Read a review on the use of deep brain stimulation (DBS). Wrote a lot of posts about this new treatment on this blog, mostly for treatment resistant depression. As with most new treatment options the new treatment is tried with other severe diseases. You can probably find some on this blog or down this post in the related posts section. The use of DBS in Alzheimer's disease drew my attention. Stimulating certain brain regions in a disease with a neurodegenerative character seems almost impossible. This review was written by members of the Canadian group who also published about the use .....read more »

Dr. Richard Jaffe, Depression on "The 10! Show" from EinsteinHealth on Vimeo. Clear and short explanation on depression and it's treatment, including ECT by Richard Jaffe MD. Richard Jaffe discussed the “winter blues” and some of the treatment options that are available to those suffering with depression. He also highlighted some of the new refinements that have been made in Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) Related posts: 10 Websites With The Best Information on Depression Depression information on healthcenter.com Technology Review: Brain Electrodes Help Treat Depression ..read more »

New long term data on efficacy of deep brain stimulation for treatment resistant depression are available. The first follow up data up to 1 year were already promising. Published research about deep brain stimulation for treatment resistant depression showed that six months after surgery, 60% of patients were responders and 35% met criteria for remission, benefits that were largely maintained at 12 months. The average response rate to DBS after two and three years were 46,2% and 75%. More than one-third of patients were in remission at year 3. But what's more convincing functional impairment in the areas of physical .....read more »

It's been a while since I posted a blog article on transcranial direct current stimulation. Probably not an exciting new therapy for psychiatric conditions but a exciting oportunity to study the actions of certain brain parts and a way of influencing these superficial parts of the brain. You can see the procedure in a video here: Video of Transcranial Dirrect Current Stimulation and Efficacy in Cognitive Neurorehabilitation. The first publication on memory and tDCS and it's mechanism of action can be read here: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation, Brain Boost and Side-Effects. A recent publication shows that Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), .....read more »

ECT, current practice View more presentations from vdbroekw Last Friday had the pleasure of doing a presentation on the current practice of ECT for lay public. It was during the Publieksdag for the 140th birthday of the Dutch Association of Psychiatry during the annual conference in Amsterdam. Also found some excellent information on ECT on the Internet: A concise description mainly on the procedure Electroconvulsive therapy: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia Medscape about Electroconvulsive therapy, a clear and thorough discussion about ECT Some older article: Electroconvulsive Therapy - NIH Consensus Statements - NCBI Bookshelf Well written information .....read more »

Short video about electro convulsive therapy (ECT) with people who have been there. Nuanced narrative with the positive and negative aspects of ECTRelated posts: 10 Video’s on Electroconvulsive Therapy 9 Videos on ECT, electroconvulsive therapy. Electroshock in Mass Media ..read more »

Aqua is a very good writer, an inspiration for this old doctor. Recently see underwent ECT and is writing her experiences with this treatment on her blog: honestly, nuanced and informative. Not all is good news, but than you will not undergo ECT for nothing and she has been there. Please read her first post on this subject on her blog: ECT 1, Making The Decision, hope a lot will follow.Related posts: Hands On Experience with ECT Blogging About ECT, Hands on Experience Another Hands On Experience with ECT ..read more »

It's been a while since my last post on this blog about transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Myself 'm not impressed by it's efficacy for treatment resistant depression. Especially in treatment resistant depression, whatever that may be, rTMS is probably best avoided for more evidence based form of treatments with proven efficacy. The reason for this post about TMS is a recent publication in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. FDA approval for rTMS was based on a large, industry-sponsored, multicenter, double-blind, monotherapy study with 325 patients with "moderately treatment resistant depression" also discussed on this blog here. My opinion on this trial was This .....read more »

From all the newspapers in the last seven years in British national newspapers about 348 mentioned ECT or electroconvulsive therapy or electroshock and it's other synonyms. Overall 111 articles (31,9%) portrayed ECT negatively, 198 articles were neutral and 39 were positive. A substantial comment on ECT was published in 44 (12,6%) articles. The negative comments (14/16) were published in liberal newspapers whereas most positive comments about ECT (10/12) were published in conservative newspapers. Overall most depictions of ECT were neutral, with smaller numbers of negative (111) and positive (39) representations. Not bad compared to the depiction of ECT in Hollywood movies. Euba .....read more »

The strongest evidence exists for Broadman Area 25 in the subcallosal cingulate gyrus (SCG) as target for deep brain stimulation in treatment resistant depression. This area in the brain is depicted in the figure above and is from the most important publication about DBS and depression in Neuron march 2005 by Helen Mayberg. Functional neuroimaging as well as antidepressant treatment effects suggest that this area plays an important role in modulating negative mood states. A decrease in activity is reported with clinical response to antidepressants and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). But depression is not a disease of a single brain region nor .....read more »