The effects of bipolar disorder can impact a person’s family, career and social life, and lead to paralyzing depression, hospitalization and even suicide. Treatment for bipolar depression most commonly involves medication and psychological counseling, but sometimes these methods may fail to yield results. Another consideration is the tendency of bipolar medications to cause undesirable side effects. These issues often prompt a search for alternative treatments.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance explains that transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, is a procedure that uses magnetic field pulses to stimulate an electrical impulse in the brain. This results in neurochemical changes that can affect mood. This procedure received Federal Food and Drug Administration approval in 2008 for the treatment of adult major depression that has been unresponsive to an initial attempt at addressing symptoms through medication.
The procedure involves placing a device on the scalp for 30- to 40-minute treatment sessions that take place five days a week for up to six weeks. Minor scalp pain is the most common side effect of this treatment, but it has none of the medicinal side effects that occur with psychiatric medications, such as fatigue or dry mouth.
Vagus Nerve Stimulation
The vagus nerve is the tenth of 12 nerves that exit the brain through openings in the skull called cranial nerves. Electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve, or VNS, has been used to treat epilepsy since the 1997, and to treat depression from bipolar disorder since 2005. The procedure entails surgically inserting a pulse generator into the chest, and a wire or electrode into the neck, where it interfaces with the vagus nerve. By stimulating the vagus nerve, the treatment sends impulses that stimulate the release of neurotransmitters that affect depression.
This procedure causes side effects such as mild to moderate voice changes, hoarseness and coughing. The strength of the current can be adjusted to lessen side effects, according to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance.
Electroconvulsive Therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, has also been known as shock therapy. These days it is performed most frequently on an anesthetized patient in a hospital setting, according to the National Institutes of Health.
ECT is effective in treating the manic, as well as the depressive, phases of bipolar disorder. It acts upon the central nervous system to stimulate a seizure lasting approximately 40 seconds. The NIH calls ECT “the most effective treatment for depression that is not relieved with medications.”
