Depression

Depression is the state in which the individual feels sad, helpless, and disinterested in life. Clinical depression affects mood, mind, body, and behavior. Depression is the most frequently seen psychiatric disorder among both hospitalized inpatients and those in outpatient psychiatric care. Research has shown that in the United States about 19 million people—one in ten adults-experience depression each year, and nearly two-thirds do not get the help they need.

There are many kinds of depression, several with deep underlying psychiatric causes. Short of biochemical analysis, however, they are usually difficult to differentiate. Psychological testing can rate depressive states according to intensity but cannot differentiate causative factors. Despite the variations in etiology of depressive states, however, treatments are very similar.

Context
Five studies employing three different measures and 189 different patients suffering from depression. All were in treatment facilities, either psychiatric or chemical dependency. Each of the studies was conducted under controlled conditions; one, double-blind, four, single-blind.

Graphical Interpretation
Under each set of bars is the psychological test used to measure depression in each study including a general average of all results. The red bar shows patients’ scores before using CES—the higher the bar, the greater the depression. The blue bar shows the level of depression after using CES.

Results
There have been three replications of findings on the Profile of Mood States, Depression-Dejection factor, and two replications using the Zung Self-rating Depression Scale (POMS-D and ZSDS, respectively on the graph). All yielded similar results. The movement on the ZSDS scale is less because one study was for one week and the second, for ten days. The studies which ran over a span of three weeks, however, provide evidence of an even more dramatic decline in depression.

All three tests yielded congruent results—an average reduction of approximately 50% in the depression raw scores measured before and after CES treatment. All types of depression responded dramatically to CES. CES showed itself to be effective in treating the lighter reactive type within a week or ten days and the deeper seated variety in three weeks.

Because those with deep-seated depression tend to view CES as a modern “miracle,” and expect instantaneous relief, they can actually become more depressed initially while using CES unless the therapist specifically tells them that at least three weeks of treatment are required. With this added clinical support, even the most deep-seated depressions responded well. The study controlled for possible placebo effects did not show any. There has never been a reduction in the scores of sham CES treated controls.

As in the anxiety studies, while some depression studies were “sacrificed” in the attempt to discover how much treatment was necessary to correct the various intensities of depression, there has never been a controlled scientific study in which CES was not shown to significantly improve reactive depression in a week to ten days and deep seated depression within three weeks. All types of depression studied so far, have responded dramatically to CES treatment.