Experts have been successfully able to treat a patient suffering from severe depression by stimulating the habenula, a tiny nerve structure in the brain.
A team of neurosurgeons at Heidelberg University Hospital and psychiatrists at the Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH), Mannheim, performed the world's first operation on the habenula of a 64-year-old woman, who had suffered from the common psychiatric illness since age 18.
Depression Calculator
A quick, simple and anonymous self-assessment health tool to assess the level of depression using the famous Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale.
A quick, simple and anonymous self-assessment health tool to assess the level of depression using the famous Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale.
Dr. Karl Kiening, head of stereotactic neurosurgery, who performed the procedure, said: "The neurosurgery department at Heidelberg University Hospital is optimally equipped for demanding procedures such as this with among other things, the new intraoperative highfield MRI."
Dr. Alexander Sartorius, psychiatrist at the CIMH, added: "We decided to stimulate the habenula because it is involved is the control of three major neurotransmitter systems, which are known to be disturbed in depression'".
Depression - Types, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment
Depression is one of the most common mental disorders affecting approximately 340 million people in the world. No one is immune from depression - it occurs in people of all social classes, all countries and all cultural settings.
Depression is one of the most common mental disorders affecting approximately 340 million people in the world. No one is immune from depression - it occurs in people of all social classes, all countries and all cultural settings.
The study was published in the leading scientific journal Biological Psychiatry.
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Brain Depression
Interactive section of Medindia provides information about chemistry of Brain depression
Interactive section of Medindia provides information about chemistry of Brain depression
