Hospital launches brain study initiative

Butler Hospital, already a national leader in mental health treatments, wants to help ensure that research continues and even accelerates in the coming years.

On Tuesday the hospital announced a new endowment fundraising effort. The hospital has set an initial goal of $1.2 million to ensure that vital mental health research continues to thrive in Rhode Island.

The research involves vagus nerve stimulation.

“It’s implanted like a pacemaker in your chest with a wire that goes under your skin and delivers pulses of electrical stimulation to a nerve in your neck,“ Dr. Linda Carpenter said.

That stimulation then travels from the vagus nerve to the brain exciting the circuits that regulate depression.

The hospital is reaching out to the community with compelling stories—evidence that research and collaborations work to improve brain health.

The hospital recently introduced a groundbreaking depression treatment called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. It uses an electronic device that beams magnetic pulses through the skull to trigger small electrical changes.

The research at Butler goes beyond mood disorders, to include the latest promising treatments for memory disorders, such as Alzheimer’s Disease.

While mental illness is very common, the research in the field is underfunded. So the hospital is now asking the community to help chip in to help fund a brain science research endowment.

“It will enable us to recruit first rank researchers or to support young researchers who will grow someday into developing new treatments and new understanding of how the brain actually works,“ said Pat Recupero, President of Butler Hospital.

The hospital says it’s almost half way to their $1.2 million goal.

For more information on the initiative to speed the advancement of brain science research Click here