Magnetic stimulation for brain offering help for major depression

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- For some adults suffering from major clinical depression, medicine won't always be the answer. A non-invasive form of treatment, known as transcranial magnetic stimulation, which has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and used for several years, is hoping to provide even faster results thanks to new research.

"I would always feel like a fight or flight type mode," explained Joe Bordeau, who was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. "I got sick of the cycle of me going up and down like this constantly."

Bordeau has been a patient of Dr. Manuel Astruc, a local psychiatrist in Saratoga Springs who introduced him to deep transcranial magnetic stimulation. The treatment has been approved by the FDA to help with major depression symptoms. Dr. Astruc explained, "I get the patients who have failed to respond to other treatment. We are good with helping people, but we end up using multiple medications with high side effect burden."

The treatment requires 20 minutes a day and takes place during 36 different sessions. A patient is hooked up to a helmet that has tiny magnets attached to it. "When you pulse the magnet on and off quickly, you create an electrical current," Dr. Astruc said.

The current stimulates the surface of the brain's frontal lobe, which is the part of your brain that controls your reasoning skills and social understanding. "Something is going on that's resetting circuits that are not working the way they are supposed to when someone is depressed. We see significant improvement over time," added Astruc.

Bordeau recalled after the treatments, "You are better; you don't take any more meds. It's like a new way of life."

But the entire treatment, comprised of numerous sessions, can require a lot of time. "I was self-employed. I was lucky enough where I could come every day," Bordeau said.

In the last few years, researchers at Stanford University developed an accelerated protocol with the same machine, using five sessions instead of 36. Dr. Astruc explained, "It's 10 minutes of treatment, and a 50-minute break. Repeat that five times. It's definitely a time commitment -- there is no doubt about that. But when people come in who are desperately depressed, it's a significant advancement from what we've had before."

The accelerated version isn't covered by insurance, yet, but Dr. Astruc believes it could help fast track treatment for those desperately seeking help for their clinical depression, especially if they have not responded well to anti-depressants.