How Eskenazi Health combats depression with technology

Indianapolis, Indiana – Eskenazi Health is using technology to support the mental health of Indiana residents.

“The need for accessing and getting good help, mental help is critical,” stated Dr. Adeel Ansari, a psychiatrist at the Sandra Eskenazi Mental Health Center.

The figures are astonishing.

In February 2023, 32.9% of adults in Indiana reported having symptoms of anxiety or depression, compared to 32.3% of adults nationwide, according to data from The Kaiser Family Foundation.

“If we hyperfocus on Indiana, there are about 1.2 million individuals, adults, that are suffering from mental illness at any given point in time, and that is a huge number,” Ansari said.

It is not shameful or embarrassing, he continues, for someone to ask for assistance. “Mental illness is more hidden. It is more cryptic, and that in itself is a very big challenge. The other thing is about the awareness. Whether people can identify they feel down, they feel low, they feel like crying, but they don’t understand that could all just be depression.”

According to him, medication alone may not be sufficient to cure depression in certain people.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, is a non-invasive therapy that Eskenazi Health utilizes to help.

“It’s a very exciting time to be doing TMS and to be offering it as a modality to treat and we’ve had great success in treating our patients already,” Ansari said.

Ansari claims that TMS uses magnetic pulses to alleviate depression.

He said, “It focuses magnetic field and waves specifically in an area of that brain that we believe deals with depression and that is what it targets and how it targets is that it is painless. It is without any major side effects and it is safe.”

It’s a positive development for mental health care, he argues.

“It is amazing, I think, the fact that this machine can do so many things and not just treat major depressive disorder; hopefully, even more.”

The physician adds that it’s critical to discuss individual issues with mental health.