3.02.2005

Electrodes to the rescue!

Though the original paper in NEURON isn't out yet, I found this article extremely interesting:

"About 20 percent of people with depression fail to respond to standard treatments. Some of these people will respond to combinations of medications plus electroconvulsive therapy, sometimes known as shock therapy. A remaining few, however, still do not get better.

The new therapy is far more refined than electroconvulsive therapy, Lozano said. 'Electroconvulsive therapy is analogous to rebooting your computer,' he explained. 'This [deep brain stimulation] is very pinpointed, precise therapy, involving a very precise area of brain that plays a key role in depression.'"