Stunning neuroscientific advance for patients with mental illness, a ray of hope for those who did not recover with drugs.

Katherine Scangos, an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco conducted the test on women with depression. It was a successful experiment.

With the help of electric stimulation, patterns of activity linked to depression are detected.

Sarah, 36- year-old patient with severe depression is the first person to trial with the new technique. For now, the treatment is likely to be use for people with severe depression.

How does it work?

The treatment involves two brain surgeries and recording the brain’s electrical signals. It analyzes the patterns of activity in the brain or ‘’ neural biomarker’’ for each symptom.

Katherine Scangos said, ‘’ these results provide hope that a much-needed personalized, biomarker-based treatment for psychiatric disorders is possible.’’

Sarah had depression from Childhood. She had used different drugs. And also went for therapy. However, Nothing worked for her.

Her brain was under observation for 10 days during this experiment. The team recorded the electrical activity from 10 different parts of her brain whenever she reported on her mood.

 According to different sources, she was experiencing suicidal thoughts several times. The investigation showed that Sarah had the worst symptoms.

Meanwhile, there was brainwave in her Amygdalae, two small structures deep in the brain that have previously linked with emotions.

Sarah said,

‘’ when I first received the treatment, I felt the most joyous sensation and my depression was a distant nightmare for a moment.’’

The treatment was smooth and Sarah felt a slow improvement in her mood. ‘’ It was a gradual process, where my lens on the world changed. As time has gone on, it’s been this virtuous cycle upwards-everything has gotten easier and easier. Hobbies become pleasurable again, now, a year into therapy, the device has kept my depression at bay.’’ She added.

According to The Guardian, the device costs about $35000 (£26,000) and is an adapted version of the device used for epilepsy, called the Neuro Pace RNS system.

The findings are publish in the journal Nature Medicine. Experts believe it is a leading trial using deep brain stimulation.

Indeed, they results give hope for people suffering from severe depression. It’s a remarkable experiment.