New study published in the Journal
of Psychiatric Research reports that patients injected with onabotulinumtoxin A
(“Botox”) demonstrated substantial improvement in their depressive symptoms.
The findings of a recent study on the effects of OnabotulinumtoxinA (referred to as Botox) on depression, published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, reveal that over half of enrolled participants suffering from moderate to severe depression showed a substantial improvement (greater than or equal to 50% of baseline) in their depressive symptoms as measured by the MADRS scale.
Dr Eric Finzi, MD, PhD and Dr Norman E. Rosenthal, MD, conducted the largest randomised, double-blind, placebo controlled study to date on that subject. It included 74 depressed subjects who were injected to the corrugator and procerus muscles between the eyebrows, either with a single treatment of onabotulinumtoxinA (OBA) or a placebo. The research outcome is the first to register a major difference in remission rate with OBA in depressed patients (27% OBA vs. 7% placebo), suggesting botox could be used both as a stand-alone and an adjunctive treatment.
Commenting on the report, study co-author Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal, MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown Medical School, described the research as groundbreaking because it offered an innovative approach to treating the depression in a manner which does not conflict with any other treatment.
Dr. Eric Finzi, Dermasurgeon, is co-author on the 2006 published pilot study paper which first reported that inhibition of frowning by facial injection of OBA could help depressed patients. He stated that this new research supported earlier facial feedback theories of Charles Darwin and William James which suggested facial expressions had the capability of influencing mood.
Source: Elsevier
3 April 2014
