Cranial Electrotherapy, a Profound Alternative Therapy

C.E.S.– SAFE EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVE TO DRUGS IN THE TREATMENT OF ANXIETY, DEPRESSION AND INSOMNIA

Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (CES) is an FDA approved treatment for anxiety, depression and insomnia. Over 100 human and eighteen animal studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of CES in treating these and other disorders. CES involves the introduction of a very weak electrical current into the brain. Before you say, "No way! Not my brain!" understand CES is not "Shock therapy". The electrical current used in CES is typically less than one milliampere. To put this in perspective, the current needed to power a light bulb is about 11,000 times stronger. No serious side effects have been reported with CES.

CES was developed in France in 1902 but study did not begin in the United States until the 1970’s. It is presently an under-utilized therapy because of the chemical paradigm underlying mainstream medicine. The American public has been conditioned to believe that for every symptom or disease there is a solution in a pill. When it comes to treating anxiety and depression, conventional medicine focuses on manipulating activity of neurotransmitters in the brain. However, the brain is more than a chemistry lab. The brain and body are also electrical in nature. Electromedicine (including CES) is designed to primarily impact the electrical nature of the body. The current used in CES is very similar to the electrical fields naturally present in the body

How CES works still needs further clarification. It appears that CES influences areas of the brain called the thalamus, hypothalamus and the reticular activating system. It also seems to stimulate the vagus nerve, producing a state of parasympathetic nervous system dominance. The parasympathetic nervous system has a general calming effect on the body. This is certainly consistent with the effects observed with CES. CES has been documented to normalize the body’s electrical fields. This has been measured on EEG (brain wave tracing). For example, people with moderate to severe pain from osteoarthritis were found to have abnormal brain wave activity. After five minutes of CES treatment, brain waves were virtually normal and pain was reduced by more than fifty percent. It has been found that individuals whose brain waves improved the most had the greatest pain relief. It is postulated that CES restores normal electromagnetic communication between cells. This may have the effect of regulating cellular differentiation, tissue repair, and immune function.

The efficacy of CES has been demonstrated in many different ways. Studies have used twenty-seven different psychometric (pencil and paper) tests including the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and the State/Trait Anxiety Inventory. CES has consistently demonstrated reductions in anxiety on these tests. Other studies have measured the physiological manifestations of anxiety before and after CES treatment. Slowing of brain waves and respiration rate, as well as reduction in blood pressure are physical signs of stress reduction that have been documented with CES treatment. One placebo-controlled study evaluated the effects of CES treatment in twenty individuals with chronic stress symptoms of at least a year’s duration. All of them had failed to respond to medication. Muscle tension, heart rate and finger temperature were measured before, immediately after, and one week following a single twenty minute CES treatment. Muscle tension and heart rate decreased and finger temperature increased immediately after treatment in those receiving active CES treatment but not in the placebo (sham CES) group. One week after treatment, those who had received active CES treatment still had significantly reduced muscle tension and heart rate! This is one of the many advantages of CES over medications. Whereas medications only work as long as they are taken, CES effects are long lasting and cumulative.

The long-term benefits of CES were demonstrated in another study, which examined the effects of CES on individuals with stress related attention deficit disorder (eight of the twenty-three subjects had a diagnosis of primary Attention Deficit Disorder). CES treatments of forty-five minutes duration were given daily for three weeks. The treatments resulted in reductions in anxiety and depression and improvement in IQ. Eighteen to twenty months after treatment, CES benefits were still retained, as demonstrated by maintenance or improvement of IQ scores!

There are other reasons to choose CES over medication in the treatment of anxiety. Side effects and addiction are not uncommon with use of these medications. And whereas anti-anxiety drugs may leave the patient in a stupor, CES produces a state of relaxation combined with mental alertness and creativity. This is referred to as the alpha state. CES is superior to medication in another way. CES improves both state and trait anxiety. State anxiety is situational; for example, the stress many experience in undergoing a dental procedure. Trait anxiety is more engrained in the personality. Drugs only work as long as they are taken but CES has demonstrated excellent long-term effects on trait anxiety. Dr. Ray Smith, a leading researcher in CES, shared with me some amazing statistics. He has measured the effects of CES on anxiety and depression in hundreds of patients. He has used daily one-hour treatments, five days per week. After seven treatments, 96 % of anxiety patients are free of anxiety! After ten to thirteen treatments, 94 % of patients have resolution of depression! Dr. Smith has seen these results maintained for twelve months after treatment in 111 patients! Thirty-three patients were followed for thirteen to twenty months after treatment and were still cured!

The ability to improve anxiety, depression and insomnia has made CES a powerful adjunct for a variety of disorders, including drug and alcohol rehabilitation. CES helps reduce withdrawal symptoms regardless of the involved substance. CES has been studied with people recovering from addictions to alcohol, heroin, cocaine, marijuana, morphine and barbiturates. Studies have found CES to produce many beneficial psychological changes in recovering addicts, including: reduced anxiety, hostility and depression, improved planning, self esteem, assertiveness, decision-making skills, feeling expression, energy levels and capacity for intimate contact. CES speeds time to fall asleep, increases time spent in deepest sleep and amount of time in bed spent asleep. It also reduces confusion and bewilderment and increases IQ in recovering addicts. All of these beneficial effects add up to a fifty % reduction in recidivism (over two years of study) for substance abusers!

CES can be used in conjunction with medication, psychotherapy, biofeedback and other therapies. It often augments the effects of other treatments. CES helps prevent rebound depression in patients being weaned off anti–anxiety medication. While medication may be effective in treating symptoms of anxiety or depression, it interferes with the re-establishment of homeostasis in the brain. In contrast, CES does restore balance to the brain.

CES is also very effective for pain relief. In addition to the arthritis study previously cited, headaches, fibromyalgia, low back pain, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, and Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction syndrome are a few of the chronic pain states documented to respond to CES.

CES has been found to reduce frequency, intensity and duration of migraine headaches. Fibromyalgia patients with severe chronic headaches were treated with CES. These patients had failed to respond to various medications, biofeedback, low tyramine diet, physical therapy and local injections. About half of the seventy-five subjects had a significant reduction in the frequency and intensity of headaches. This study also found an overall net decrease in the sensitivity of six main tender points on various parts of the body

CES has shown benefit for a variety of other conditions. Phobias, closed head injuries, cigarette withdrawal, bronchial asthma, excess acid secretion by the stomach, bulimia, and anorexia nervosa all respond to CES. The alpha state induced by CES may also improve sports performance.
By Dr. Joseph A. Debé

FAQ

Everything you wanted to know about CES...

Pain

The precise mechanisms by which electrical stimulation affects pain intensity are not known. However, it is postulated that Cranial Electro Stimulator treatment reduce pain and symptoms by two main mechanisms of action, "gate control" and "modulation of brain and body neurochemicals".

Cranial electrical stimulation, and stimulation at selected points of the peripheral nervous system, have been shown to modulate brain neurochemicals, such as endorphins, serotonin, ACTH, epinephrine and norepinephrine. Some of these neurochemicals act as natural morphine-like agents to inhibit pain, while others raise the pain threshold in a natural manner. Studies have shown that serotonin, beta-endorphins and ACTH levels have continued to change up to four hours following treatment. However, the positive effect of the neurochemical changes on patient pain level has been reported to last up to 48 hours after treatment.

A recent neurochemical study indicates that beta-endorphin, serotonin and melatonin increase in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid after a 20-minute cranial stimulation treatment. (J Neurol OrthopMed Surg (1998) 18:94-97)

ANXIETY & Cranial Electrotherapy


anxiety circle

Reported reductions in
blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and heart rate.
Anxiety disorders
sleep
depression and insomnia

Some reported frequencies
anxiety disorders (5 - 12 Hz),
anxiety disorders . 5 Hz
full list of frequencies here

Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (CES) has been used as a treatment for anxiety in several parts of the world for over a quarter of a century. American medicine has only recently begun to realize its use as a safe and effective treatment. Studies show that Cranial Electrotherapy treatment yields highly significant reductions in anxiety, whether the patients were in a psychiatric setting, a scholastic setting, an outpatient setting, or an inpatient general hospital setting. Further, while many different kinds of anxiety have been studied, as measured by the six different psychological measuring instruments found in these studies, they all responded significantly to CES treatment.
Less intense or less permanent forms of anxiety - the so-called 'situational anxiety' in which a person habitually responds to personally threatening events in his environment with an anxiety reaction - respond to Cranial Electrotherapy treatments within a week or less. The more permanent forms of anxiety - the so-called trait anxiety, or that underlying level of anxiety that a person typically carries with him at all times - require a longer period of Cranial Electrotherapy treatment. This kind of anxiety typically is not reduced significantly in fewer than 2 or 3 weeks of daily treatments.

DEPRESSION

Reported frequencies for
Depression (due to drugs or toxins) - 1.1, 73hz
Depression (due to outside circumstances) - 3.5, 787hz
Depression, anxiety, trembling, weakness - 3.5, 800hz
full list of frequencies here

Studies show that reactive depression (that which results from acute changes in the patients life situation such as a job change or divorce) is decreased after 6 days of Cranial Electrotherapy treatment. More deep seated depression (endogenous) in some cases required 3 or more weeks of daily treatment. For this reason, many physicians routinely prescribe a minimum of 2 weeks to a month of daily Cranial Electrotherapy treatments in depressed patients, since it is frequently difficult to gauge the type or depth of depression with great accuracy.
Since many patients have a 'depression habit' physicians should include a home CES unit in their treatment plan so that the patient can meet any new sign of impending depression with effective treatment and thereby break the behavioral reinforcement chain that has both led to and maintained the habit. In this way, a maladaptive habit can be effectively controlled or broken without the use of frequent medications and/or repeated visits to the physician. Other research has shown that Cranial Electrotherapy, when used this way is neither habit forming nor addictive. Such patients use it only when they experience an impending medical necessity.

INSOMNIA

Because Cranial Electrotherapy was originally called 'Electrosleep' in European countries, many earlier American studies were designed to learn whether or not such small amounts of electric currents would actually put people to sleep.

Q. What long range changes should I expect?

That is, just as 50ma of current - called 'electro-anaesthesia' - put an individual into anesthesia so that surgical procedures could be performed, 1ma of Cranial Electrotherapy current was assumed to put them into a normal state of sleep if 'Electrosleep' worked.
Such studies discovered that while Cranial Electrotherapy does not necessarily "put a person to sleep", it does accomplish some very therapeutic changes in the sleep patterns of people who complain of insomnia. The studies below show that whether measured by the patient's own ratings, psychiatrists ratings or by electroencephalograph or polygraph recordings before and after Cranial Electrotherapy treatments, the following effects of CES in insomnia can be expected:

Great frequencies for Insomnia
1.0, 3.59, 3, 7.83, 10, 1550, 1500,
880, 802, 6000, 304hz
full list of frequencies here

1. Sleep onset latency is reduced. That is, once a person has retired for the evening, the amount of time it takes him to actually fall asleep is reduced from one to two hours or more to the more normal twenty minutes or less.
2. The number of awakenings during the night are reduced. That is, while most insomniacs awaken three or more times during the night and have difficulty falling asleep again, those treated with Cranial Electrotherapy typically awaken no more than once or twice following therapy, with most reporting no awakenings. Furthermore, after awakening, they return to sleep much more promptly than before.

3. Cranial Electrotherapy treated patients spend more time in stage four sleep following CES treatments. That is, patients spend more time in the deepest, most restful stage of sleep than they did prior to Cranial Electrotherapy treatment. It should be noted that some patients who have deprived themselves of REM sleep - the stage during which dreaming occurs - by taking drugs or alcohol as a sleeping aid, sometimes spend the first two or three nights in unusually vivid dream states when first starting CES treatments. This is considered another indication of the therapeutic effectiveness of Cranial Electrotherapy in that persons are known to become increasingly disorganized mentally, some even to the point of psychotic-like symptoms, when they do not engage in the normal amount of dreaming.

4. Finally, it was discovered that many patients receiving Cranial Electrotherapy treatments report feeling more rested when they awaken in the morning following Cranial Electrotherapy treatments.

Treatment parameters: While some patients begin to respond after the second or third day of treatment, others do not have their best response with fewer than 24 days of treatments lasting from 15 minutes to 1 hour. The beneficial effects have been measured in some experimental groups for as long as two years. Some people with insomnia have a habitual pattern of responding to situational stress with an interruption in their sleep patterns. The best results are obtained when Cranial Electrotherapy is used each time unusual stressors occur in their life situations that would ordinarily cause poor sleep. The Cranial Electrotherapy device user is thereby trained over time to expect a good night's sleep no matter what stressful interruptions occurred in the normal flow of daily life.

Brain Activity

ADDICTIONS

Foremost among the treatment problems among chemically dependent persons is the need to help them through the psychologically and physically demanding period of withdrawal. The body reacts to the depressed physical state engendered by alcohol and other drugs with a rebound stress reaction. This reaction commonly includes states of extreme anxiety, depression, and insomnia, for which Cranial Electrotherapy treatment is known to be effective.

Underlying the addictive state is an insidious and progressive destruction of normal brain functioning including an often incapacitating memory loss, inability to process information involving abstract symbols, and other dysfunctions associated with the organic brain syndrome, and advanced condition which is known as Korsakoff psychosis.
Studies on the use of Cranial Electrotherapy in chemical dependencies are among the best controlled and well designed research in the U.S. They indicate that Cranial Electrotherapy is a highly effective adjunct to methadone withdrawal in heroin addicts, significantly shortening the time to symptom - free withdrawal when compared with methadone alone, and significantly lowering withdrawal anxiety as measured by the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale.
Further, the anxiety and depression accompanying and following withdrawal of both alcohol and other drugs in polydrug abusers is significantly reduced when patients receive Cranial Electrotherapy as a post withdrawal treatment.
Most importantly, perhaps, is the finding that Cranial Electrotherapy treatment halts and significantly reverses brain dysfunction in these patients as measured on seven different psychological scales of cognitive function, bringing many such functions back to the level of the pre-addiction state in the majority of patients studied.

Q. Does CES work for everyone?
A. No. But it is known to be significantly effective for about 95% of the people who use it.

Another problem in the treatment of chemically dependent persons is frequently recurring 'dry withdrawal' in which the individual suffers withdrawal symptoms within several weeks, then again in several months. The phrases used to describe these phenomena are a 'dry drunk' followed by the 'dry withdrawal'. These psychological states lead to high recidivism rates among these individuals as they return to treatment after "falling off the wagon".
Cranial Electrotherapy is now thought of as one of the most effective, non-drug treatments for these periods of withdrawal, and a patient who has a personal Cranial Electrotherapy unit available should be able to use it to prevent a full-blown withdrawal reaction at such times. By doing so he can reduce the need for additional medical treatment in a clinic or hospital setting, and will be less likely to resort to alcohol because of the discomfort accompanying these withdrawal states.
Excerpted from: FOCUS on ALCOHOL and DRUG ISSUES,

Analysis of interventions such as Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) used in non pain-related cognitive and behavioural functioning has recently been reviewed. The results indicate consist of enhancement in somatosensory functioning, visuo-spatial abilities and postural control in neglect, improved memory, affective behaviour and rest-activity rhythm in AD and acceleration of awakening in coma. The effect of TENS will be pursued further: www.psy.vu.nl/faculteit/research/psychology/mapping_more.html