Brain's Pacemaker It Stops Depressive Activity!

This is about two years ago. I was on my way home from the office... during this I kept crying all the way. There were thoughts that I should kill myself by dropping the car in a ditch or swamp. Somehow I reached home. Friends took me to the doctor. As soon as I explained my problem, the doctor immediately advised me to shift to my parents.

After all, I had to quit my job to go to him..." This is the story of 38-year-old Sarah from Northern California. who had been battling depression for a long time. However, after August last year, his life changed. Now they do not think of suicide. Depression has also reduced significantly. She has started taking classes in data analysis. The perspective of looking at the world has changed.

A 'brain pacemaker' as big as a matchbox is
all made possible because of a device (Neuropace RNS System) implanted in Sarah's brain. This device, as big as a matchbox, is being called a 'brain pacemaker'. Sarah became the first participant in an experimental treatment at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). Sarah's depression score dropped from 33 to 14 just 12 days after the device was activated, to 10 within a few months.

Dr. Katherine Skangos, author of this study and psychiatry at UCSF, explains that the method Sarah used was reportedly a type of deep brain stimulation (DBS). It uses implanted electrodes or thin insulated wires to stimulate the brain. Personal therapy has never been done before. Its results were also better.

The popular methods of treatment show effects after four to eight weeks, whereas in this method they are detected immediately. Skangos says that one person's depression can look very different from another depressed person. Keeping this in mind, individual therapy was adopted for Sara.

The device gives 6 seconds of stimulation as soon as the pattern of depression is seen , before the device was installed, Sara had taken the help of 20 types of medicines, hospitalization for months, ECT (shock therapy) with the help of popular methods, but all the efforts failed. doing. During this experiment, experts examined Sarah's brain by inserting electrodes for 10 consecutive days to identify patterns associated with depression. After giving stimulation at different places, Sara was asked about her feelings. The device was set up to provide only 6 seconds of stimulation as soon as a pattern of depression was observed. Due to this, the activities that cause depression are inhibited.