Brain Reboot

New Treatments for Healing Depression

By: Michael Henry MD

Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Psychiatrist and Director of the Bipolar Clinic and Research Program at Massachusetts General looks at the three new alternate—deemed miraculous—treatments for depression: ECT, Ketamine, and TMS.

Depression affects eleven million people in the United States alone and 300 million people worldwide. It ruins lives, careers, families, and love of life. We often think of pharmaceutical treatments at the best way to treat depression, but the truth is that they don't work for everyone or they lose their efficacy for a third to half of all people with clinical depression. But help is on the way in the form of three alternative treatments coming to the forefront: electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), ketamine, and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Curing people of depression is Dr. Michael Henry's life's work. As one of the foremost doctors in ECT, Dr. Henry sets out to show listeners that these three treatments, which are fraught with stereotypes and mystery, are actually miraculous—and proven to be so. Often, they can serve as a "brain reboot" to get trusted medications to start working again. While these are not treatments you can do yourself—nor are they always easy to obtain—Dr. Henry sheds light where is little, offers sufferers options, and looks to the future of depression treatment.

Brain Reboot provides a balanced, evidence‑based humanized guide to these three treatments. It also focuses on the practical steps people need to take to get these treatments, as well as how family and friends can support someone undergoing treatment, and discusses emerging technology that is complementary to treatment.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Michael Henry, MD (P)2022 Hachette Go

An important book (I’m a patient of the author)

First (real quick) I consider myself a connoisseur of audiobook narration, and I’m so glad a talented reader gave this volume the narration it deserved.

I’ll say up front that I entered into the reading of Brain Reboot with strong, favorable biases, as I have been a grateful patient of the author, Dr. Michael Henry, for the past 8 years. Still, I believe I’m in a great position to review this book (I’ve suffered from treatment-resistant depression) just as Dr. Henry was in a great position to write it. I’ll dig into both of those claims a little more at the end.

Brain Reboot would be good read for anyone whose life is touched by depression, but it will be especially valuable to those for whom first-line treatments like SSRIs and SNRIs aren’t working (or aren’t working well enough) and are considering the other promising treatment options that the author discusses in this book like ketamine, TMS, and ECT. And since reading anything can be can be difficult or impossible when one is depressed, I’d argue Brain Reboot is also an invaluable read for those good souls who are acting as close supports and advocates for those suffering from treatment-resistant depression (spouses, parents, therapists, etc.).

Brain Reboot offers hope in the form of accessible, actionable knowledge. The prose is both warm and crystal clear, which makes this a smooth read (I’m a writer, so I’d like to think I have an eye for this). I’ve read many books on depression and treatments for depression, but even for me there was plenty of history and science I hadn’t encountered before and enjoyed learning about. Dr. Henry takes great care to explain how these different treatments work and why they work so differently than first-line treatments like SSRIs. He also dispels myths and misperceptions about the treatments that might otherwise make patients reluctant to consider them, and he discusses the next steps you should take if you’re interested in trying them.

Besides the three main treatments discussed, there’s also a chapter on treatments which are still in an early developmental phase but do hold promise and may become available/improved in the near future. These include hallucinogenic treatments (e.g. psilocybin) and techniques like deep brain stimulation (DBS). There’s also a chapter on the importance of maintaining (to the extent one can while depressed) healthy sleep, diet, and exercise habits.

I’ve already recommended Brain Reboot to friends and family, some of whom are mental health therapists, because I firmly believe this book can provide help and hope to those who suffer from treatment-resistant depression as well as the people invested in their care.

Some context on me (the reviewer): I’m 43 years old and have been managing depression my entire adult life—and for many years, psychotherapy and the SNRI Effexor (venlafaxine) did in fact keep the depression quite “manageable.” But starting around age 33 I entered a new depth of depression I’d never experienced before. I tried different med combinations, but none of them worked and I got worse. I even tried TMS and ketamine with no response (though I maintain these are excellent, research-supported treatment options that any fellow sufferer should consider!). By the time I tried ECT, I had a plan for committing suicide if the treatment didn’t work. Thankfully, it did work, at least somewhat, bringing me back to a state of partial remission that allowed me to function. Still, for the past nine years, even at my best, I continued to struggle with crushing anhedonia, such that motivation and joy were almost always weak and fleeting, and I had to force or drag myself to do almost everything. But recently (and I mean like three months ago) I began taking the newly available treatment of dextromethorphan-plus-bupropion and have been experiencing periods of full remission for the first time in nearly a decade (Dr. Henry discusses this new drug combo briefly in the final chapter).

My point in sharing all this? Even if you’ve been trying different treatments for years and years without success, finding eventual relief from your depression is still possible. There are a lot of options out there, and there are more coming. Allow Brain Reboot to give you that hope.

Some context on the author (because I think it’s highly relevant): Michael Henry is precisely the person to write this book (and I’m so glad he did). He possesses that high-level perspective that comes from overseeing the Bipolar Clinic and the ECT Clinic at a nationally recognized hospital, as well as the ground-level perspective that comes from treating (I imagine) hundreds of depressed patients over his career. Moreover, I have met and been treated by other intellectually and professionally accomplished psychiatrists, but none of them possesses Dr. Henry’s compassion and thoughtful patience. Despite his many other demanding responsibilities, I never feel rushed in our sessions. He really listens when I try to explain how I’m feeling and how a particular treatment is working (or not working), and he always takes ample time to consider the best possible “next step” for someone with my unique patient profile. The journey toward finding a treatment that brought me full remission was long and arduous, but I never doubted I was in the best possible hands. Should you decide to read this book, you’ll be in good hands too, I promise you.

Godspeed.