Magnetic Seizure Therapy (MST) for Depression
This study is evaluating whether magnetic seizure therapy is an effective alternative to electroconvulsive therapy for bipolar disorder.
See full descriptionAbout the trial for Depression
Treatment Groups
This trial involves 2 different treatments. Magnetic Seizure Therapy (MST) is the primary treatment being studied. Participants will all receive the same treatment. There is no placebo group. The treatments being tested are not being studied for commercial purposes.
Eligibility
This trial is for patients born any sex aged 18 and older. There are 10 eligibility criteria to participate in this trial as listed below.
Approximate Timelines
Measurement Requirements
This trial is evaluating whether Magnetic Seizure Therapy (MST) will improve 2 primary outcomes and 2 secondary outcomes in patients with Depression. Measurement will happen over the course of Up to 7 weeks.
Who is running the study
Principal InvestigatorPatient Q & A Section
What causes depression?
A variety of factors are associated with depression: genetics, social and economic situation, physical and psychological health problems, and mental illness. There is no single mechanism that contributes to depression, and the mechanisms vary in individuals and individuals from different ethnic groups. Although there are known genetic and environmental risk factors for depression, more is needed to explain how individual differences in depression susceptibility arise. If genetic and environmental risk factors are to be tackled effectively, there needs to be a more detailed understanding of the interactions between genetic and environmental causes and potential targets for intervention.
What are the signs of depression?
Depression presents in many ways. The symptoms range from the very mild to the life-threatening. Depression in infants and toddlers is more common and severe than in older children and adults. Patients may have sudden onset of symptoms, and they may have an inability to concentrate and think clearly. It is also possible to have symptoms before the age of the onset of mood abnormalities. Patients may be lethargic and anxious, are pessimistic about their future, are less responsive than usual, have very low energy levels, and may have problems with their appetite. A person may also appear depressed. Some patients will display suicidal tendencies. It is important to exclude all the possible causes before recognizing a patient's depression.
What is depression?
Lung cancer, and the ensuing anxiety, depression, and postoperative depression are commonly faced by many lung cancer patients. Most of these patients feel helpless when facing such a life-threatening disease and are at higher risk of committing suicide. Furthermore the postoperative period, during which a lung cancer patient may be undergoing anti-cancer treatments, is considered stressful by patients. There is only limited data on postoperative psychological consequences of lung cancer; however, our findings suggest that the lung cancer patient may be at higher risk of depression.
Can depression be cured?
Many people with depression are not aware of the nature of their medical conditions, and the impact of these illnesses on their lives and their families. Depression often co-occurs with anxiety and/or other physical illnesses. Therefore, depression and associated medical conditions may not always be a result of a direct cause.
What are common treatments for depression?
Some individuals with depression have little or no effect on the course of their disease. If treatments for depression do have a clear effect, they include medications, exercise, interpersonal therapy, or cognitive-behavioral therapy. The efficacy of antidepressant drugs is not strongly supported by many clinical studies.
How many people get depression a year in the United States?
There is an increasing incidence of depression, especially when age groups above 90 years old are considered. Approximately 20% of people in this age group have a major depressive episode a year.
Have there been any new discoveries for treating depression?
There have been a number of new findings of drugs and therapies that either may help more people or they may just be interesting. Here are my thoughts as I come across them: topic 1: If you've been depressed and your medication hasn't worked, try a different type of medicine. Patients will tell you differently than your doctor and they also may complain about side effects. \ntopic 2: The first-line treatment for mild to moderate depression is antidepressant medication, such as Fluoxetine (Prozac). The latest evidence indicates that SSRIs may be equally as effective as escitalopram, and SSRIs have a smaller likelihood of causing serious sexual side effects.
How does magnetic seizure therapy (mst) work?
The use of a non-invasive MS-T modality resulted in significant improvement in some of the mood and health parameters. Because most of the parameters improved after 6 weeks from the mst procedure, we feel it worthwhile to continue with this modality of treatment of MST.
Is magnetic seizure therapy (mst) safe for people?
The safety profile of magnetic seizure therapy for children and adults with treatment-resistant depression in a real world setting overlaps considerably with those reported for mst at standard doses in randomized trials. Children and adolescents should be included in clinical trials of mst, with close monitoring. Given the low incidence of adverse events in children and adolescents, mst should not be considered contraindicated.
What is the latest research for depression?
Depression has been studied for so long, and the findings of most of the studies are very similar. The major difference is the definition of depression, that is, the way it is defined by each study. Clinically depressed persons are usually recruited with some degree of help from physicians, researchers, and others, and the study question is a diagnostic interview. In contrast, nonpsychiatrically depressed persons who are not considered by most researchers as 'clinically depressed,' have been recruited through telephone interviews in some studies. There is no standard interview for depression, but there is some agreement that major symptoms must have occurred in the previous 12 months and that there must be a significant level of impairment in daily functioning.
Have there been other clinical trials involving magnetic seizure therapy (mst)?
This work is one of the few available to date, and we think it is interesting to share the experience of other centers with their results in treating depression. We suspect that our patients may have obtained more benefit in terms of mood improvement than that obtained in traditional pharmacotherapy.
Who should consider clinical trials for depression?
The data suggest that trial authors, medical journals, pharmaceutical companies and researchers (especially for the more prestigious ones) have a profound bias against publishing research in trials for depression. Depressed patients appear to merit particular attention because they are less likely to consider taking antidepressants and are less likely to be able to find treatment for their depression.