Written by Karen Carlson, SIU School of Medicine
When you’re suffering from chronic depression, life seems, well, lifeless. What if medications and therapy don’t work?
Depression is a serious medical illness affecting more than 14 million American adults every year, according to the National Institutes of Mental Health. Women are almost twice as likely as men to suffer from depression, although depression in men may be under-reported.
Psychotherapy and medication are the preferred methods of depression treatment. For those who haven’t reached success with those methods, some additional treatments are available. Dr. Jeffrey Bennett, psychiatrist at SIU School of Medicine, explains the next steps to ward off the shadows of depression.
1. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Therapy – a specialized chair, looking like a dentist chair, this non-invasive treatment focuses magnetic fields on the brain. Magnetic pulses produced by the device are the same type and strength as a magnetic resonance imaging scan. Patients receive rapid magnetic pulses in 30-second intervals. The pulses, which feel like a tapping on the scalp, induce a small electrical current in the brain that the patient can’t feel. The charge stimulates brain neurons, which affects the “feel good” chemicals serotonin and dopamine. “With TMS, patients are alert, and there are almost no side effects,” Dr. Bennett says. “It’s extremely easy to endure, something somebody could get for 38 minutes a day and be ready for the rest of their day without feeling side

Dr. Bennett explains TMS.

effects. There may be some headache or scalp irritation, but it’s minimal.”
“TMS therapy brought me from darkness to light. It changed my life,” said Marie S., 63, who has suffered from chronic depression since she was 18. She underwent TMS therapy in 2012 and says the weight of depression has lifted. “I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. I don’t have the heaviness on my chest and shoulders. Things just seem better.”
Dr. Bennett was named a Medical Innovator for his neurostimulatory treatment methods for mental disorders, such as depression, that resist treatment. This 5-minute video describes TMS and includes a patient’s personal story.
Read more TMS Therapy at SIU School of Medicine in Aspects magazine.
2. Electroconvulsive Therapy – Also known as electroshock therapy, this is a safe and effective treatment with a high success rate for people suffering from various forms of depression.
3. Light Therapy – Exposure to full spectrum light provides relief for many people suffering with seasonal depression.
4.Vagus Nerve Stimulation – sometimes referred to as a “pacemaker for the brain.”
This device stimulates a particular cranial nerve alerting the electrical activity in the brain to control depressive symptoms that are resistant to treatment. This method of treatment has been shown to stimulate the area of the brain that affects mood and has been used to treat patients with epilepsy as well.
Ask your primary care physician or mental health provider about these FDA-approved treatments or call SIU HealthCare psychiatry at 217-545-8000.
Copyright © SIU School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois