(It's not all "just in your head" after all? Is it?)
Brain Pacemakers Tackle Depression
May 27, 2008 -- It's a new frontier for psychiatric illness: Brain pacemakers that promise to act as antidepressants by changing how patients' nerve circuitry fires.
Scientists already know the power of these devices to block the tremors of Parkinson's disease and related illnesses; more than 40,000 such patients worldwide have the implants.
But psychiatric illnesses are much more complex and the new experiments with so-called deep brain stimulation, or DBS, are in their infancy. Only a few dozen patients with severe depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder so far have been treated in closely monitored studies.
Still, the early results are promising. Dramatic video shows one patient visibly brightening as doctors turn on her brain pacemaker and she says in surprise: "I'm starting to smile." And new reports this month show that some worst-case patients -- whose depression wasn't relieved by medication, psychotherapy, even controversial shock treatment -- are finding lasting relief.
Six of 17 severely depressed patients were in remission a year after undergoing DBS and four more markedly improved, and more than half of 26 obsessive-compulsive patients showed substantial improvement over three years, say studies from a team at the Cleveland Clinic, Brown University, and Belgium's University of Leuven.
"Not all patients get better, but when patients respond, it's significant," says Dr. Helen Mayberg of Emory University, who has implanted about 50 depression patients. Her first remains in remission after five years; she estimates that four of every six show enough improvement to be classified "responders."
"We're rewiring the brain in many ways," says Dr. Ali Rezai, chief of the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Neurological Restoration.Visit Al Yusra
And
Mental Illness and Satan
5 comments:
Ahlan wa Sabaah al khayr ya Nimr.
Interesting link, that Mental Illness and Satan. It's interesting to see the parallels between ideation in mental illness and Satan's whisperings.
I was reading Ibn Qayyim's 'Medicine of the Prophet' - as usual translator mat salleh - where the Prophet (saw) used ruqya to ward off the evil eye.
Bought the book some time ago but think I'll read it some more. will tell you more if you're interested.
Ila liqa'
masaa al-khair ya tabib,
Yes, I have seen that book by ibn Qayyim, but I haven't bought it, because I had another "Medicine of the Prophet book" but don't know where I put it! I also have one compilation by Ustaz Abdullah Yassin, really great doas.
I do the ruqya on my kids every day...the evil eye thingy. i thought it was karut until I read that it was from the Prophet SAW. Cuma lain org buat doa stail lain and not according to sunnah. Penting esp if orang dok puji anak kita etc.
Did you know that we/others boleh inadvertently "kenakan" the evil eye upon others/us too when we/they puji them/us or tergerak dalam hati "eh, cantiknya dia/rumah dia" etc. Orang yang kena puji kena cepat2 give praise to Allah, because it from Him...and also do the doa on themselves.
Naam, would be really interested to hear about what Ibn Qayyim had to say in the book, shukran.
Fi amaan-illah
Nimr,
I bought it when it first arrived, cost double the present price. Grrr!!
But still worth it in my view. fascinating insights on at-tibb and gives me a look at the style of scholarship of these great old scholars. Very stringent and exacting.
I think they were the first to use citations in their work unlike our western friends who could barely attribute works to their original authors - Averroes instead of Ar-Razi etc. Not surprising really since the early faqiha had to provide proofs from the Qur'an or Hadiths.
Another side-effect of Hadith narration is the habit in those days of these scholars writing out the lineage of a fact or argument. I read that an ustadz (just knew that it means professor) in Al-Azhar in the time of Saladin (I think) used to write in his lecture notes:
"I, sifulan, an ustadz in al-azhar, gave this lecture thus to my students (names here) on this date. I received these notes from this particular ustadz (name here) whose lecture I attended (date here) at this place (location here) together with these fellow students (names here). I do not agree with my ustadz's contention in paragraph 9 and these are my reasons. I have stated this to my students."
First class scholarship and intellectual honesty.
tabib,
here is an interesting site:
http://www.islamicmedicines.com/index.php?c=6
Agree with you on the excellence of scholarship of our past scholars. Albanee is one from more current times worth reading. Very detailed citations.
Sorry, typo.
Averroes is Ibn Rashid
Ar-Razi = Rhazes.
I hold by Sam Butler's principle -- I don't mind lies but I hate inaccuracy.
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