There is a very curious theory which states that depression can be cured with a surgery. Can this really be done? This treatment is called deep brain stimulation and it is based on electricity. The electricity is used to make the brain work in a preferable way, and to remove the activity which is not desirable. The two pacemakers in the patient's head can relieve the symptoms of that person.
The study was conducted in Cleveland, in Brown University's Butler Hospital and Cleveland Clinic. The focus of their study was on the six patients. Unfortunately, none of the popular treatments was productive in these patients. So they decided to give this experimental method a try. All of these patients used, electroconvulsive therapy, medications and psychotherapy. Nothing worked. But after the insertion of two electrodes, they showed a decrease in the symptom's effect. Even two out of three patients showed improvement during the year after the operation. The head of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and the study's author, stated that they displayed great improvement. Patients changed from dissocial to active individuals, who liked going to work and fraternizing with their coworkers. Although they seemed lost, they found their way back, and now they are taking care of their needs and are able to lead a healthy life, the author said. His name is Dr. Ali R. Rezai.
This study of Dr. Rezai was published in the Neuron last year. Neuron is a medicine journal. We will present his method in detail. The participants were 48 years old approximately. Two men and four women experienced deep brain stimulation, via implant in the ventral internal capsule, which is a part of the brain. Before the surgery, they needed to pass several exams, such as neuropshyshologic and psychiatric evaluation. The surgery needs local anesthetic. Dr. Rezai isn't certain why this method is 50% successful, but he thinks this helps the brain to balance electrical and chemical function. He stated that some displayed immediate results. In the study, this method proved to be very successful with epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and obsessive-compulsive disorder. But many doctors are very critical about this method, and they say that in can lead to more harm than good. This is because the depression can be very difficult to diagnose, since there are many diverse types of depression.
However, the fact is that there is a number of people who suffer from depression. In America only 18.8 million of people suffer of depression.
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