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A pacemaker for the brain helped a woman with crippling depression. It may soon offer hope to others - Business News


Emily Hollenbeck lived with a recurring depression she likened to a black hole, where gravity felt so strong and her limbs so heavy she could barely move. She knew the illness could kill her. Both her parents had taken their lives.

A growing body of research is promising, with more underway — although two large studies that showed no advantage to using DBS for depression temporarily halted progress, and some scientists continue to raise concerns. Dr. Brian Kopell, who directs Mount Sinai's Center for Neuromodulation, placed thin metal electrodes her brain's subcallosal cingulate cortex, which regulates emotional behavior and is involved in feelings of sadness. Occasionally, she goes into Mount Sinai’s “Q-Lab,” where scientists do quantitative research collecting all sorts of data, including how she moves in a virtual forest or makes circles with her arms.

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