http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990319.html
A new therapy is being developed which will hopefully be able to replace ECT. It is called transcranial magnetic stimulation. When a small electromagnet is held against the skull, it produces magnetic pulses, which induce local transmission of electrical impulses in the brain just beneath the magnetic coils. Application of the magnetic coils over different areas of the brain affects different types of thought processes and, in theory, could be used to treat different mental health conditions. Not only the location but also the frequency of the pulses can determine whether brain function is stimulated or impaired, so don't try this yourself.
Currently ECT is an effective treatment for severe, drug-resistant depression, but ECT has its problems. The induction of a mild seizure to shock the patient out of a depressive state of mind is a fairly drastic approach. It is unsuccessful in many patients and it does not tend to last very long. TMS is a much gentler type of therapy and may act by re-setting the brain circuits that govern mood. TMS is painless and a single session has no permanent ill effects. Trials of typical courses of daily half-hour sessions for two weeks have been so encouraging that in Canada, TMS has been formally approved for the treatment of depression.
TMS is showing great promise in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia who have auditory hallucinations. 'Hearing voices is a particularly disabling symptom of schizophrenia, which arises in about 70% of patients,' says Ralph Hoffman of Yale University. A recent trial by Hoffman and colleagues showed that a course of nine TMS sessions reduces these hallucinations by 50% in two-thirds of patients. The improvement endures for anything from two weeks to many months.
http://www.psychiatrymatters.md/
BTW I didn't read the labels on the smilies when I used one on a previous post. I'm not a happy orthodox Jewish man, I'm a woman trying to be friendly.
03-28-2002, 11:45 AM
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