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HEAL THE FASTER WAY

Magnetic therapy to beat depression

Malathy Iyer TNN

Mumbai: Six months ago, south Mumbaibased executive Ramesh Joshis behaviour started worrying his

family. He would take two hours to finish a meal. While walking, he would suddenly freeze at a spot. He

would stammer if he had to speak more than a couple of lines. The medical diagnosis major

depressive disorder stunned his family.

They were even more shocked when nine anti-depressants a day failed to help him. Finally, they

sought rTMS or repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, the newest entrant in the field of

depression treatment in Mumbai.Over threeweeks and20sessions of magnetic stimulation later, his

sluggishness and diffidence almost disappeared. His daily dosageof anti-depressantswasdown to

two.Today,the 35-year-oldisback atwork and speaksclearly.Icouldfeel myfamilysshock as I took one

spoonful of food every 10 minutes, but I couldnt help it, he said.

Joshis psychiatrist, Dr Shamsah Sonawalla, who studied rTMS during her stint in Harvard University,

says the non-invasive therapy helped transform him in the shortest possible time. We realized he was

battling mild depression perhaps for seven to eight years. This time, he experienced psychomotor

retardation (when speech and action slow down). But rTMS transformed him in the shortest possible

time, she added.

Magnetictherapy madeitsdebutin Mumbai almost two years ago, but its clinical efficacy among Indian

patients in only now getting established. Sonawalla has treated 65 people with major depression usingthe technique at her Trans Mag Well-Being Clinic on Peddar Road. Of these, 28 had treatment-resistant

depression, 37 had moderate to severe major depression, she said. Each patient responded to the

waves, but in different measures. Those who were resistant to medical treatmentshowed about60%

response,while persons with moderate to severe depression registered 90% improvement.

A handful of clinics across Mumbai and Delhi have started offering rTMS, with each session ranging

from Rs500toRs7,000.Dr Yusuf Matcheswalla has just brought his second rTMS machine for his clinic in

Masina Hospital, Byculla.

The demand for this non-invasive treatmentissohighthatIfeltthe needfor a second machine, said the

psychiatrist, who uses it to treat varied conditions, ranging from depression to schizophrenia. Delhis Dr

Sanjay Chugh was among the first in the country to acquire this technology, having added another

machine in his practice recently.

The therapy, which won the US FDA approval in 2008, involves using magnetic field externally to

stimulate nerve cells in the brain. The growing popularity of this treatment is also a measure of the

growing incidence of depression in India. Major depressive disorder is one of the most common and

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debilitating of illnesses. Around 20% of grown-up women and 10% of men experience it in their

lifetime, said Sonawalla.