Magnetism and the brain
In psychiatric illnesses, the functioning of the neurons may be compromised so that circuits are disrupted. In a recent article about the neurobiology of bipolar disorder in the American Journal of Medical Genetics, authors Gregory Berns and Charles Nemeroff point out that "changes are evident at virtually all levels of the central nervous system in bipolar patients." Particularly intriguing about the research at McLean Hospital is that most patients in the normal control group were unaffected by the brain scans; their moods neither improved nor worsened. No one really knows why, but Berns, who was not involved in the study, is intrigued. "Part of the neurobiology of bipolar disorder is that there seem to be biochemical alterations at the cellular level within neurons that make them more sensitive to anything coming in," he says. Magnetic stimulation, he speculates, may be tapping into the hypersensitivity of the neurons.
Most fascinating, perhaps, and most complicating, is the fact that the brain is dynamic, always in physiological flux. What these recent experiments most vividly illustrate is the complexity of the brain's pathways, the intricacy of its connections, and the concrete hope that may be offered to those suffering from the anguish of mental illness by the evanescent power of a magnet.
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