about what happened until now. battery-powered brains. an experimental surgery that can literally change people s minds. it felt fantastic. i didn t care what was doing it. is it a cure for depression? revealing investigations. fascinating characters. stories with impact. this is cnn presents with tonight s hosts, randi kaye and drew griffin. 15 years ago congress knew it had a big problem. its military housing was in a desperate state. 180,000 units around the world built cheap and now falling apart. facing a billion dollar repair bill, congress had a big idea. turning the housing over to private companies and let the free market do its work. but as cnn s debra feyerick reports, for many families living in those homes, that big idea has been a disaster. and the men and women who served to protect us are fighting a losing battle at home. reporter: when these sailors and marines left the u.s. to serve their country, no one imagined many would come home to t
husband. his wife has never spoken about what happened until now. battery powered brains. an experimental surgery that can literally change people s minds. it felt fantastic. i didn t care what was doing it. is it a cure for depression? revealing investigations. fascinating characters. stories with impact. this is cnn presents with tonight s hosts, randi kaye and drew griffin. 15 years ago congress knew it had a big problem. its military housing was in a desperate state. 180,000 units around the world built cheap and now falling apart. facing a billion dollar repair bill, congress had a big idea. turning the housing over to private companies and let the free market do its work. but as cnn s debra feyerick reports, for many families living in those homes, that big idea has been a disaster. and the men and women who served to protect us are fighting a losing battle at home. reporter: when these sailors and marines left the u.s. to serve their country, no o
87 he had suffered from severe depression and was nearly suicidal at one point. as you know, he is not alone. depression affects more than 19 million american adults every year. think about that number. that s more than coronary heart disease, more than cancer. you know, it just makes a lot of people still uncomfortable to simply talk about it. so we decided today to bring the discussion out into the open. you know, in most cases depression is treatable. medication, anti-depressants can be effective. in milder cases cognitive behavioral therapy has been shown to work just as well. unfortunately for many people, though, nothing seems to work. that s why it s sole exciting to hear about this totally new approach. it involves a device like this. it s implant and looks like a pacemaker. you have two wires that come from this and insert directly into the brain. deep brain stimulation. then on the outside a doctor can literally flip a switch. it s a radical approach, for sure, but
disease, more than cancer. it makes a lot of people still uncomfortable to simply talk about it. so we decided to bring the discussion out in the open. in most cases depression is treatable. medication, anti-depressants can be effective. in milder cases, cognitive therapy has been shown to work just as well. unfortunately, for many people, though, nothing seems to work. that is why it s so exciting to hear about this totally different new approach, it involves a device like this. implanted, looks like a pacemaker, you have two wires that come from this and insert in the brain. deep brain stimulation. on the outside, a doctor can late flip the switch. the results can be astonishing. for as long as edie can remember, she could not get the sad thoughts out of her head. my mother used to say to me, smile, edie, why don t you smile? and i would give a something like that, maybe, or just think what is there to smile about? at 19, the first of three suicide attempts. for reaso