![]() ![]() In an interview, Luhrmann said that American clinicians “sometimes treat the voices heard by people with psychosis as if they are the uninteresting neurological byproducts of disease which should be ignored. The new research suggests that the voice-hearing experiences are influenced by one’s particular social and cultural environment – and this may have consequences for treatment. The experience of hearing voices is complex and varies from person to person, according to Luhrmann. In the United States, the voices are harsher, and in Africa and India, more benign, said Tanya Luhrmann, a Stanford professor of anthropology and first author of the article in the British Journal of Psychiatry. People suffering from schizophrenia may hear “voices” – auditory hallucinations – differently depending on their cultural context, according to new Stanford research. The principal investigator’s report ends with the estimation that despite the need to corroborate the trial results in a sham stimulation-controlled study, the researchers are confident in the effectiveness of the treatment, owing to the fact that patients, of their own accord, have asked to come back for a longer series of treatments.Īs mentioned previously, in light of the favorable results of the study, the Company has decided to progress to the next stage of clinical testing and perform a double-blind, sham stimulation-controlled multicenter trial.Tanya Luhrmann, professor of anthropology, studies how culture affects the experiences of people who experience auditory hallucinations, specifically in India, Ghana and the United States. Improvements in cognitive function were also recorded.Īccording to the principal investigator’s report, in one of the patients, who had experienced auditory hallucinations for years with no relief from medication, and who had heard voices continuously throughout the day prior to the treatment, the voices stopped entirely after the second treatment, and did not recur before the time the report was written (a period of 4 months). Following the series of treatments administered in the trial, the average severity of patient illness became ‘Moderately Improved’, and in some cases, ‘Full Improvement’ was even observed.Ĥ. A greater than 50% improvement in functioning levels was reported by relatives or independent staff members at hostels (Global Assessment of Functioning).ĥ. All patients reported improvement in mood, although this finding was not verified by assessment scales as it was not anticipated based on previous studies employing superficial magnetic stimulation. This is the primary scale whereby the treatment’s efficacy was evaluated.Īn average improvement of 37% was observed in scores obtained using this scaleĢ. The Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) in schizophrenia, which measures auditory hallucinations, among other symptoms.Īn average improvement of 33% was observed in scores obtained using this scaleģ. The Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scale, which assesses the general severity of mental illness.Īccording to this scale, the average severity of illness among the trial participants was categorized as ‘Markedly Ill’ before the trial. The extent of the beneficial effect of the Company’s Deep TMS device on patients was assessed using different assessment scales, as follows:ġ. Hoffman’s Auditory Hallucinations Rating Scale (AHRS), which assesses the frequency and number of voices heard, how “real” they seem, their intensity, the extent to which they affect the patient’s behavior, their duration, and the level of distress they cause the patient. a double-blind, sham stimulation-controlled multicenter trial. ![]() In light of the favorable results of the trial, the principal investigator has decided that the trial be discontinued at this stage, in order to progress to the next stage of clinical testing, i.e. The trial results described in the principal investigator’s report are based on the results of 8 patients, three of whom received the treatment twice (i.e., a total of eleven cases were assessed). ![]() The trial was performed at the Be’er Ya’akov Mental Health Center in the framework of a collaboration between BrainsWay, the Be’er Ya’akov Mental Health Center and the Medical Research Fund of the Assaf Harofeh Hospital. BrainsWay is pleased to announce its final results from a clinical trial of the Company’s Deep TMS device for the treatment of auditory hallucinations in schizophrenic patients.
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