect his unborn children?
Unhealthy eating leads to increased depression
Online CBT is Effective in Depression & Panic Disorders: RCT
Care Management Reduces Suicidal Ideation in Geriatric Depression
Incubator care at birth reduces depression risk in adult life
Depression during pregnancy doubles risk of premature delivery
Depression is wrongly seen as natural part of getting older
Depression increases risk of Alzheimer's disease
Antidepressants that are more efficient and faster
Depressed older people risk losing their minds

Subscribe to Depression Newsletter

Enter your email address:


 Feedback
For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 
Contact us

RxPG Online

Nerve

 

    Full Text RSS

© All rights reserved by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited (India)