4 ms·
This is DBS, similar to therapies for motor disorders like Parkinson’s. It’s also invasive; a surgery is performed to implant an electrode into the striatum. rT
by hprotagonist 5y ago
This is DBS, similar to therapies for motor disorders like Parkinson’s. It’s also invasive; a surgery is performed to implant an electrode into the striatum. rTMS is noninvasive and much less targeted.
Based partly on motor disease research into disorders like Parkinson’s disease, there is a growing theory in the neurosciences that brain disrhythmic behavior is the root cause for a variety of disorders, with a plastic feedback loop on top that reinforces things as the disease progresses. Closed-loop stimulation that disturbs the maladaptive behavior when it starts works stunningly well for some motor diseases, and at least in one patient, for MDD as well.
- concinds 5y agoInteresting, that makes me trust this quite a bit more. Regardless, this is bound to really contribute to our understanding of the brain, so I'm grateful for this research.
- chofpsychiatry 5y agoAbsolutely! Sometimes for treatment the person doesn't even have to be depressed![1] Its like all those animal rights activists who get their knickers in a knot when a child dissects his pet dog. Don't they know that while it's alive there's more to learn? [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6953640/#__ffn_sectitle https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6953640/#__ffn_... (edit: "While it's alive" could be interpreted as meaning not to engage in invasive, involuntary treatment at all, due to its riskiness. This was not the intention. There's a sweet spot in one's learning where a subject will yield any information one desires of it in its attempt to prevent the inevitable, as concinds implies.)