Photo: Nick Fewings | Unsplash
For 40 years, nothing helped Emma's debilitating depression. Then, she enrolled in a study at Stanford University School of Medicine, and she says it saved her life. For 10 hours a day for five days in a row, a magnetic field stimulated her brain. The repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation works much more quickly than the current approved treatment, pumping up the prefrontal cortex and turning down other areas of the brain that stimulate fear and anxiety so people feel less depressed and more in control. A recent randomized trial showed that in five days or less, almost 80% of patients were symptom-free. Stanford's neuromodulation therapy could be widely available by the end of next year, if FDA clearance comes through.
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