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Comment by Daunk | Hacker News Reader

I've been dealing with depression for over 15 years. I can only hope that this becomes available to the masses.

It is available to the masses, or at least similar techniques. For instance, check out tDCS: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33706656/

Here is a great comparison between different noninvasive brain stimulation techniques for depression: https://www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.l1079

If you haven't had results from medication, there are a couple of new drugs on the market now that are indicated for treatment resistant depression.

any examples i can look up?

Check out my reply here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29746088

thanks!

Have any details? I have a close friend with treatment resistant depression.

There's two SSRI-like drugs called vilazodone and vortioxetine that are indicated for it, as is esketamine.

There are also a few antipsychotic-like drugs that are used at low doses for antidepressant effects along with other antidepressants, but I'm not sure if the newer ones are indicated for depression, or if the newer ones are just reformulations of existing medications. It looks like there's a newer olanzapine combination on the market.

Note that this is an enhancement to an existing therapy. Depending on where you are in the world and the healthcare providers you have access to, the existing therapy called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) may be an option.

Some TMS clinics are offering the SAINT protocol off-label. Not covered by insurance of course, supposedly runs around $6k.

There's a used TMS machine on ebay for $8k (and $70k) and clinical instruction videos on YouTube. Could be a good side hustle haha.

Unfortunately for SAINT it looks like you also need fMRI to correctly target the therapy...that's going to be a bit tougher to DIY.

Just start the process, get the fMRI scan, pay for that, and request a copy and bail.

For those taking this seriously: fMRI requires careful presentation of stimuli and a complex analysis. It’s not just a scan. I doubt you can get that at Scans’R’Us.

Can you please provide some links to said providers . I wasn't able to find any. Just some that mention it

This one in Georgia: https://rejuvenatetms.com/blog/

You can also search this TMS FB group https://www.facebook.com/groups/285541688306686 for "saint" and find other people's experiences.

Edit: Apparently, the clinics that claim to be offering it might just be doing something that is loosely based on what is publicly known about the SAINT protocol. Dr. Nolan Williams hasn't released full details, so it's not possible for clinics to replicate it exactly. This clinic https://www.cambridgebiotherapies.com/accelerated-tms/ talks about how they've tried to reverse engineer the protocol at the bottom.

Pretty sure it's already available.

How so? Where do you register?

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