During a study investigating the effects of deep brain stimulation on depression, researchers found positive effects not only in depressed patients but also in people suffering from bipolar disorder. According to HealthDay News, researchers at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta found that the majority of depressed and bipolar patients who received deep brain stimulation went into remission and continued to be without symptoms two years later.
The small study involved 10 patients with depression and seven with bipolar disorder. All 17 received deep brain stimulation from doctors for 24 weeks, after going through four weeks with or without stimulation. After this period, 18 percent of patients went into remission. That number increased to 36 percent after one year, and 58 percent after two years. Three of the patients who stopped receiving treatment temporarily saw their depression return, researchers said.
This suggests that deep brain stimulation is not only effective at the time, but also helps ward off severe depression in the future.
“[Brain stimulation] not only just helps patients who haven’t been able to recover from depression, but it seems to be associated with the absence of relapses,” explained co-author Helen Mayberg of Emory’s neurology department. “They’re not only getting better, they’re staying better.”
