Some depressed patients who don't respond to or tolerate antidepressant medications may benefit from a non-invasive treatment that stimulates the brain with a pulsing electromagnet, a study suggests. This first industry-independent, multi-site, randomized, tightly controlled trial of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) found that it produced significant antidepressant effects in a subgroup o ...

Scientists are beginning to find out why people with Parkinson's disease often feel socially awkward. Parkinson's patients find it harder to recognize expressions of emotion in other people's faces and voices, report two studies published by the American Psychological Association. A neurodegenerative disorder, Parkinson's causes tremors, stiffness and balance problems, as well as fairly frequent depression ...

MIT neuroscientists have shown they can influence people’s moral judgments by disrupting a specific brain region - a finding that helps reveal how the brain constructs morality. To make moral judgments about other people, we often need to infer their intentions - an ability known as “theory of mind.” For example, if a hunter shoots his friend while on a hunting trip, we need to know what the hunter was thin ...

The next advance in treating major depression may relate to a group of brain chemicals that are involved in virtually all our brain activity, according to a study published today in Biological Psychiatry. The study is co-authored by Drs. Andrea J. Levinson and Zafiris J. Daskalakis of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). This study shows that compared to healthy individuals, people who have ma ...

Psychosurgery is making a comeback. Recently published case series have shown encouraging results of so-called deep brain stimulation (DBS) in treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder, depressive disorders, and Tourette syndrome. In the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, authors Jens Kuhn (University of Cologne) and Theo P J Gründer (Max Planck Institute, Cologne) and their co-aut ...

Even with the best of available treatments, over a third of patients with depression may not achieve a satisfactory antidepressant response. Deep brain stimulation (DBS), a form of targeted electrical stimulation in the brain via implanted electrodes, is now undergoing careful testing to determine whether it could play a role in the treatment of patients who have not sufficiently improved during more tradit ...

Neurosurgeons from University Hospital Heidelberg performed the world's first operation on the 'habenula' to treat depression with cooperation from psychiatrists at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim. The team of neurosurgeons and psychiatrists have for the first time successfully treated a patient suffering from severe depression by stimulating the habenula, a tiny nerve structure in the br ...

The 12-21-09 edition of the Science Daily Research News Update brings about a plethora of newly published health research. Read on to discover more on very concerning data that shows that the rate of Autism Disorders climb to 1% among 8-year-olds, Rush University Medical Center to open the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Clinic, how saturated fats my anger the immune system and lead to Type II Diabe ...

Brain stimulation therapies have received increased attention as of late. These treatments involve activating or touching the brain directly with electricity, magnets, or implants to treat depression and other disorders. One type of brain stimulation, Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (CES), was previously detailed in "What is CES?" Part 1 and Part 2. BMED Report even created an "Electromedicine" category ...

The early November edition of the Science Daily Research New Update series features a good variety of newly published Health Psychology related studies. Read on to learn more about: a new link between pregnant womens' folate levels and ADHD, fish oil may not only help fight cardiovascular disease, but also stroke and rheumatoid arthritis, researchers regrow spinal nerves in animals, stressed-induced changes ...