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 Research & Giving News Article  Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), pioneered in the 1930’s, has been used successfully for treating medication resistant depression, but is associated with adverse cognitive side effects, such as memory loss. Dr. Lisanby’s previous work studying TMS as a possible alternative to ECT has shown TMS to be effective for treating depression, with significantly fewer side effects than ECT. Says Dr. Lisanby, “The ability to offer hope and some chance of improvement when other treatments have failed, is something really significant.” TMS is based on the principle that a time-varying magnetic field will stimulate neurons in the brain, while remaining “invisible” to the skull, avoiding the interference it usually presents. TMS offers wide-ranging therapeutic promise, and in addition to depression may be effective in treating movement disorders, epilepsy, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, Tourette’s syndrome, schizophrenia, and other conditions. Dr. Lisanby’s study is one of 38 funded by NARSAD in this field over the last ten years. Beginning with the research of Dr. Robert Belmaker at Ben Gurion University in Israel and that of Dr. Mark George at the Medical University of South Carolina, NARSAD research grants of over $2.9 million have funded the development, the testing and the trials in this important innovation for the alleviation of the symptoms of depression, bipolar disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Most recently, NARSAD has funded the research of Ralph Hoffman, M.D., of Yale University in utilizing TMS to alleviate auditory hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia. |
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