No brain, no pain: Hypnosis can replace anesthesia in brain surgery

For many people, the idea of being awake while your skull is cut open sounds like something straight out of a horror movie. However, 37 people decided to forgo anesthetics for brain surgery and opted to receive hypnosis instead.
Hypnosis in surgery is not a new concept. In 1864 a Scottish surgeon named James Esdaile reported “80 percent surgical anesthesia using hypnosis as the sole anesthetic for amputations in India,” according to the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. In 1957, Dr. William Saul Kroger caught the New York Time’s attention when he used hypnosis on a breast cancer patient, the Miami Herald reported.

However, Dr. Ilyess Zemmoura of Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Tours and his colleagues have been evaluating the effects of using anesthesia since 2011. Focusing primarily on brain cancer patients, he and his team have been conducting awake operations to remove brain cancer tumors.

Certain brain operations require patients to be awake for at least part of the process. These surgeries are very tricky, according to the International Business Times, and surgeons depend on certain responses and interactions to avoid damaging critical parts of the brain, such as the eloquent cortex.

Typically when a patient undergoes brain surgery, they will be put to sleep at the beginning of the operation prior to the skull being opened, woken up in the middle to ensure responses are normal, then put back to sleep again. This process is known as asleep-awake-asleep ‒ or AAA – which seems like an onomatopoeia when thinking about waking up in the middle of brain surgery.

Zemmoura and other researchers detailed the hypnosis process to a total of 48 patients, according to Ars Technica. Hypnosis sedation, much like AAA sedation, begins several weeks prior to the operation. The patient meets with a hypnotist to practice entering a trance. From 2011 to 2015, 37 of the 48 underwent brain surgery using hypnosis sedation. Six patients were unable to enter a trance at the time of the surgery and switched to AAA sedation.

While the drawbacks to hypnotherapy may seem obvious ‒ waking up out of the trance, pain, sneezing while a surgeon has their hands on your brain ‒ there are many benefits as well. The Journal of the National Cancer Institute estimated that the use of hypnosis could save both time and up to $338 per procedure.

Although some in the medical community remain skeptical – there was no control group in the study to compare results with – Zemmoura’s small patient group largely reported positive results. Follow-up questionnaires showed little to no negative psychological impact, Neuroscience News reported.



Source：
https://www.rt.com/usa/328137-brain-surgery-hypnosis-anesthetic/

Is There A Connection Between Sleep And Depression?

Introduction

Is your sleep routine off? Are you sleeping less than normal? Are you depressed? Are you wondering if there is a connection between your irregular sleep pattern and your depressed mood? Well, keep reading this article because the answer is yes. There indeed is a relationship between sleep and depression. According to the National Sleep Foundation (2016), “The relationship between sleep and depressive illness is complex – depression may cause sleep problems and sleep problems may cause or contribute to depressive disorders. For some people, symptoms of depression occur before the onset of sleep problems. For others, sleep problems appear first. Sleep problems and depression may also share risk factors and biological features and the two conditions may respond to some of the same treatment strategies. Sleep problems are also associated with more severe depressive illness.” For the purposes of this article, we will focus on how irregular sleeping patterns result in the development of a depressive mood.

There Is a Relationship Between Insomnia And Depression

According to http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/need-sleep/whats-in-it-for-you/mood, “Chronic insomnia may increase the risk of developing a mood disorder, such as depression.” Think about it. If you are tired and have not gotten a good night sleep, you are going to have a lack of energy in your daily routine. This, in return, is going to impact your mood. You are going to feel depressed. This is supported by evidence. According to http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/need-sleep/whats-in-it-for-you/mood, “In one major study of 10,000 adults, people with insomnia were five times more likely to develop depression.” In addition, http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/need-sleep/whats-in-it-for-you/mood indicates that “Difficulty sleeping is sometimes the first symptom of depression. Studies have found that 15 to 20 percent of people diagnosed with insomnia will develop major depression.”

What Can Be Done?

You may be wondering if you are depressed, how can you improve your sleep? Well the answer is quite simple. Set a regular sleep routine. Have a set time for going to sleep and a set time for waking up in the morning. On an even further note, do not even think about hitting the snooze button. Just don’t hit it. You will feel better when you don’t touch it. Trust me on this one.

Conclusion

Despite the relationship between sleep and and a depressed mood, you can still feel better about yourself and lead a healthy lifestyle. Just start by adjusting your sleep routine. You will see the difference in how you feel in no time.

Source:

http://blogs.psychcentral.com/coping-depression/2016/02/is-there-a-connection-between-sleep-and-depression/

Tourette Syndrome Treatment in Malaysia - EEG biofeedback/Neurofeedback

Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (TS) is characterized by motor and vocal tic manifestations, often accompanied by behavioral, cognitive and affective dysfunctions. 

Electroencephalography of patients with TS has revealed reduced Sensorimotor Rhythm (SMR) and excessive fronto-central Theta activity, that presumably underlie motor and cognitive disturbances in TS. 

Some evidence exists that EEG biofeedback or neurofeedback (NFB) training aimed at enhancing SMR amplitude is effective for reducing tics. The present report is an uncontrolled single case study where a NFB training protocol, involving combined SMR uptraining/Theta downtraining was delivered to a 17-year-old male with TS. 

After sixteen SMR-Theta sessions, six additional sessions were administered with SMR uptraining alone. SMR increase was better obtained when SMR uptraining was administered alone, whereas Theta decrease was observed after both trainings.

The patient showed a reduction of tics and affective symptoms, and improvement of cognitive performance after both trainings. 

Overall, these findings suggest that Theta decrease might account for some clinical effects seen in conjunction with SMR uptraining. Future studies should clarify the feasibility of NFB protocols for patients with TS beyond SMR uptraining alone.



Source:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51641932_Neurofeedback_Training_for_Tourette_Syndrome_An_Uncontrolled_Single_Case_Study