UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN, ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has a 70-90% success rate in improving the conditions of people suffering from chronic depression. This technique can immensely help in pre-empting severe depression especially for those with mood disorders.

The former first lady of Massachusetts, Kitty Dukakis has undergone electroconvulsive therapy and claimed that she felt better than she had for the past 22 years when she was battling chronic depression. The Aberdeen team of specialists studied MRI scans of individuals with depression before and after electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

They found out that before ECT, people with depression have their left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex hyperconnected. This simply means that the neurons in that said portion of their brain act in unison. This strongly supports the research of Jennifer Perrin that the cortical structures engaged in thinking are extremely connected to the limbic system that mainly focuses on emotional processing in depressed individuals.

After the application of electroconvulsive therapy, patients displayed a noticeable decrease in this hyperconnectivity hypothesis. The patients’ depressive symptoms are lessened as well. The most common side effect of this procedure is memory loss that is why it is usually used as a last resort for the treatment of chronic depression.

A new understanding of the hyperconnectivity hypothesis can help in the earlier treatment of symptoms that may soon lead to severe depression. It can also lead to the developments of treatments that may be less intrusive and disruptive to the human brain.