Treatment for depression that can be given at home has been proven successful. It works where pills don’t

Patients diagnosed with chronic depression can improve their symptoms by self-administering a form of electrical brain stimulation at home, recent research has shown.

In the study, those who received the 10-week treatment were twice as likely to have their depression go into remission compared to those in the control group, who had the same device but no current.

The findings suggest that people with depression could receive beneficial brain stimulation without attending a clinic, and that the treatment could be an effective option for those who are unwilling or unresponsive to traditional treatments. .

“It’s a potential first-line treatment for depression. It can also be used for people whose illness has not improved with medication, for people who don’t like antidepressants or don’t want psychotherapy,” said Cynthia Fu, professor of affective neurology and medicine -mind at King’s College London.

For the second phase of the study, 174 people with major depressive disorder were given a headset to deliver what is known as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). The headphones, made by Flow Neuroscience, which funded the study, have two electrodes that send a weak current of up to 2 milliamps on top.

The sessions, totaling 10 weeks, were supervised in real time via video conferencing, starting with five 30-minute sessions per week for three weeks, followed by three 30-minute sessions per a week for the next seven weeks, they note. The Keeper.

While half of the participants received electrical brain stimulation as intended, the other half unknowingly received “off” therapy, in which the device delivered a short, weak current only at the beginning and end of the a session

The researchers report that depression improved in both groups over the 10 weeks. But those who received active brain stimulation fared better, with a remission rate of 44.9% compared to 21.8% in the inactive control group.

The current delivered to the brain during tDCS is at least 400 times weaker than that used in electroconvulsive therapy. To reduce any risks associated with prolonged stimulation, turn the device off after 30 minutes.

It is estimated that 5% of adults worldwide live with depression. The most common treatments are antidepressants and psychological treatments, but more than a third of people with major depressive disorder do not achieve complete clinical remission.