Study suggests that intensive brain simulation may aid with lifting the depression in approximately ninety percent patients.
According to a study, an intensive course of specifically targeted brain simulation is an time-effective and safe method of relieving people of depression. It may also help to prevent suicidal thoughts in patients suffering from depression and related problems.
The National Institute of Mental Health has estimated that approximately 17.3 million adults experienced severe depression episodes in 2017 within the United States. In addition to this, suicidal thoughts also referred to as “suicidal ideation” is common in people suffering from major depression or even bipolar disorder.
Experts believe that although antidepressant drugs may help to provide relief from depressive symptoms including thoughts of suicide, however, they may take time to take affect. Therefore, they are always looking to find newer and more effective methods of treatment. For instance, Ketamine and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) are two therapies proven to be effective for the “rapid treatment of suicidal ideation”. However, experts have shared concerns pertaining to the side-effects of the above treatments.
Moreover, it sis believed that there is stigma associated with the use of ECT which inevitably means that people prefer not to use it. To overcome this gap, researchers of the Stanford University School of Medicine have developed a new form of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (RTMS), respectively. They have called it the new treatment Standard Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy or the SAINT.
The study focusing on SAINT published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, addressed the issue of the rapidly resolved symptoms of depression in almost ninety percent of the patients. In addition to this, the study was categorized as “open label” so that the researchers and participants were aware of the exact nature of the treatment. As confirmed by the research team, there was no “control group” to register what is known as the placebo effect during the study. However, it was observed that the success rate was highly unprecedented for an open label study as confirmed by the scientists.
Nolan Williams, who is the MD and senior study author said, that there has “never been a therapy for treatment-resistant depression” which has been able to break approximately “55% remission rates” in the open-label testing carried out in the study. Moreover, Williams added that the “Electroconvulsive therapy is thought to be the gold standard” yet it has only managed to maintain an average of 48% remission rate. Williams further stated that such results were not expected by anyone.
It was concluded by the research team that SAINT apparently eliminated suicidal thoughts in depressive patients. In addition it was noted that the only adverse effects observed during the course of the study was fatigue and discomfort experienced by the participants when the treatment was ongoing.
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