Exploring The Benefits of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation UCLA Doctors Work to Rewire Depressed Patients' Brain Circuitry

Orange County, CA - November 2nd 2017 -  According to the World Health Organization, the number of people with depression has increased 18 percent since 2005. Individuals combating this mental illness suffer from severe anxiety, hopelessness, loss of interest, and extreme sadness among other symptoms. Annually, the National Institutes of Health estimate that Americans spend billions of dollars on antidepressants, however available medications only work for 60 to 70 percent of consumers. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is an available technique gaining popularity for depression treatment. This technique is fundamentally different than prescription SSRI drugs; TMS beams target magnetic pulses deep inside the patients’ brain- a process that has been equated to rewiring a computer.

The Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA is one of a handful of clinics and hospitals that offer TMS. UCLA researchers believe that this approach is underutilized given its FDA approval as an alternative treatment for patients not responding to traditional medication.

We are actually changing how the brain circuits are arranged, how they talk to each other,” said Dr. Ian Cook, director of the UCLA Depression Research and Clinic Program. “The brain is an amazingly changeable organ. In fact, every time people learn something new, there are physical changes in the brain structure that can be detected.”

Exploring The Benefits of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation UCLA Doctors Work to Rewire Depressed Patients' Brain Circuitry

When receiving a TMS treatment, the patient sits in a reclined chair as the technician places a magnetic stimulator against their head. Previous feedback from brain mapping and imaging sessions help the technician know exactly where to place the stimulators. The stimulators then send a series of magnetic pulses into the brain. Patients who frequentTMS treatments describe the sensation as being repeatedly tapped on the head, and due to clicking sound produced by the procedure, patients often wear earphones or earplugs during a session.

Nathalie DeGravel of Los Angeles exhausted every other form of treatment before asking her psychiatrist about TMS. Within a few weeks of her first treatment, she reported noticing relief from her chronic back pain, and over time, noted her depression subsided. She informed her psychiatrist that with new found resilience she was able to update her resume and look for a new job for the first time in ten years.

TMS therapy sessions take 30 minutes to an hour, and patients generally receive treatment several days a week for a total of six weeks. Thankfully, the newest generation of equipment sets out to make the whole process less time-consuming. “There are new TMS devices recently approved by the FDA that will allow patients to achieve the benefits of the treatment in a much shorter period of time,” said Dr. Andrew Leuchter, director of the Semel Institute’s TMS clinical and research service. “For some patients, we will have the ability to decrease the length of a treatment session from 37.5 minutes down to 3 minutes, and to complete a whole course of TMS in two weeks.” He continued, “We are used to thinking of psychiatric treatments mostly in terms of talk therapies, psychotherapy or medications. TMS is [revolutionary].”

TMS is completely non-invasive and harmless to the patient. Dr. Leuchter wishes to expand his research and explore how TMS treatments may be used for other conditions including schizophrenia, epilepsy, and Parkinson’s disease. “We're still just beginning to scratch the surface of what this treatment might be able to do for patients with a variety of illnesses,” Leuchter said.

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Exploring The Benefits of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation UCLA Doctors Work to Rewire Depressed Patients’ Brain Circuitry Orange County, CA – November 2nd 2017 –  According to the World Health Organization, the number of people with depression has increased 18 percent since 2005. Individuals combating this mental illness suffer from severe anxiety, hopelessness, loss of interest, and extreme […]