A new study revealed that a brain stimulation therapy could be the key in treating symptoms of anorexia. Researchers at King's College London conducted a trial assessment to determine if repetitive transcranial stimulation (rTMS) is an effective treatment of anorexia.
Characterized as an eating disorder that causes one's severe weight loss due to self-starvation, there is no denying that anorexia is one of the most alarming ailments that could hit anyone at any time. With the increasing number of people having the condition, researchers felt the need to improve treatments for anorexia, King's College London stated on its website.
In the study, 49 participants were divided into two groups: 1) the real rTMS; and 2) the placebo rTMS. All participants completed food exposure and decision-making tasks.
All participants were asked to rate the perceived smell, appearance, taste and urge to eat foods, such as crisps and chocolate, in front of them while they are being exposed to a video clip of people eating the same kind of appetizing foods. This so-called food exposure task aimed to provoke anorexia symptoms of the participants.
As for the decision-making task, participants were asked to select between a smaller variable amount of money (£0-£100) that is available immediately and a larger fixed amount available after a week, a month, a year or two years. Results revealed that participants with real rTMS are more judicious in decision-making compared to those in the placebo group.
"We found that one session of rTMS reduced the urge to restrict food intake, levels of feeling full and levels of feeling fat, as well as encouraging more prudent decision-making," Dr. Jessica McClelland, who is a Post-doctoral researcher at the King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), said. "Taken together, these findings suggest that brain stimulation may reduce symptoms of anorexia by improving cognitive control over compulsive features of the disorder."
Found mostly in younger women, anorexia could be detrimental to one's health especially when it becomes deep-seated in the brain. The longer the illness duration, the more difficult for it to get treated, Mic shared.
However, with the promising results of the study, it is now safe to say that there is hope as rTMS could be a possible treatment for anorexia nervosa. "Given the promising findings from this study, we are now assessing whether rTMS has longer-lasting therapeutic benefits in a world-first clinical trial of rTMS treatment, involving 20 rTMS sessions, in people with anorexia nervosa," Professor Ulrike Schmidt, senior author of the study, concluded.
To know how brain stimulation may reduce anorexia symptoms, watch the video below: