I am in awe of Dr. Helen Mayberg. Actually, I am in awe of anyone who can drill holes in someone’s head, insert some wires and bring that person out of the most hopeless depression.
It is called Deep Brain Stimulation and, yes, the “stimulation” part involves electricity. But DO NOT think of this as the old-fashioned kind of shock therapy. It is far from that. Mayberg, a professor of psychiatry and neurology at Emory University, along with her colleagues found a small region, deep in the brain, called Area 25. This region of the brain sits inside the anterior cingulate cortex (I have no idea where that is but for I am mentioning it for those really smart readers).
The neural circuits in this area are very, very busy in people with depression. This is the area heavily involved in cortisol production, sleep, and serotonin and emotion regulation in the brain. It’s the place where get our motivation and drive. DBS has worked wonders for people with Parkinson’s. Mayberg figured why not try it for people who have tried everything but nothing has given them relief - not even what is commonly referred to as “shock therapy.” As Mayberg describes is, electroconvulsive therapy re-boots the brain, DBS just tinkers with it.
The procedure is as freaky as the effect. You drill two holes in a person’s head WHILE THEY ARE AWAKE!. With the help of an MRI, Mayberg guides two wires into Area 25. She must find the exact position or the treatment will not work. A little battery pack, which lasts up to four years, is implanted under the skin near the patient’s chest.
During her first attempt at this procedure in 2002, she slowly turned up the current to four volts. Within seconds the patient said, “Did you do something? I feel a sudden sense of calmness.” Not all her patients responded this way, but many did. Can you imagine being in an operating room and a patient who has been told there is nothing more they can do, that their case is hopeless, suddenly says they feel better?
The amazing thing about Mayberg, besides the procedure, is her down-to-earth way of explaining this to us lay people. Ten days ago she stood before a crowd of 600 at the annual NARSAD symposium in Palm Beach and explained the procedure so we could understand. She is not an intellectual snob. She happily took questions from the audience. What is truly amazing is that Mayberg did this on her own time, for free. I am sure Mayberg could make a lot of money speaking. The New York Times wrote a piece about her in its Sunday Magazine. Jane Pauley picked her to be on a panel for Pauley’s special on depression. At nearly every mental health event I have attended Mayberg’s name is mentioned with reverence.
Mayberg jumps at the chance to speak for NARSAD - the world’s leading charity for mental health research - because without a grant from the group early in her career she said she would not be where she is today. Which brings me to NARSAD. For the last six years NARSAD - like many other groups - comes to Palm Beach to raise money. Tickets to fundraisers where you get to hear people such as Mayberg usually cost upwards of $500. Not NARSAD. On a Friday night NARSAD holds its fancy gala. On Saturday morning NARSAD holds a symposium open to the public - for free. The first symposium about 200 people showed up. This year there were over 600.
Every year NARSAD changes the illnesses addressed in its symposium. This year we also heard from Dr. Fred Volkmar of Yale, the expert who authored the section on autism in the DSM-IV. Dr. Helen Blair, who helped write the American Psychiatric Association’s guidelines for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, told us about new treatments for OCD. You cannot imagine how good it feels to be out in public and talk openly to others about your illness, or to have the opportunity to ask questions of the world’s top scientists or to be in a room where there is no stigma and no one questions that depression is real. Or to hear these brilliant scientists say they want to help us.
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