Can a New Brain Stimulation Technique Improve PTSD Treatment?

Summary: Yes, early research shows a new brain stimulation technique called Magnetic e-Resonance Therapy (MeRT) can improve PTSD treatment.

Key Points:

• MeRT builds upon an existing technology called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) by using brain mapping to customize treatment sessions.
• The innovative brain mapping technology assesses brain function and adjusts therapy based on individual functional patterns.
• The approach does not involve psychotherapy or medication, which may be important for patients with PTSD seeking alternative treatment after previous unsuccessful attempts, or patients who don’t want to engage in psychotherapy or take psychiatric medication.

Reducing PTSD Symptoms Can Be Life-Changing

Most people have heard of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and know it can develop after various types of traumatic experiences, including but not limited to:

• Living through war, as civilian or military personnel
• Experiencing physical or sexual assault or abuse
• Experiencing emotional abuse and/or neglect
• Witnessing violence in community
• Surviving natural disasters: flood, hurricane, wildfires
• Having a serious accident or illness, self or loved one

We know that PTSD is caused by experiences where people fear for their life and essential safety. However, the American Psychological Association (APA) expands our understanding of PTSD by adding nuance to the definition. PTSD can also develop after:

“Any disturbing experience that results in significant fear, helplessness, dissociation, confusion, or other disruptive feelings intense enough to have a long-lasting negative effect on a person’s attitudes, behavior, and other aspects of functioning.”

That’s why we wrote an article for our blog about how something many of us experience can cause PTSD:

Can a Road Rage Incident Cause PTSD?

No matter what the cause – living through combat, surviving a hurricane, or experiencing emotional abuse – the symptoms of PTSD can create serous disruption across all major life domains. From work, to relationships, to social life, to simply being able to think clearly and make decisions, PTSD symptoms can not only disrupt typical function, but also, in some cases, completely prevent an individual from engaging in the basic tasks or life.

That’s why people with severe PTSD may need immersive treatment, and why we wrote this article for our blog:

Why Do Some People Need Residential Treatment for Trauma?

What you’ll learn from that article is that when PTSD symptoms make daily life unmanageable and daily tasks impossible, time in a structured environment, away from home, can help people restore balance, reduce symptoms, and live a life of their choosing.

However, for some people with PTSD, this new brain stimulation technique may help reduce symptoms more quickly – and for a longer time – than previous treatment modalities.

Personalized Brain Stimulation: How Does it Work?

As we mention above, this new brain stimulation technique that can improve PTSD treatment builds on an existing technology called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Here’s a simple definition of TMS:

Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a noninvasive technique that employs focused electromagnetic pulses and electromagnetic induction to stimulate certain areas of the brain.

TMS is FDA-approved for treatment resistant depression, anxious depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Treatment with TMS involves placing electromagnetic coils on the scalp and using electromagnetic induction to stimulate specific brain areas.

There are two things that make this new approach – known as Magnetic e-Resonance Therapy (MeRT) – different than standard TMS treatment:

1. Clinicians create an individual functional brain map using electroencephalography (EEG).
2. An AI-assisted algorithm tailors brain stimulation protocols and guides treatment sessions based on individual EEG data.

Dr. Eric Wong, a lead researcher on this new clinical study on MeRT, explains further:

“Transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, was previously FDA cleared for treatment-resistant depression. By adding an augmented AI derived multivariate algorithm, we were able to personalize protocols that received FDA clearance for post-traumatic stress disorder.”

This is an important development in PTSD treatment. The current standard treatment protocols for PTSD revolves around an approach to psychotherapy we can generally identify as “gradual, controlled, safe, exposure therapy” and two different antidepressant medications. The medications help some people reduce some PTSD symptoms for some people, but they’re not effective for many patients, and many patients cannot tolerate the side effects.

And while exposure therapy is effective, and delivered in many forms – one-on-one, group, virtual, written – it takes time, effort, and involves facing and working about/through uncomfortable, painful memories and emotions, which is not a viable option for some patients.

This new treatment has the potential to improve PTSD treatment not only because it’s effective – we’ll share the data in a moment – but also because it involves neither medication, with its problematic side effects and inconsistent impact on symptom, nor exposure therapy, with its required time, effort, and direct encounters with memories many patients would prefer to forget rather than process through psychotherapy.

Is Magnetic e-Resonance Therapy (MeRT) Effective?

The results of an initial clinical study conducted at Texas A&M University show that MeRT is safe, tolerable to patient, and effective. The researchers are currently preparing final data for review and publication. The top-line results, reported in Science Daily, indicate the following positive outcomes:

• Patients reported a 52% reduction in PTSD symptoms
• 68% of patients met criteria for remission of PTSD

Those results are comparable to some PTSD treatments and superior to others. With medication, roughly one in ten patients achieve remission. Exposure therapy and psychotherapy yield better results than medication. A recent review conducted by the National Center for PTSD at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs showing the following rates of remission:

• Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR): 86% remission rate
• Cognitive therapy for PTSD (CT-PTSD): 76% remission rate
• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): 61% remission rate
• Cognitive processing therapy (CPT): 57% remission rate
• Prolonged exposure therapy (PE): 56% remission rate

The 68 percent remission rate reported by the research team places this new brain stimulation technique near the top of the list for all known, evidence-based treatments for PTSD. This means it has the potential to improve PTSD treatment.

And this approach achieves results without intensive psychotherapy or medication.

To be honest, that sounds too good to be true. However, this technique builds on previous, well-established and verified research into brain stimulation modalities for mental health. If the results were not well vetted through statistical analysis, it’s unlikely the research team would not release them early, before official publication.

That bodes well for this new approach.

The head science officer at the company that designed the MeRT device, Dr. Leslie S. Prichep, views the FDA approval of the MeRT device optimistically:

“The FDA clearance of the MeRT System reflects decades of scientific research using electrophysiological biomarkers in identifying abnormal brain activity profiles and guiding personalized intervention strategies. We believe this represents an important advancement toward a more objective, data-informed model of mental healthcare.”

For the research team, the next step is publishing their data in a peer-reviewed journal. For the company that developed the technology, the next step is making it accessible to as many people with PTSD as possible.

Meanwhile, for us, the next steps are (1) waiting for the official published study to comb through the data, and (2) watching for any developments on the device itself. As soon as we learn anything new, we’ll share it here.