‘Sunshine’ implant could cure depression
Published: June 28, 2005
Thousands of Britons could have their lives transformed by a “sunshine” implant that can brighten their mood and switch off depression, scientists revealed yesterday.
An early trial of the technique in the United States has yielded such dramatic results that experts now plan similar research in the UK.
A team from the University of Bristol hopes to set up a centre to conduct its own version of the American work.
The technique, known as deep brain stimulation (DBS), has already been pioneered with people severely affected by Parkinson’s disease.
About 300-400 Parkinson’s patients in the UK are fitted with implants each year. Electrical impulses fired into a specific region of the brain from a pacemaker-like device have the effect of halting or reducing the tremors associated with the disease. The US team, led by Professor Helen Mayberg, from the Emory School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, has now demonstrated that the same technique can be used to tackle depression.
Six patients have so far taken part in the American research.
The response was immediate and dramatic.
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How to Good-Bye Depression: If You Constrict Anus 100 Times Everyday. Malarkey? or Effective Way?Prof Mayberg said: “Patients would suddenly experience an immediate shut-down of their negative state.
“They spoke of a sense of intense calm. A typical response was: ‘I suddenly feel relieved.’
“The physicality of depression - that dreadful, horrible black cloud, the sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach - immediately dissipated.”
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