Brain: Depression/Anxiety

Conclusion: Brain LASER therapy demonstrated antidepressant properties with a medium to large effect size in patients with Depression.

Reviews in the neurosciences 2017

• The potential of transcranial photobiomodulation therapy for treatment of major depressive disorder
• Improves the metabolic capacity of neurons due to more oxygen consumption and ATP production
• Hopeful technique for treatment of major depressive disorder

After four 4-minute treatments, patients experienced highly significant reductions in both HAM-D and HAM-A scores following treatment, with the greatest reductions occurring at 2 weeks
reported psychological benefits at two and four weeks after a single treatment.

“1064 nanometers, 3,400 mW (34 W), 60 Joules).” These power and energy density parameters are identical to those that have been previously shown to improve cognition and psychological well-being.

• Safe and effective
• Posttreatment depression ratings were significantly reduced from baseline, and the treatment was well tolerated
• Significant clinical and psychological effects were reported as early as week 2, after only a single LASER Therapy treatment

A paradoxical dose-response, where higher power and energy densities might be less effective, has been postulated for NIR. Our 50% treatment remission rate (albeit not sustained) in this small sample size is consistent with the 60% remission rate reported in subjects with resistant MDD treated with NIR by Schiffer and colleagues.

In our cohort of four treatment-completers, two subjects achieved remission from MDD and from suicidal ideation. Morries et al. also found that TBI subjects (n=10) treated with transcranial PBM (Table 1) had a remarkable improvement in suicidal ideation. The preliminary data reviewed in this paper suggest the efficacy of transcranial PBM for the treatment of depression, anxiety, and cognitive impairment. This review paper is intended to draw more attention from the scientific community toward a promising field in need of further research

Depressive symptoms were significantly decreased at weeks 2 and 4 (delta HAM-D-21 total score 13.2 and 6.5, respectively). The authors reported a 60% remission rate of MDD at week 2 (HAM-D-21 <10<10). Noticeably, depressive symptoms tended to creep back up at week 4 from the NIR treatment, suggesting that one single treatment, while sufficient in this population to produce remission, might have been inadequate to maintain it.