Treating depression with electrodes inside the brain

This is pretty interesting.

Her depression controlled her life for the next 40 years -- until she decided to volunteer for an experimental treatment. A neurosurgeon would drill two holes in Guyton's skull and implant a pair of battery-powered electrodes deep inside her brain. The procedure -- called deep brain stimulation, or DBS -- targets a small brain structure known as Area 25, the "ringleader" for the brain circuits that control our moods, according to neurologist Dr. Helen Mayberg.

Read the full article and watch the video.

Treating Depression With Electrodes Inside the Brain

So, think it's good, bad, conspiracy, or just plain amazing?

I know I'd be terrified to have something permanently implanted inside my brain to control my mood. You can easily ween off medication...but this?

"We are Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile."

That's the first thing that came to mind. Do we really want to go down that road? Technological implants, especially in our brains? Uh... not for me. I can deal with depression without becoming a cyborg.

Yea, apparently one woman already went down that road. I just can't believe she did it willingly. The article does say that she was desperate though.

Originally posted by NthOther
"We are Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile."

That's the first thing that came to mind. Do we really want to go down that road? Technological implants, especially in our brains? Uh... not for me. I can deal with depression without becoming a cyborg.

i agree dude, DO NOT WANT!


i would never agree to let them do this to me, and if someone ever made modifications to my brain and put a chip under my skin, i would totally just go jump off a cliff.


i will deal with my depression not by taking pills, not by implanting tech in my head, but by fixing the one thing that causes my depression. my life.

i will make improvements to my way of life and therefor, become happier.

I just studied depression in my nursing program. There are several different methods for treating depression with electrical stimulation. Electroconvulsant therapy has proven to be extremely effective in treating depression when all else has failed, without implanting electrodes. But this method needs to be repeated every few months. Also, vegas stimulation, which is used to control seizures, has also been used to treat depression, but there is a permanent electrical wire attached to a pacemaker that is implanted in the brain and runs to the vegas nerve in the neck. There are also treatments using magnetic therapy as well that have been found to be effective.This method you are referring to I didn't learn about until your post. Depression is extremely debilitating and is a hardship for everyone related to the one who is affected. My personal feeling is that if other methods of treating chronic depression have failed and this method works, then it is worth it.

Makes me think of 'free will' as well. Like the book 'A Clockwork Orange'. Thats what the book is about really.I dont like anything that messes with our emotions and feelings. Is it really us if those things are manipulated?

Also some people have very good reason to feel depressed. Treatment can mask the problem and prevent them from adressing the issue,prevent them from overcoming the issue.

Cool thread.

A brain implant seems rather too invasive for me. I think if I lived 40 years with depression and couldn't find a solution I would probably ask for a new doc(s) and do my own research. There are sooooo many different causes of depression and so many treatment options. Opiates probably have the greatest efficacy rates in curbing depressive symptoms compared to any other drug type out there. It most definitely will relieve your symptoms in, I believe, 90% of the population. Neurontin is one to try before actual opiates/opioids as some new research has shown it to work not just on GABA receptors, but in production and release of certain and extremely powerful endorphins, dynorphin I believe. It causes your own body to increase levels of endorphins, without withdrawals like full mu agonist drugs. It and it's analogue is used for many, many things with pain-relief being a big one. Not being an nsaid, it causes one to consider endorphin modulation as an actual mechanism of the drug. If really severe, Suboxone is a mixed agonist-antagonist opiate (Could be an opioid, which is same effect different structure.) and also includes a mu antagonist, Naloxone I think. The studies using suboxone have shown insanely high rates of symptom cessation. Far, far, far more effective than typical antidepressants. Still has withdrawal side-effects, but not likely any worse than some common anti-depressants or Tramadol like snri's. I think at her stage, it's worth a shot, no? It's not a full mu-agonist, albeit it's metabolite is, norbuprenorphine. We are talking like .25mg doses here. That may even be high to start at with it's very long half-life ~36hrs. It's been awhile since I read those studies so I'm not 100% sure about doses. She would be a prime candidate for enrollment in such a study. There are also multiple plants/herbs that are psychoactive, which operate in the same manner but are different than what most may normally think of. I'm sure there are alternative treatments that she didn't try. This is pretty extreme. I'd rather take a pill than have an electrode implanted in my brain! That's so crazy. I don't think our understanding of how the brain functions is at a level where we should be using this for a cure when there are so many ways of treating depression out there. There are also so many different causes with physical problems in the body being a prime suspect in most cases. Too many different alternatives for this to be even on her radar. I just don't see the need with the amount of solutions to try before you get a brain implant. lol Crazy, unless she has some sort of actual brain damage causing depression. I think she should have gotten better doctors that listen to her in a mix with her doing research herself. A depression specialist should know what I'm talking about, even if my information isn't 100% correct. Lest anyone think I am advocating drug use here, I'm trying to show that there are known proven methods for relieving symptoms in someone with such chronic depression. I would at least HOPE these alternatives are exhausted before getting a brain implant, but I somehow doubt that.

this has been done and tested on people with schizoid personality disorders for like 2 decades or something. the idea was to supply current to the pleasure center, and it worked wonderfully. a man who tried to go on a psychotic rampage was able to live a pretty normal life after this, the wire was subdermally implanted and the battery was placed somewhere under his skin.

the only downside was that one time the wires disconnected and he went back to psychosis. they found him, reconnected the wires, and he was fine again.

there is a paper on it somewhere, i'm sure a google search will lead you to it.

Seems like electro-conculsive therapy?

Electro-convulsive therapy tends to get a bad rap when portrayed in the media but it has come a long way from its inception and is known to work well for depression with pretty rare/minor side effects.