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Deep Brain Stimulation And Depression

Wally

Senior Member
Messages
1,167
http://www.everydayhealth.com/health-report/major-depression-resource-center/sanjay-gupta-targeting-depression-deep-inside-brain.aspx?xid=aol_eh-emo_9_20141110_&aolcat=hlt&icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl19|sec1_lnk3&plid=561818

"Helen Mayberg, MD, a researcher at Emory University in Atlanta, takes the patients no one else can help. The severely depressed people who enroll in her trials have not responded to medication, to talk therapy, or even to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), in which voltage is applied to the temples of a sedated patient to induce a seizure.

She is achieving astonishing results: 75% of her patients get better and stay better.

Dr. Mayberg is achieving these results by permanently implanting electrodes deep inside the brain. The electrodes are powered by a battery pack implanted under the skin below the collarbone. . . ."

(Click the link above to read the full article.)
 
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Ren

.
Messages
385
I urge readers to explore both a deeper and a greater context for TMS and neurosurgery.

For example - Close readings of actual studies, as media may include spin/bias. Consider conflict of interests, harms, and other negative study info that media may have ignored:
http://www.madinamerica.com/2014/02/transcranial-magnetic-stimulation/
(Is TMS truly non-invasive?)

Please also consider patient consent. So long as psychiatry is involved, individuals may be subjected to "treatments" which they and/or their family do not want and to which they do not consent. Notes on neurosurgery were recently shared here:
http://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/psycho-neuro-limbic-surgery-questions-notes.33593/

Please consider if you want to be a guinea pig if/when the biopsychosocialists advocate TMS or neurosurgery for ME/CFS patients who are treatment-refractory, i.e. do not respond to CBT/GET/antidepressants.

I also don't know/understand how device patents work with FDA, but my impression is that if a current design is FDA approved, then physicians can manufacture similar devices for use without FDA approval. Perhaps someone knows/understands more about this?

I believe patients/consumers have to ask then what conflicts of interests a psychiatrist/neurosurgeon might have. For example:
http://www.fbi.gov/stlouis/press-re...ies-indicted-on-federal-anti-kickback-charges
and this, "Surgeons Eyed Over Deals with Medical-Device Makers"
http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324263404578615971483271856

Another area of concern - NIMH and Insel have warned that pharma isn't developing new drugs for mental illness, and so NIMH has to consider how best to invest its funding without pharma assistance as before (as I understand it). These events then seem as though they could facilitate a move toward a possible neuromodulation / neurosurgery trajectory.
http://www.cnsspectrums.com/aspx/articledetail.aspx?articleid=2625
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/2012/experimental-medicine.shtml

I'm not saying that some kind of neuro procedure can never be part of the solution or the solution to some/all ME/CFS dysfunction. I am concerned that patient consent will not be honored; I'm concerned that research underfunding means there isn't enough knowledge to find the best solution(s); I'm concerned about political/economic pressure to repurpose "treatments", even when it's not appropriate to do so; I'm concerned about government manipulation of media; And I'm concerned about psychiatry as a political and totalitarian tool used to violate patient consent and civil liberties.
 
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adreno

PR activist
Messages
4,841
@Ren

TMS is very safe. I haven't heard of any serious side effects. Deep brain stimulation carries risk during the implantation, but has been very effective for Parkinson's, epilepsy, and perhaps it seems for treatment-resistant depression. TMS and deep brain stimulation cannot be compared to cutting out pieces of the brain. Of course, we agree that patient consent is required.

It seems you (and several others) are against any therapy that exists, including psychotherapy, drugs, TMS, deep brain stimulation. Depression is serious, people are killing themselves, or leading very miserable lives. So what do you propose for treating depression?
 
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Ren

.
Messages
385
The statements written in post #4 do not accurately reflect my beliefs/opinions/concerns or the research which has influenced my beliefs/opinions/concerns.
 

Artemisia

Senior Member
Messages
180
I urge readers to explore both a deeper and a greater context for TMS and neurosurgery.

For example - Close readings of actual studies, as media may include spin/bias. Consider conflict of interests, harms, and other negative study info that media may have ignored:
http://www.madinamerica.com/2014/02/transcranial-magnetic-stimulation/
(Is TMS truly non-invasive?)

Please also consider patient consent. So long as psychiatry is involved, individuals may be subjected to "treatments" which they and/or their family do not want and to which they do not consent. Notes on neurosurgery were recently shared here:
http://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/psycho-neuro-limbic-surgery-questions-notes.33593/

Please consider if you want to be a guinea pig if/when the biopsychosocialists advocate TMS or neurosurgery for ME/CFS patients who are treatment-refractory, i.e. do not respond to CBT/GET/antidepressants.

I also don't know/understand how device patents work with FDA, but my impression is that if a current design is FDA approved, then physicians can manufacture similar devices for use without FDA approval. Perhaps someone knows/understands more about this?

I believe patients/consumers have to ask then what conflicts of interests a psychiatrist/neurosurgeon might have. For example:
http://www.fbi.gov/stlouis/press-re...ies-indicted-on-federal-anti-kickback-charges
and this, "Surgeons Eyed Over Deals with Medical-Device Makers"
http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324263404578615971483271856

Another area of concern - NIMH and Insel have warned that pharma isn't developing new drugs for mental illness, and so NIMH has to consider how best to invest its funding without pharma assistance as before (as I understand it). These events then seem as though they could facilitate a move toward a possible neuromodulation / neurosurgery trajectory.
http://www.cnsspectrums.com/aspx/articledetail.aspx?articleid=2625
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/2012/experimental-medicine.shtml

I'm not saying that some kind of neuro procedure can never be part of the solution or the solution to some/all ME/CFS dysfunction. I am concerned that patient consent will not be honored; I'm concerned that research underfunding means there isn't enough knowledge to find the best solution(s); I'm concerned about political/economic pressure to repurpose "treatments", even when it's not appropriate to do so; I'm concerned about government manipulation of media; And I'm concerned about psychiatry as a political and totalitarian tool used to violate patient consent and civil liberties.
Ren, thank you for this. I read the Hickey piece about the dubious science. I'm considering TMS and I'm very hesitant. I know how studies can be manipulated and presented in a misleading way, and this article shows quite a lot of evidence in this case.
 

perchance dreamer

Senior Member
Messages
1,691
If I were considering TMS, I would first speak to a good biofeedback therapist about it. At the biofeedback clinic where I've gone in the past, they do nuerotherapy as well as more traditional types of biofeedback such as helping with muscle tension and lowering heart rate.

It might be that a neurotherapist could suggest something less invasive in the clinic that would have a similar effect to TMS. All that said, I think TMS sounds really interesting. This is an old article (2013), but this guy talks about his experiences with TMS. He did have some side effects in the first weeks.

https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2013-08-23/the-egg-and-i/