Mask that forces you to smile to help treat depression
A MASK that stimulates facial muscles to form a smile may be a new way to treat depression.
The device works on the basis of the so- called facial feedback hypothesis — the idea that facial movements and expressions influence our emotions.
In this case, the theory is that smiling will help lift mood in patients with depression.
In an early study at Toronto University, Canada, using electrodes to stimulate facial muscles involved in smiling, more than half of the ten patients in the trial went into remission. Now a larger trial is under way using a mask-like device that stimulates both sides of the face.
One main treatment for depression is talking therapy, which helps a patient change the way they think and behave.
But NHS waiting lists are often long. Antidepressants are also widely prescribed; potential sideeffects include nausea and appetite loss, reduced libido and withdrawal problems. They also do not work for some.
THE muscle- stimulating approach harnesses a new understanding about a link between mood and facial expressions, that this is not a one-way process — i.e. that we smile when we’re happy and frown when sad. It seems the physical act of smiling can also make us happier and frowning makes us sadder.
Research recently published in the journal Toxins showed that people who had injections of botulinum toxin (i.e. Botox) into their foreheads to stop them frowning, had a significant improvement in their depression symptoms.
In the new study, mild electrical current is being used to achieve this effect — before they have the treatment, known as bilateral functional electrical stimulation, patients with depression will have a personalised 3D-printed mask made to fit their face.
The use- at- home mask is designed to touch key areas of the face over the nerves and muscles involved in smiling. It is activated by an adjustable handheld stimulator — this sends a mild electrical current into the orbicularis oculi muscle, which raises the cheeks, and the zygomaticus major, which pulls up the corners of the lips.
In the proof-of-concept trial at St Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, 20 patients will use the mask or a placebo device (which produces no stimulation) in 20 sessions each lasting 45 minutes, over a four-week period.
Doctors will then assess the device’s impact on the participants’ symptoms of depression, anxiety and quality of life. Commenting
on the approach, Carmine Pariante, a professor of psychiatry at King’s College London, said: ‘ We know that smiling makes us happier, but it needs to be a voluntary action rather than just stretching the mouth muscles artificially.
‘It will be interesting to see the result of this study that creates spontaneous smiles but without the associated emotions, at least initially.’
■ MEANWHILE, people who experience migraine are 2.5 times more likely to have depression, according to a study published in the journal Biomolecules.
The researchers, from Universidad Miguel Hernandez in Spain, said this suggests migraine and depression share common causes, and that one possible link is the brain chemical serotonin, which is involved in mood. It has previously been suggested that altered, or low, levels of serotonin may be triggers for migraine.