Treatment for Severe Depression

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is used to treat certain neurological conditions in patients who are unable to control their symptoms with medications. It involves implanting electrodes into specific areas of the brain to regulate abnormal impulses or stimulate cells that produce certain chemicals, and has been used to treat a variety of movement disorders such as tremors, Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy.

Studies are now being conducted to evaluate the efficacy of DBS as a treatment for major depression with promising results. In one German study, four patients suffered sudden relapses after years of successful treatment. However, it was discovered that, in all four cases, the device had either stopped working due to loss of battery power, or the patient had turned it off. Once the systems were reactivated, all of them recovered within about 12 hours.

The research team is planning to conduct a follow-up study of 60 participants.