Matters Of The Mind: Innovations In Mental Illness Treatment

http://media.boston.cbslocal.com/CBSBOS_20150611060256920AA.mp4 BOSTON (CBS) – A push by the military to find mental health treatment for men and women returning from war is leading to the biggest surge of research in decades. Massachusetts General Hospital researchers received a $30 million grant from a defense agency to create an implantable brain device that deep stimulates parts of the brain not functioning properly, specifically in people suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury or major depression. Read: More Matters Of The Mind “What we’re trying to do is provide very targeted therapy to just particular parts of the brain without involving the rest,” said Dr. Emad Eskandar, a neurosurgeon at MGH and Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Eskandar and the team of 50 scientists working on the device have made significant progress since receiving the grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) a year ago, as part of President Obama’s BRAIN Initiative. The goal is to have it FDA-approved and ready for minimally-invasive surgery within three years. An aggressive timeline is a hallmark of research supported by DARPA. The group is credited with inventing GPS for military purposes but when released to the public, the applications were tremendous. That’s the model the MGH researchers are hoping their device can mimic. “My first thought was this is tremendously exciting that the...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health Local News Seen On WBZ-TV Syndicated Local Watch Listen BRAIN Initiative Bree Sison DARPA Dr. Darin Dougherty Dr. Emad Eskandar Dr. Ki Goosens Grhelin Matters Of The Mind Mental Illness PTSD Treatments WBZ TV Source Type: news