About the illness
Depression is a common, very stressful and sometimes even destructive mental illness. Those affected see almost only negative things in their lives, in their environment and in themselves. This results in serious impairments to health, quality of life and professional and social performance. The good news, however, is that depression is treatable.
Psychotherapy and antidepressant medication lead to a considerable improvement in most patients and often to a complete recovery. At the same time, these therapy methods are not sufficiently effective for a certain proportion of those affected, are poorly tolerated or are not accepted. For this reason, an expansion of therapeutic options would be highly desirable. Not least so that those affected could choose from several treatment options the one that suits them best.
Our therapeutic approach
One of the symptoms of depression is a change in activity in areas of the brain that are responsible for directing feelings and thoughts. If their activity is reduced, there is an increased perception and processing of negative information. This then leads to the negative distortion of attention, perception and memory that is typical of depression. This is where transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) comes in. This technique uses a rapid sequence of magnetic pulses to gently influence the excitability of nerve cells in the cerebral cortex through the skull (= transcranial). The aim is to help restore the balance of brain activity and thereby promote recovery from depression. Based on previous research results, TMS is already scientifically recognised as a new treatment option for depression. However, as the therapeutic effect has so far been proven by comparatively few clinical studies and the procedure is still very time-consuming and cost-intensive, this form of treatment has not yet become established in routine clinical practice. A special type of TMS - 'theta burst stimulation (TBS)' - now influences the activity of nerve cells with significantly shorter stimulation times and possibly even longer lasting effects. This not only allows the therapy to be carried out more quickly, but also allows both hemispheres of the brain to be treated in one session. This procedure has already been successfully investigated in three pilot studies.
The study (TBS-D)
Our colleagues in Tübingen are conducting a large clinical study in which we are participating as one of 7 study centres. The aim is to treat 236 patients with depression. Half of them will receive TBS of both frontal hemispheres daily (Mon-Fri) for 6 weeks (30 sessions), while the other group will receive the same treatment but without effective brain stimulation. The treatment itself only takes about 5 minutes. In this way, it is tested whether and to what extent the direct stimulation of the brain with TBS leads to an improvement in depression. If this can be proven, it will significantly expand the treatment options for depression for patients. This would be an important step on the way to even more effective, faster and more tolerable treatment.
For this study, we are looking for participants between the ages of 18 and 70 who suffer from depression and who are already receiving or have received drug therapy. Participation in the study is free of charge.
People with depression who are interested in taking part in this study can obtain further information from
Telephone: 0731 500-61485
(Note: Please either click on the e-mail address or type it into the address field by hand (copying and pasting sometimes does not work!).
Study leader: Prof. Dr Thomas Kammer, Section for Neurostimulation, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy III, Ulm University Hospital