'Cutting edge treatment' offers new hope for depressed patients

Written by Joan Lownds, Hersam Acorn Newspapers
Wednesday, 11 January 2012 09:00

Some 20 million Americans suffer from depression, according to the National Institutes of Health. A “cutting edge treatment” for the disabling condition is now available in Greenwich.

Contemporary Care at 15 Valley Drive is run by psychologist Dr. Lisa Fraidin. The practice uses “transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which is a state-of-the-art, FDA-approved treatment for depression, anxiety and other mental health concerns,” she said.

The treatment is administered as the patient sits in a chair, similar to a dentist’s chair, Dr. Fraidin said, and low-dose magnetic pulses are sent to the specific parts of the brain associated with depression.

TMS is “safe and has none of the side effects associated with most anti-depressant medications,” Dr. Fraidin said. These may include weight gain, sexual dysfunction, sedation or memory impairment.

The typical course of TMS treatment consists of five, 40-minute sessions per week over a four- to six-week period, she said.

“The results have been amazing,” Dr. Fraidin said.

“It’s the wave of the future ... the closest thing we have to a cure, the first treatment in psychiatry that is truly scientifically based,” said Dr. Tarique Perera, a psychiatrist who is the medical director and CEO of Contemporary Care, where Dr. Fraidin works.

“TMS is far more effective and rapidly acting than medications with almost no side effects,” he said.

Dr. Perera, who is an associate professor at Columbia University where he has conducted research into TMS, said, “What’s most compelling is almost 90% of patients stay well after getting the treatment. Only 10% relapse.”

Dr. Perera, a graduate of Harvard Medical School, also researches “the mechanisms of how antidepressants work at Columbia University,” he said. “In fact, my recent paper showed that antidepressants work by increasing the formation of new brain cells in the hippocampus, a part of the brain that regulates our emotions.”

With his TMS research at Columbia, Dr. Perera has pioneered the use of “this exciting new technology, and set the standards of practice for TMS practice worldwide.” He is considered an expert in TMS and gives frequent talks to medical groups and others about the procedure. Contemporary Care has three TMS machines based in Greenwich, Darien, and White Plains.

Over the past year, this group has treated “more patients than any of the other 360 TMS practices in the country and yielded some of the best results,” Dr. Perera said.

Unlike other treatments for depression, such medications that “travel all over your body, TMS provides “a focused magnetic pulse to a specific part of the brain that is contributing depression, anxiety, chronic pain, drug cravings, and memory impairment treatment,” Dr. Perera said. “These abnormal circuits can be identified by a new method of brain imaging called functional MRI or PET scanning.

“In fact, with functional imaging we can even detect what someone is thinking, whether they are in love, or if they are lying.”

TMS “sends a very specific beam to activate the part of the brain that needs to be activated” in depressed people. He described the procedure as “non-invasive” and said it has “gained rapid acceptance since being approved by the FDA in 2008.

In addition to treating depression, Dr. Perera’s team has also treated bipolar disorder, anxiety, trauma and post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), fibromyalgia and chronic pain, drug and alcohol abuse. “The results have been exceptional,” he said. “The treatment is very safe, even in pregnant patients, and it is the only antidepressant treatment that does not increase suicidal thoughts.”

In the future, Dr. Perera foresees the procedure being used to help treat ADD, autism and Parkinson’s disease, he said.

Dr. Perera said TMS is also being used at Yale New Haven Hospital and the Institute of Living. Most insurance will cover TMS but only as an out-of-network benefit, he said.

At her Wilton office and in Contemporary Care’s Greenwich office, Dr. Fraidin is also offering biofeedback as a complementary procedure. “Biofeedback is a therapeutic technique that helps improve mental and physical health and performance by teaching us how to control physiological responses that are normally thought to be involuntary,” she said.

An instrument that looks like an EKG machine is used to measure subtle physical changes, such as breathing, heart rate, hand temperature, sweating, blood pressure, brain waves and muscle tension. “These measurements are displayed on a computer monitor, enabling us to become aware of bodily reactions to various conditions or stressors,” Dr. Fraidin said. “Once we understand how our bodies respond, we are then equipped to voluntarily alter these processes that impact stress, pain, emotional distress, and decreased focus.

Like TMS, biofeedback is a “non-pharmacological treatment approach for many conditions. It is also highly successful in helping individuals attain peak performance in athletics, performing arts, business, and academics,” Dr. Fraidin said. “Studies support biofeedback as an effective therapy and it is endorsed by the NIH (National Institutes of Health).”

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites