A recent study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research discusses, people who are suffering from depression, when injected with Botox, began to improve.

In a controlled, double-blind, placebo and randomized research study of the effect of Botox on the state of depression, the researchers found that over 1/2 of all the test subjects, who suffered from moderate to extreme depression, showed a considerable improvement of almost 50% from their depressed symptoms. The measurement was based upon the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Scale (MADRS).

The researchers of the study, Eric Finzi, MD, PhD and Norman E. Rosenthal, MD published their findings in the Journal of Psychiatric Research. They had conducted studies on seventy-four depressed patients by injecting them with a single treatment of either Botox or a placebo based substance in-between the eyebrows of the procerus muscles. The results provided conclusive evidence that depressive symptoms of the group receiving the Botox treatment had decreased by forty-seven percent after a six week trial study. This was in comparison to the twenty-one percent who were given a placebo. This is the first study of its kind to show significant changes in the rate of improvement of depressed patients who received Botox.

Dr. Rosenthal, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown Medical School, who co-authored the study commented, “This research is groundbreaking because it offers those who suffer from depression and their doctors an entirely new approach to treating the condition – one that doesn’t conflict with any other treatments.”

The testing showed that Botox may provide improvements to the symptoms of a depressed patient both as a stand-alone treatment and an in addition to other treatments provided to the patient.