January 5, 1998
Magnetic stimulation offers new hope for people with depression
Magnetic stimulation–a method of stimulating a part of the brain involvedwith mood regulation–offers new hope for people whose depression has failed to be helped by medications. Harborview Medical Center is one of
five centers in U.S. to study magnetic stimulation as an alternative to anti-depressant medications and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
Magnetic stimulation is easily able to penetrate skin and bone and create a much more localized stimulus with a lesser charge than ECT, according to Dr. David Avery, University of Washington associate professor of
psychiatry. Initial data also show that magnetic stimulation causes nomemory loss and has fewer side effects.
“The hope is that magnetic stimulation will be as effective as ECT in getting people out of a depression,” Avery explains. “Although we’re at an early stage of this research, results thus far are promising.”
Magnetic stimulation works by generating a magnetic field and applying an electrical stimulus to the brain’s frontal lobes, located in the forehead. An earlier study, involving depressed subjects who had proven resistant to
other therapies, showed patients receiving magnetic stimulation have improvement in a standard depression rating.
Patients in the Harborview study will receive magnetic stimulation or a placebo stimulus. Subjects will be people whose depression has failed to improve after taking medications and who are willing to try magnetic
stimulation rather than continue taking medication.
