Is There a Depression “Switch”?

Researchers link behavioral responses during implantation of DBS leads for depression treatment to functional-connectivity patterns.

Experimental deep brain stimulation (DBS) in carefully selected patients with severe, chronic, refractory depression has been pioneered by Helen Mayberg and colleagues. They have hypothesized that DBS at the intersection of four white-matter bundles in the subcallosal cingulate (SCC) is necessary for response and have now examined patients' self-reported behavioral response to stimulation during implantation of the DBS lead and the functional-connectivity patterns of that response.

Nine patients with treatment-resistant depression participated. Implantation of the DBS lead in the gray–white junction of the middle SCC region involved four contacts bilaterally. Each participant had 12 trials of stimulation (1 at each contact on the left and ri…

Reviewing Author

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Is There a Depression “Switch”?

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Reviewing Author