A new form of brain stimulation relieved severe depression in a small study
Either this will win the Nobel Prize, or it won&#x27;t hold up. (Guess which one is more likely.)<p>A few reasons I don&#x27;t think it will hold up:
- this is a university press release
- N = 21
- no control group
- no blinding
- university press release doesn&#x27;t even claim it&#x27;s a new approach, just incremental improvement on an existing approach
- the paper (link below) is about evaluating safety, feasibility, and &quot;preliminary efficacy&quot; (i.e., they&#x27;re not advertising this as a robust result)<p>Paper available here:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ajp.psychiatryonline.org&#x2F;doi&#x2F;10.1176&#x2F;appi.ajp.2019.19070720" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;ajp.psychiatryonline.org&#x2F;doi&#x2F;10.1176&#x2F;appi.ajp.2019.1...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.biorxiv.org&#x2F;content&#x2F;10.1101&#x2F;581280v3.full" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.biorxiv.org&#x2F;content&#x2F;10.1101&#x2F;581280v3.full</a>