Shocking the brain

[Blessed]

Hey all!

I was talking to my sister this weekend and she told me she had seen a blip on the news about a new treatment for epilepsy. It involves shocking the brain. Has anyone heard about this?

Blessesd

[brain]

Treatment of psychiatric complications

From Epilepsy.com

About Epilepsy & Seizures > Psychiatric and Behavioral Aspects > Treatment of psychiatric complications

Here are some Blurps:

Besides underreporting, another reason for the undertreatment of psychiatric comorbidities in people with epilepsy has been the fear that psychotropic drugs will worsen seizures. Many clinicians have the erroneous belief that all antidepressants, central nervous system (CNS) stimulants, and antipsychotic agents cause seizures and would worsen them in patients with epilepsy. While psychotropic drugs must be used cautiously in patients with epilepsy, they should not be withheld when needed.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a well-accepted treatment for major depression, usually when the symptoms are refractory to medications. In patients with epilepsy, ECT may be an appropriate treatment intervention for refractory depression or mania. One effect of ECT is a temporary increase in the seizure threshold, which commonly results in the need for higher stimulus intensity during the course of ECT. A complicating factor in the patient with epilepsy is the need to reduce blood levels of AEDs during the course of ECT, with the risk of exacerbating the underlying seizure disorder. Despite this risk, ECT can be a useful treatment for some patients with severe psychiatric symptoms refractory to other treatments. A contraindication to ECT is increased intracranial pressure.

[Bernard]

I imagine that news story could also have been talking about the VNS, RNS or Intercept devices which stimulate the brain with electrical impulses.