The Bionic Mind: Building Brain Implants To Fight Depression, PTSD

Ten years ago, with little warning, Liss Murphy fell victim to paralyzing depression, a “complete shutdown.”

She was 31, living in Chicago and working in public relations. The morning of Aug. 13, 2004, she had gone in to the office as usual. “It was Tuesday, and I remember the day so clearly,” she says. “The sun — everything — and I walked out — it was about 11 o’clock — and I never went back. The only time I left the house was to see my psychiatrist, who I saw three times a week.

“I have a hard time believing it was depression, in a way, because it was so pervasive and powerful,” she says. “It invaded every aspect of my life. It took so much away from me. And it happened so fast, and it was so degrading — it took everything from me.”

Murphy came home to Boston, and she tried everything — medications, talk therapy, even repeated rounds of electroshock. But she was barely able to get out of bed for months — then years. Her husband and family and top-flight doctors cared for her, but she sank so low she tried twice to commit suicide.

Finally, a psychiatrist told her about a cutting-edge trial to implant stimulation devices deep in the brains of patients with severe depression. She signed up. In June of 2006, she had the operation.