Botox: A New Treatment In The Fight Against Depression?

Faye Prior | 2014-05-17 04:50:15

Gone are the days that botox was just a beauty treatment. Having recently acclaimed attention for its migraine relieving effects, botox is now an apparent anti-depressant.

In new research published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, six weeks after a single treatment of botox, depressive symptoms in those with major depression improved by at least 50%. That’s 50%, just by botox, in six weeks. 27% of people achieved remission, and it even improved mood in those that didn’t start out with depression.

Botox is seemingly still emerging as a therapy in the medical domain, and this totally different approach to depression treatment seems to have had groundbreaking results. The mechanism for botox improving depressive symptoms is relatively unknown, and this is an interesting  breakthrough to keep our eyes on in the future.

Faye Prior (Researcher)

Source

Finzi, E., & Rosenthal, N. (2014). Treatment of depression with onabotulinumtoxinA: A randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trial. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 52, 1-6.

Image: https://flic.kr/p/5AU988