VOA常速英语:抑郁症新疗法成效显著

Sonya Kibbee likes playing pickleball. Zero to one. Kibbee is a physical therapist in Columbia Missouri. She is normally active, but last year, because of severe depression, she had trouble making simple decisions. Just dumb little decisions that we make and don’t even think about, I have to think about. And it’s just gets me more stressed out, because every little decision is hard. People who are depressed are often listless.

Depression affects eating habits and sleep. Even with medication and therapy, Kibbee thought about suicide and was hospitalized several times. Then she heard about a treatment called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, or TMS. It does not involve surgery or require anesthesia. TMS uses a coil to deliver powerful magnetic pulses to the brain. These pulses will stimulate neurotransmitters which are the chemical signals, which will improve the communication between different regions of the brain that are responsible for mood regulations. And over time, this will improve the symptoms of depression.
It feels like someone gently tapping you on your head, which can cause a headache. After just one week, she noticed a real difference. And I just felt so much better. After more than 30 treatments, her symptoms of depression almost disappeared.
Basically 50 or 60 percent of people who suffer from treatment-resistant depression will see a clinically meaningful response to TMS. And one-third of these people will go into remission, which means that their symptoms will completely go away. The US National Institute of Mental Health says two large studies on the safety of TMS found that most side effects such as headaches were mild or moderate. But because the treatment is relatively new, long-term side effects are unknown, and more studies need to be done. TMS worked for Kibbee. She returned to work and picked up pickleball again.
Carol Pearson VOA news.