Invited Speaker

Electromagnetic Interventions to Treat Depression
Malek Bajbouj
Germany

Depression is a serious psychiatric disorder with severe medical, economical and social implications. Depressive disorder are associated with high mortality rate and considerable general system disorder morbidity and mortality. According to recent WHO reports depression will soon be ranking second only to cardiovascular disorders in health burdens on society. Although, effective antidepressant therapies are available, approximately 20 percent of depressed patients are partially or totally resistant to the treatment as defined by failing to respond to maximal doses of two antidepressant trials. Such patients would in most settings then be referred to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a very efficacious albeit not widely available treatment modality. Based on a fundamental shift in the conceptualization of psychiatric disorders, a number of focal electromagnetic interventions had been developed in the last 15 years. Discussed here are the current status and role as well as the perspective of these newly developed interventions comprising deep brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, magnetic seizure therapy, and vagus nerve stimulation.