She Cured Her Depression in 5 Days with SAINT?

Thing 1 - She Cured Her Depression in 5 Days?

Kate couldn't even get out of bed to pee. That's when she knew it was going to be a bad day.

For years, the Blueprint co-founder had been trapped in what she calls "the numbness" - a depression so subtle that even her closest friends didn't notice. She could still work, still socialize, still act like everything was fine. But inside? She was drowning.

Then she tried something called the SAINT Protocol and everything changed in just 5 days.

What the Hell is the SAINT Protocol?

SAINT stands for Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy. It's basically TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) on steroids:

• 79% success rate (compared to ~50% for traditional antidepressants)
• 5 days instead of months of treatment
• No drugs, no surgery, no side effects

It costs $30,000 out of pocket tho and insurance won't touch it.

How They Rewire Your Brain

First, they MRI your brain to map the exact spots where depression has turned off the lights. Then they strap a magnetic coil to your head and fire 60 magnetic pulses every session. Kate described it as "electricity mixed with tapping" while parts of her face twitched.

The magnets are jump-starting dormant brain regions back to life. Think jumper cables for your ability to feel human emotions.

Kate's Wild 5-Day Journey

Day 1: "I don't think it's going to work." Pure skepticism mixed with desperate hope.

Day 2: Exhausted and nauseous. "By session 50 I'll be toast."

Day 3: The doubt spiral. What if I'm not actually depressed? What if this doesn't work?

Day 4: Friends surprise her with a visit. Something shifts.

Day 5: "I felt amazing - like night and day difference."

The most mind-blowing part? Kate realized she'd been so good at performing normalcy that she'd gaslit herself into thinking she wasn't actually depressed.

The Before and After is Stunning

Post-treatment Kate:

• Stopped self-sabotaging with late-night junk food binges
• Her text messages changed so much that friends noticed
• Could feel when depression tried to creep back in
• Looking at old footage: "I looked duller" before treatment

The weight she'd been carrying for 4 years was GONE.

The Brutal Reality Check

Here's the infuriating part: most people getting TMS are at their "last resort" after trying everything else. Meanwhile, 1 in 3 Americans struggle with depression, but only 35% seek treatment due to shame and stigma.

Kate was lucky enough to access a $30K treatment that most people will never even hear about. That's our broken system.

Why This Matters

Kate's story proves that depression isn't a character flaw or life sentence. It's a medical condition that can be treated with precision. The SAINT Protocol is expanding what's possible, with hope that insurance will eventually catch up to the science.

Her advice? "Get through the denial phase as quickly as possible." Sometimes the people around you can see what you can't.

Thing 2 - AI of the week

It was a BIG week for AI.

• Google launched Veo 3

• Google also launched Imagen 4, their best image model so far, and it's available for free in the Gemini App
• Also, in line with their visual models, Flow is Google's new AI video editor

Google announced and released a bunch of other AI powered things, but I wanna show you what others this week as well.

• Mistral released Devstral - state-of-the-art open model designed for coding agents.
• xAI released Live Search in the API - Grok can now search through realtime data from X, the internet, etc.
• Mistral also released Document AI - an end-to-end document processing solution.
• Anthropic released Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4. Opus 4 being the world's best coding model

• OpenAI updated Operator to use o3, their latest reasoning model

Thing 3 - Strategy for investing in yourself

Invest in healthier habits until you become a high-energy person
Then, invest your energy in your financial freedom
Then, invest your financial freedom in sharpening your unique talents
Then, invest your unique talents in being useful to others
That’s when life gets truly fun

- Orange Book

What stage are you at?

Cheers, Zvonimir