In turn, the magnetic field produces an electric current inside the brain. Anti-depressant medications do not work for everyone, or they work only temporarily for some, Avery said. Yet many patients wish to avoid electroconvulsive therapy, which has a frightening reputation left over from the mid-20th century. Then, the procedure often produced severe, sometimes injurious, seizures. Though shock treatment is now far milder and used frequently, it does require general anesthesia.
Some patients prefer a less aggressive therapy.
It s the part of the brain that makes us human, Avery said. The electric current in electroconvulsive therapy stimulates not only to the prefrontal cortex but the entire brain, including the memory center and the motor-control area. Effects can include short-term memory loss as well as seizures, though today these are more like a shiver than a major convulsion. Magnetic stimulation, by contrast, focuses tightly on the prefrontal cortex, avoiding the motor-control area and making seizures far less likely, Avery said. The patient, awake and sitting in a chair, feels nothing or possibly a slight tingling on the surface of the skin where the magnetic device touches.