Turn up the heat on depression

A University of Arizona website screenshot of the tent.

A University of Arizona website screenshot of the tent.

Published Feb 13, 2015

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London – A hi-tech, heated tent is being tested as a possible new treatment for pain and depression.

The tent raises body temperature to fever-like levels for around two hours. It’s thought this could prevent faulty messages being sent to the brain.

The treatment, known as hyperthermia, is already used in mainstream medicine as a treatment for certain cancers, such as bladder cancer. Studies suggest that here it causes immune cells to become more active and raise the levels of cell-killing compounds in the blood.

Hyperthermia is being tested in a dozen trials for a number of other conditions, including ovarian cancer and depression. Early research shows that a single session can reduce the symptoms of depression by a third.

Researchers at the University of Arizona are carrying out two separate trials, involving 30 patients with severe depression and 20 patients with fibromyalgia.

Severe - or clinical - depression, affects 6 percent of adults, causing persistent low mood. It is usually treated with drugs and talking therapy, but up to 20 percent of patients don’t respond to current treatments.

Fibromyalgia is characterised by widespread pain, fatigue, muscle stiffness, and insomnia. It affects one person in 20 and is thought to be linked to abnormal levels of certain brain chemicals and changes in the way the central nervous system handles pain messages.

Currently there is no cure, but painkillers and antidepressants can ease some of the symptoms.

The new therapy involves the patient lying on a bed, with a tent-like structure over them covering their body from chest to the toes. Inside the tent is a row of infra-red lights that are arranged above the upper part of the body on a frame.

The lights provide the heat while the tent structure is there to retain it. During the two-hour treatment the body temperature is raised as high as 38.5c, which is officially a fever.

One theory is that depression might be linked to faulty messages being sent to the brain by the body’s thermostat. Rapidly raising the body temperature may help ‘reset’ the thermostat.

‘Just as we know inflammation in the body can contribute physically to depression, so might a flawed heat regulation process,’ says Dr Charles Raison, professor of psychiatry at the University of Arizona, who is leading the new trial.

Another suggestion is that it might correct abnormal levels of brain chemicals linked to depression and fibromyalgia.

A previous study of patients with depression – conducted by the Arizona University group and collaborators in Switzerland – found that five days after the two-hour treatment their symptoms had reduced on average by ten points on a scale used to measure their severity.

In the ongoing study at the University of Arizona, patients will receive one treatment or a sham therapy and then be assessed over two weeks.

Jane Tadman from Arthritis Research UK, which funds research into fibromyalgia, said: ‘There is some limited evidence to show that hyperthermia might reduce pain and can help to restore sleeping patterns - which is a common symptom of fibromyalgia, so we look forward to the results of this new study.’

Daily Mail

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