Nov 28, 2022 12:27 AM
https://psyche.co/ideas/a-personalised-a...on-the-way
EXCERPT: . . . This is based on a shift away from thinking about depression as a disorder of ‘chemicals in the brain’ to an understanding that depression is underpinned by changes in electrical activity and communication between brain regions.
Brain areas talk to one another by firing in rhythm together, at specific frequencies, forming complex networks that underpin important brain functions. For example, nerve cells in frontal and parietal areas of the brain oscillate in rhythm together (usually between 4 and 8 times per second) while we are actively trying to remember something. There is increasing evidence that depression is associated with changes in several of these networks, particularly those that connect multiple brain regions at long distance. One knock-on consequence is the overactivity of some parts of the brain and the underactivity of others.
Unbeknown to most of the public, there’s a new therapy, now established in clinical practice, called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) that can address some of these brain-based changes seen in depression. In TMS, a figure-8-shaped coil held over the head generates a magnetic field that stimulates localised brain activity and the strength of connections between multiple brain regions.
To treat depression, the TMS pulses are usually targeted to the front of the left side of the brain, a region that is consistently underactive in patients with depression. Although several decades of clinical trials have established the effectiveness and safety of TMS, especially for patients who have not responded to standard antidepressant medication, an ongoing challenge is that it is time-consuming and inconvenient. Patients must attend a clinical setting on a daily basis, five days per week, for up to 6 weeks.
For this reason, efforts are underway to develop alternative forms of brain-stimulation treatment that could be administered in a patient’s home. Of these, the research is most advanced for transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS), a surprisingly simple process, the ideas behind which are not new. People have experimented with the use of electrical currents to change brain activity since Scribonius Largus, physician to the emperor Claudius, applied a type of electric ray to the brain during the time of the Roman Empire.
Unlike TMS, tDCS doesn’t directly stimulate the nerve cells of the brain, but subtly shifts the likelihood that they will fire in the future. [...] there is evidence from more than 10 clinical trials that it can help patients with depression... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPT: . . . This is based on a shift away from thinking about depression as a disorder of ‘chemicals in the brain’ to an understanding that depression is underpinned by changes in electrical activity and communication between brain regions.
Brain areas talk to one another by firing in rhythm together, at specific frequencies, forming complex networks that underpin important brain functions. For example, nerve cells in frontal and parietal areas of the brain oscillate in rhythm together (usually between 4 and 8 times per second) while we are actively trying to remember something. There is increasing evidence that depression is associated with changes in several of these networks, particularly those that connect multiple brain regions at long distance. One knock-on consequence is the overactivity of some parts of the brain and the underactivity of others.
Unbeknown to most of the public, there’s a new therapy, now established in clinical practice, called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) that can address some of these brain-based changes seen in depression. In TMS, a figure-8-shaped coil held over the head generates a magnetic field that stimulates localised brain activity and the strength of connections between multiple brain regions.
To treat depression, the TMS pulses are usually targeted to the front of the left side of the brain, a region that is consistently underactive in patients with depression. Although several decades of clinical trials have established the effectiveness and safety of TMS, especially for patients who have not responded to standard antidepressant medication, an ongoing challenge is that it is time-consuming and inconvenient. Patients must attend a clinical setting on a daily basis, five days per week, for up to 6 weeks.
For this reason, efforts are underway to develop alternative forms of brain-stimulation treatment that could be administered in a patient’s home. Of these, the research is most advanced for transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS), a surprisingly simple process, the ideas behind which are not new. People have experimented with the use of electrical currents to change brain activity since Scribonius Largus, physician to the emperor Claudius, applied a type of electric ray to the brain during the time of the Roman Empire.
Unlike TMS, tDCS doesn’t directly stimulate the nerve cells of the brain, but subtly shifts the likelihood that they will fire in the future. [...] there is evidence from more than 10 clinical trials that it can help patients with depression... (MORE - missing details)