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Electrotherapy dampens brain connections

photorealistic 3d neurons (nerve cells)

Despite it being used successfully in clinical practice, scientists have until now not been entirely clear how or why ECT works (Source: Francesco Santalucia/iStockphoto)

Brain effect Scientists have discovered how electroconvulsive therapy acts on the brains of severely depressed people, and say the finding could help improve diagnosis and treatment of mental illness.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) involves first anaesthetising the patient and then electrically inducing a seizure.

It has a controversial reputation - gained in part because of its role in the 1975 film One Flew OverThe Cuckoo's Nest starring Jack Nicholson - but is considered a potent and effective treatment for patients with mood disorders like severe depression.





"We've solved a 70-year-old therapeutic riddle," says Dr Ian Reid, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Aberdeen who led the study.


Findings 'make sense'




"The disabling of connections between different areas of the brain is what I would have predicted from the depression literature," says Nutt.

He says the results also chime with a study he published in January that found that psilocybin, the active ingredient in the psychedelic drug known as magic mushrooms, also disrupts this network of connections and may also be effective in treating severe depression.

The electrotherapy study involved using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the brains of nine severely depressed patients before and after ECT and then applying complex mathematical analysis to investigate brain connectivity.

Aberdeen University's chair of neuroimaging Christian Schwarzbauer, who devised the new method for analysing the connectivity data, says it enables the team to see to what extent more than 25,000 different brain areas communicated with each other.

He says the new method could also be applied to a wide range of other brain disorders such as schizophrenia, autism, or dementia, and "may lead to a better understanding of the underlying disease mechanisms and the development of new diagnostic tools."

The researchers say they now hope to continue monitoring the patients to see if the depression and hyperconnectivity returns. They also want to compare their ECT findings with the effects of other therapies used to treat depression such as psychotherapy and anti-depressants.

Tags: health, depression, brain-and-nervous-system