TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — National Central University's Cognitive Intelligence and Precision Healthcare Center has partnered with the Psychiatry Department of Taipei Veterans General Hospital to use Holo-Hilbert Spectral Analysis (HHSA) to detect key brainwave patterns for depression treatment.
The treatment, developed by Academia Sinica's Norden Huang (黃鍔), uses HHSA to identify dynamic brainwave patterns that reveal neural signals that were previously difficult to detect with conventional medical technology.
Teams from the university and the hospital found that in patients with depression who respond poorly to medication, the stronger the regulation of gamma brainwaves by alpha and beta waves, the more severe the symptoms tend to be. They noted that abnormalities in gamma brainwaves can only be detected through HHSA, per CNA.
According to the hospital, the research findings have been published in the medical journal International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology.
Additionally, the teams are developing a brain electromagnetic stimulation system that integrates AI and deep learning, the university said. The system can adjust the level of stimulation in real time based on an individual's brainwave activity to alleviate symptoms in patients with severe depression.
The hospital said that among the therapies for depression, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is one of the approved non-invasive treatments for depression by the US and Taiwan Food and Drug Administrations. The therapy uses magnetic fields to send mild electrical signals into the brain to help correct abnormal neural activity. However, rTMS has limited effectiveness in alleviating symptoms for some patients with severe depression.
The Health Promotion Administration said that around 2 million individuals in Taiwan experienced depression in 2023, with 1.25 million having clinical depression.
Yang Tsung-tsai (楊聰才), an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Shih Hsin University, added that treatment for depression mainly involves medication and psychological counseling. However, medication may cause side effects such as drowsiness, difficulty concentrating, digestive issues, and sleep disturbances.
