Woman Says Experimental Brain Implant Helped Her Lifelong Depression: 'Continuous Prozac'

Mar. 15, 2025

Emily Hollenbeck.Photo:AP Photo/Mary Conlon

AP Photo/Mary Conlon

A woman with lifelongdepressionsays an experimental brain implant — which delivers electrical stimulation, similar to a pacemaker — says the device has saved her life.

Emily Hollenbeck is one of a few hundred patients to have an experimental Deep Brain Stimulation implant, and as she told theAssociated Press, “If I hadn’t had DBS, I’m pretty sure I would not be alive today,”

“That’s when I started to feel the symptoms, and then the first major episode was when I was 21.”

Emily Hollenbeck, a patient with a DBS (Deep Brain Stimulation) implant, for depression.AP Photo/Mary Conlon

Depression is amood disorderthat can cause feelings of sadness and a loss of interest, theMayo Clinicexplains. “It affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. You may have trouble doing normal day-to-day activities, and sometimes you may feel as if life isn’t worth living.”

As the Mayo Clinic points out, depression is “more than just a bout of the blues…and you can’t simply ‘snap out’ of it. Depression may requirelong-term treatment.”

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And for Hollenbeck, she tells theAP, “I had tried every treatment. I tried medications, with the highest doses.”

But it wasn’t until she underwent the implant procedure that she saw a change, calling the device “continuous Prozac,” the brand name forfluoxetine, a common medication for depression.

“Very very simply, DBS..is a pacemaker for the brain,” said Dr. Brian Kopell, a neurosurgeon at Mt. Sinai who has performed more than2,000 DBS procedures.

DBS has been used to treat Parkinson’s disease, targeting the parts of the brain that control motor function according to theParkinson’s Foundatin— and as theNational Library of Medicinesays, “clinical trials have reported significant improvements in motor function and health-related quality of life” in patients with theprogressive nerve disorder.

The methodology behind treating Parkinson’s and treating depression is the same, as Dr. Kopell toldAP: “Depending on where you put the electrode you can engage with various different circuits in the brain.”

Brain scan.Getty

Getty

For depression, the electrodes are placed in the subcallosal cingulate cortex, which “modulates emotional behavior and is particularly involved in feelings of sadness,” theNational Library of Medicineexplains.

Along with scans from the device, doctors monitor patients’ movements, speech, and self-reported diaries, and use that data to determine a treatment plan.

And for Hollenbeck, it’s working.

“Just being able to experience spontaneity, to be able to look forward to things. These things wouldn’t even be on my radar with depression,” she tells theAP.

“Now, it’s like, not only am I doing these things but I’m looking forward to them and I’m planning them and I’m enjoying them.”

The manufacturer of the device, Abbott, received a"breakthrough device"designation from Food and Drug Administration to explore the potential for its use, and the AP notes that the agency may make a broader decision on DBS as treatment for depression this year.

source: people.com