A landmark study at UCSF has demonstrated how a new kind of "deep brain stimulation" can be used to treat severe depression.
The clinical trial patient in her 30s had suffered from depression since childhood – and no other treatments had helped.
The patient's name is Sarah.
She had a tailored device surgically implanted, which monitored her brainwaves for unique signs she was becoming depressed, that in turn triggered electrical stimulation of a specific region of her brain.
"For stimulating less than 30 minutes a day, we were able to achieve sustained improvement in her depression for over a year now," said Dr. Andrew Krystal, UCSF Professor of Psychiatry.
Krystal joined KCBS Radio's "As Prescribed" on Thursday.
He said with the symptoms of depression gone, Sarah now has ups and downs like everybody else.
"This gave her the sense that it's something that can be fixed and it isn't her fault," Krystal added. "I think it also gives me hope that we can identify circuit problems and fix them in people, and sort of help shift the dialogue in the public view towards helping to understand that these are disorders of brain circuit disfunction, not failures of people."
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