A brain implant has helped a man with treatment-resistant depression feel happier and free from symptoms for the first time in 30 years. The 44-year-old had previously tried 20 different treatments, including antidepressants and psychotherapy, but none had worked.
The researchers hope to test the approach on other patients with persistent depression in the next two years, and then launch clinical trials that will make it available to more people. Article with results published on the PsyArXiv preprint site.
The man who received the brain implant had suffered from clinical severe depression since the age of 13, having attempted suicide three times. He had been treated with electrical brain stimulation, but it only provided temporary relief. The authors of the study say that this is because such stimulation does not take into account the specifics of the brain of each individual patient. Therefore, before installing the implant in his brain, the researchers studied the activity of four areas of the patient's brain that have previously been associated with depression.
The man turned out to have four times the size of the significance system than people without depression. This system helps process stimuli in the brain and could be responsible for the patient's severe symptoms of depression. At the interface of this system and three other systems associated with depression, the man was implanted with electrodes that stimulated them in turn. Stimulating the brain's passive mode network, which is active when a person is immersed in their thoughts, allowed the patient to feel happy for the first time in 30 years. Stimulating other areas improved his ability to focus attention and gave him inner peace.
Based on the man's feedback, the researchers developed an algorithm that stimulated different parts of his brain for one minute every day at five-minute intervals. To make the implant work outside the hospital, it was equipped with a small battery that was attached to the man's neck. Within seven weeks of using the implant, the patient had lost suicidal thoughts, and within nine months, he had entered a remission that has lasted for two and a half years.
