Drug-free NHS depression treatment hailed as 'turning point' by patients

Patients using a drug free depression treatment have said that using it was a “turning point” in their life. In a first for the NHS, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) offered Flow depression treatment via its crisis service - which supports NHS patients at immediate risk of harming themselves or who are unable to cope with day-to-day life due to an acute mental health issue.

The Flow device is a non-invasive headset that delivers a weak electrical current via electrodes placed on the forehead. It targets the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex which is the part of the brain that helps regulate mood, focus, and can even impact sleep and appetite.

Among those to use the Flow treatment is Leicestershire's Jason Everit. Speaking ahead of today's (Tuesday, September 10) Suicide Prevention Day, he said had been on medication “for years”, but following his use of Flow he became “better”.

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He said: “I’ve had medication for years but then I went through a stage, where I was still trying to end my life, and that’s not nice. I’m a grandad, I have got two gorgeous daughters, a great grandson - I don’t want to end my life, I’ve got a great life.

“I wasn’t like this when I was just on medication, I put the Flow in the middle and I’m better, I don’t want to go and end my life now.“

Mark Taylor, another patient from the county who was offered the flow treatment, described “how physical” his depression was. “I guess a surprise to me when I first got mental health problems was how physical the symptoms were. Those symptoms could be very distressing," he said.

“I remember waking up one morning and getting about half way through the day, thinking I haven’t had any of those symptoms today. It was the first day I hadn’t had those symptoms in quite a long time, so I thought this is working.

“This is obviously doing some good here. I was very grateful for this crisis centre, particularly because they offered more of a range of treatments and the fact that they offered me this flow device which seems to be quite cutting edge and quite expensive. I felt really grateful for that, because that did seem to be a bit of a turning point for my life.”

Jason Everit pictured looking away from the camera
Jason Everit said that the Flow treatment meant that he no longer wanted to end his life -Credit:Supplied

UK-wide NHS data shows that the demand for mental health crisis services has doubled since 2017 and increased by around one-third since before the pandemic. Over 90,000 people are referred to community crisis services monthly, and 200,000 people call the NHS 24/7 crisis line each month.

Speaking to LeicestershireLive, Dr Mark McConnochie, clinical director for Urgent Care Services at LPT and joint lead of the Flow trial, said: “Flow has been an amazing tool to safely and effectively help patients with depression to recover faster.

"The feedback from our patients and staff has been overwhelmingly positive, and the results from this trial are making a real difference to the lives of the people of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. If we look at our best antidepressants, Duloxetine has a 26 per cent to a 28 per cent chance of remission in 10 weeks and the Flow on its own is at 58 per cent of remission in the same time frame."

Dr McConnochie said Flow gave clinicians a "different opportunity" to treat people, with the system able to be adjusted from his computer. He said: "I can look and see their response to the treatment on the app, that lets me check their mood, their sleep, how they feel about the future and if someone wasn’t responding particularly well.

“We can make things much more specific to those involved, they can have that literally there and then. There are no serious side effects on this flow, potentially a bit of skin irritation where the pads are.”

The use of antidepressants can lead to common side-effects, such as diarrhoea, feeling sick or vomiting and the loss of appetite. Despite this, Dr McConnochie said that antidepressants “absolutely still play a big role” in the treatment of depression, but that Flow “gives us an option for people who do not want them.”

Dr McConnochie, who has tried the Flow treatment himself, said: “I had a couple of minutes where it felt a bit like an insect stinging or a nettle. It's usually there more in the first treatment because it's a novel sensation. It usually doesn’t last very long.”

Flow is used for 30 minutes at a time, five times a week, for the first stage of three weeks and two or three times a week for as long as patients need the device after that. 81 patients were offered the treatment as well as NHS staff struggling with their mental health as part a Quality Improvement Project. The results so far have been "amazing" according to Dr McConnochie.

He said: "They have just been so beneficial to our patients. We are looking to expand to more areas within the [LPT]. We are looking at the eating disorder team, we are looking whether we can offer it up to NHS staff to treat depression for them.”

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