Patients diagnosed with chronic depression can improve their symptoms by self-administering a form of electrical brain stimulation at home, according to a clinical trial of the therapy.
Those who underwent the 10-week treatment were twice as likely to have their depression in remission than those in the control group who underwent the same procedure but with the power off.
The results suggest that people with depression could receive beneficial brain stimulation without having to attend a clinic, and that the treatment could become an effective alternative for those unwilling or unresponsive to traditional therapies.
Alternative including for patients who refuse medication
“This is a potential first-line treatment for depression. It can also be used for people whose illness has not improved with medication, for people who don’t like antidepressants or who don’t want psychotherapy,” said Cynthia Fu, professor of affective neuroscience and psychotherapy at King’s College London.
For the second phase of the study, 174 people with major depressive disorder were given a headset to deliver what’s called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). The headphones, produced by Flow Neuroscience, which funded the study, contain two electrodes that apply a weak current of up to 2 milliamps to the forehead.
The 10-week course was supervised in real time via video conferencing, starting with five 30-minute sessions per week for three weeks, followed by three 30-minute sessions per week for the next seven weeks, he notes The Guardian.
One third of patients with depression are not completely cured
While half of the participants received electrical brain stimulation as expected, the other half unknowingly received “off” therapy, in which the device delivered a short, weak current only at the beginning and end of the session.
The researchers report that depression improved in both groups over the 10-week course, according to their scores on standard depression scales. But those who received active brain stimulation improved the most, with a remission rate of 44.9%, compared to 21.8% in the inactive control group.
The current delivered to the brain during tDCS is at least 400 times weaker than that used in electroconvulsive therapy, which induces a generalized seizure in the brain. To reduce any risks related to prolonged stimulation, the device turns off after 30 minutes.
It is estimated that 5% of adults worldwide live with depression. The most common treatments are antidepressants and psychological therapies, but more than a third of people with major depressive disorder do not achieve complete clinical remission.
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Source: www.descopera.ro
