Brain Stimulation Therapy Offers Promisng Results

               Mental Health is a complex and often misunderstood issue.  Like any health concern symptoms can vary greatly from mild to severe and even life threatening.  Equally varied are the types of treatment commonly prescribed.  Part of the challenge is in proper diagnosis.  Mental health problems frequently are masked by other issues or may share overlapping symptoms that could be misdiagnosed by even the best professionals.  Still, without a doubt, we have come a long way in finding successful diagnoses and treatments for mental health patients.

               Mental illness is a serious and growing concern.  Here are a few facts that illustrate the magnitude of the problem in the United States, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

·  Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S.—43.8 million, or 18.5%—experiences mental illness in a given year.

·  Approximately 1 in 25 adults in the U.S.—10 million, or 4.2%—experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.

·  Approximately 1 in 5 youth aged 13–18 (21.4%) experiences a severe mental disorder at some point during their life. For children aged 8–15, the estimate is 13%.

·  1.1% of adults in the U.S. live with schizophrenia.

·  2.6% of adults in the U.S. live with bipolar disorder.

·  6.9% of adults in the U.S.—16 million—had at least one major depressive episode in the past year.

·  18.1% of adults in the U.S. experienced an anxiety disorder such as posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and specific phobias.

·  Among the 20.2 million adults in the U.S. who experienced a substance use disorder, 50.5%—10.2 million adults—had a co-occurring mental illness.

            [These statistics are found at www.nami.org, where documentation can also be obtained.]

The numbers can be staggering.  But tremendous gains have been realized by researchers and practitioners in finding help for the millions who experience one or more of these illnesses.

               Of particular interest to me is the ever-evolving field of treatment known collectively as Brain Stimulation Therapy.  I am certainly not very knowledgeable about this science, so again I will quote from the NAMI website which tells me that “brain stimulation therapy involves activating or inhibiting the brain directly with electricity”.

               NAMI lists five different forms of brain stimulation, each with its own success depending on the patient’s diagnosis.  These include the following.

·       Electroconvulsive therapy

·       Vagus nerve stimulation

·       Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation

·       Magnetic seizure therapy

·       Deep brain stimulation

Some of these involve surgical implants of probes or electrodes in the brain or elsewhere.  Others are noninvasive and involve the temporary placement of electrodes or magnetic fields on the scalp to target specific sections of the brain.  In nearly every case such treatment is only prescribed by specially trained professionals after other forms of treatment, such as medication and/or psychotherapy, have been tried with little or no success.

What caught my attention to this topic was an interview I heard while listening to a radio program called Snap Judgment on WITF-FM 89.5.  The episode was entitled “Fortress of Solitude” featuring guest John Robison.  What really made me pay attention was the fact that Robison had Asperger’s Syndrome, an Autism Spectrum disorder.  As his story unfolded John revealed that he received Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).  While I was vaguely aware of brain stimulation therapies in general, I was not familiar with TMS.  John’s story peaked my interest.  I wanted to learn more.  So I did some online research of my own.  You can listen to the interview with Robison by visiting https://soundcloud.com/snapjudgment/ and look for the episode Switched On: “Fortress of Solitude”.

As I soon discovered brain stimulation therapy has been around for quite a few years.  Some of the greatest hospitals in this country are on the cutting edge of this technology, including Johns Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic just to name two.  There appear to be two main advantages to BST that make it particularly attractive.  First there typically or no negative side effects as is often the case with medications.  Second brain stimulation targets specific areas of the brain to be treated and thus appears to be a bit more specific or concrete as opposed to counseling or psychotherapy.  However, as I said previously, brain stimulation is never the first course of action and is only prescribed when other forms of treatment have been tried and found to be less than successful.

All of this causes me to wonder if we might actually see the day when mental illness in all its complexity can be thought of as a very treatable and nonthreatening concern.  My wife and I have spent many long days dreaming of a cure for autism, for example.  It breaks my heart to know that so many families live with some form of autism these days and sadly many either do not have the knowledge or the resources to deal with it effectively.  What is more disturbing is the thought that so many young people on the autism spectrum are now entering adulthood.  They want to be able to live and work and function on their own but most cannot without proper support.  Such support is terribly expensive.  Very few families can afford it on their own, forcing reliance upon the State and Federal governments.  But as we all know government funding for such support is shrinking even as the problem is growing.  The future can be quite discouraging if we allow it to be.

This is why I am intrigued at groundbreaking efforts like BST.  I do not know what the future holds.  However, any signs of hope, any positive research, any success realized is a glimmer of hope for all.  I for one will be eager to see where it all leads.