Originally published February 26 2006
Scientists put advanced form of electroshock therapy to the test
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Neuronetics is conducting a trial of a new form of electroshock therapy known as transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, which will used to treat mood disorders, targeting specific areas of the brain and sidestepping the terrible side effects associated with older forms of electroshock therapy, such as memory loss.
Electroshock therapy, or ECT (the acronym stands for electroconvulsive therapy) has been used to treat severe depression for decades, but the serious side effects of the procedure, including short- and long-term memory loss, have long relegated it to last-resort status.
Now, decades later, a Pennsylvania startup called Neuronetics is completing the first full-scale clinical trials of transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS.
If the positive results of the trials are confirmed, TMS could be available to patients in the United States in as little as six months.
TMS is based on the same therapeutic principle as electroshock: Mood disorders can be improved by altering electrical activity inside the brain.
"The field lines penetrate the brain, producing a small electric current," said Bruce Shook, Neuronetics' chief executive officer, who presented the company's findings earlier this month at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.
"This causes the neurons to depolarize, turning on the 'mood circuits' of patients with major depression."
Because the magnetically induced current travels in a distinct path, it can be aimed at particular regions of the brain such as the prefrontal cortex, an area involved in moderating negative emotions.
Among other physiological changes, the treatment causes levels of serotonin -- the same neurotransmitter boosted by antidepressant medications like Prozac and Celexa -- to rise.
Shook is optimistic that TMS will eventually move into the mainstream as a treatment for severe depression, adding it could be particularly effective for the 15 to 20 percent of depressed patients who cannot tolerate drug therapy or get no relief from it.
A few psychiatrists, including Xingbao Li of the Medical University of South Carolina and Peter Fox of the University of Texas, have also expressed concern that TMS researchers are forging ahead without understanding exactly how the treatment affects neural circuitry.
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