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A Brain Pacemaker for Depression
Ranger writes "Scientists claim to have developed a
pacemaker 'cure' for depression. It may also have applications to controlling tremor's in Parkison' sufferers. This sounds vaguely like Ren & Stimpy's Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy helmet from
Stimpy's Invention."
Anybody?
That's the first thing that popped into my head.
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
(A Tasp is a device that lets one remotely tickle someone else's brain pleasure center. It's illegal, of course, since very often, the victim, after a moment of pure joy, is bound to get depressed and eventually becomes a wirehead, by having a wire to the pleasure center surgically implanted, then getting high on house current [presumably transformed down to a managable voltage/current] and avoiding normal sundry chores like working, washing-up and eventually eating).
Seriously though -- I've seen people with medication-resistant major depressive disorder, and it sucks real bad. Anything that can help these people is worth looking into.
Such a device already exists, and is used by hundreds of thousands of geeks across the globe!
Bored at work. Bored at work. Getting depressed. Getting depressed.
Oh, new story on Slashdot! Yay! Something to do. Happy! Happy!
Ok. Read story. Not so good after all. Bored at work. Bored at work. Getting depressed. Getting depressed.
Oh, new story on Slashdot! Yay! Something to do. Happy! Happy!
94% of Repubs and 21% of Dems voted to renew the Patriot Act
A dupe from almost a year ago.
Hey - the basic catechism of life in America is that you have the right to pursue happiness. This implies that you cannot ever achieve it because then you would lose the ability to pursue it.
So this helmet has to go.
Possibly a better track is the TMS - Transcranial Magnetic Ultrasound. This is non-invasive and uses magnetic and electrical principles to achieve the neurogenesis seen in ECT which is the best treatment for certain types of depression. It's cheaper and quicker and has none of the risks of ECT which are primarily those associated with a general anaesthesia.
So VNS will lead down a path of the cingulotomies of the past with a GA to implant and complications of that. GA causes enough of the ECT problems like memory loss and disorientation. It will however make procedural money and insurance companies love procedures. Vagal Nerve Stimulation is more invasive and drastic than ECT. The article quotes one of them saying the opposite.
TMS is non-invasive, carries none of the related side-effects of General Anaesthetic (used in ECT and Vagal Nerve Stimulation). It is misleading in this article to suppose that ECT is more "drastic". VNS = corporate money + risk of neurosurgery. TMS = better results for patient with less side effects.
Surgical intervention such as anterior cingulotomy have only been found succesful in very rare cases.
Acting stupid isn't much fun when there's someone around who knows better
This reminds me a little bit of an article I read a little while back on a spinal cord stimulation device which has been dubbed the "Orgasmatron."
Article link
Snippet:
While Dr. Stuart Meloy was working on a new device to treat chronic pain, he was surprised to discover it could also bring pleasure to his female patients.
While Meloy, an anesthesiologist and pain specialist in Winston-Salem, was putting an electrode into the spine of a female patient with chronic back pain, the woman reported a decrease in her pain and a delightful, but very unexpected, side effect.
"When we turned on the power in this case, she let out a moan and began hyperventilating," Meloy said on ABC News' Good Morning America. "Of course we cut the power and I looked around the drapes and asked her what was going on. Once she caught her breath, she said 'you're gonna have to teach my husband how to do that!' "
Meloy soon realized he may have discovered a device that could help thousands of women who have trouble achieving orgasm.
"The device is the use of a pre-existing device called a spinal cord stimulator," he said. "Instead of treating chronic pain with the stimulator, we're treating orgasmic dysfunction," Meloy said.
In a surgical procedure done in his office, Meloy implants the electrodes from this device into the back of the patient, at the bottom part of the spinal cord. When the electrodes are stimulated with a remote control, the brain interprets the signal as an orgasm, he said. The device is about the size of a pacemaker and can be turned on and off with a handheld remote control.
What else will this do, other then 'cure' depression?
Replying to my own post is bad but TMS is Transcranial Magentic Stimulation. I was thinking of something else at the time and put Ultrasound in instead. Sorry!
Acting stupid isn't much fun when there's someone around who knows better
Do you have any links to information about TMS? It sounds like interesting stuff.
This so reminds me of the "Happy Brian Probe Thingy" from Invader Zim..
NOOODDDLLEEEE...., NOOODDDLLEEEE...., NOOODDDLLEEEE....,
GIVE ME THE PIGGY..., PIGGY FOR SCIENCE"......
http://www.thescarymonkeyshow.com/encyclopedias/bhttp://www.thescarymonkeyshow.com/encyclopedias/b
From the "GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff" & "Zim Eats Waffles" shows...,
Quick get your tin foil hats on! The government is going to implant neural RFID tags into our brains and turn us into "1984" thought-pigeon zombies!!!
While there are certainly people who are clearly depressed, most people I know who are on anti-depressants are perfectly normal. They mistake the occasional lack of motivation or bad day for depression, and it seems doctors love to write prescriptions for antidepressants with little or no questioning if they are needed (kickbacks?). My frame of comparison for "normal" is a person I know who is truly bipolar (it's unmistakable, and medication is necessary).
-- Microsoft is the most expensive commodity operating system and office suite vendor in the marketplace.
We've been making the world "less shitty" for centuries with every advance; improved medicine, housing, communications, and education. If people of 100 years ago had peered into the future and seen our world, they'd be amazed at the lengths we've traveled.
And yet we're more miserable than ever.
It's as if all of the things we go to buy at Circuit City to fill our empty holes are only making them deeper.
There is a possibility, however: perhaps it's that, with each advance, our imagination travels more and we're dissapointed with what we have. The people of the 1950's thought we'd all be flying across the world in Mach 3 airliners, and the people in the sixties and seventies thought we'd have colonized other planets by now.
So...are we spoiled? Is that it? Or is it that we're looking to the wrong things for happiness? I could make the argument that in these days of Hollywood, everyone thinks they should be rich and famous, and not everyone can be a star.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
My grandfather just had this done as a treatment for Parkinsons. He can no longer write nor drink out of a cup without a straw because of the trembling.
He had to have three surgeries total. Two were to implant the brain stimulators. One week they drilled the left side, the next week they drilled the right side. The third week they implanted the "pace maker / battery pack" into his back.
He has not yet had the device activated. The doctors make him wait about a month for the injuries from the surgeries to heal. They do test the implants immediately after the drilling and implants. In case you did not notice from the article it is a "Local' anethesia, which for those of you out there not paying attention, means they drill into your head while you are awake.
That part sucks big time, but it is needed because they count on feed-back from the patient to make sure the electrodes are placed properly within the brain.
Anyway, he has not yet had the device turned on for every day use. His healing period was delayed when he got pnuemonia. He is getting anxious to have the device activated. He said the other people who have had this procedure have greatly improved, almost immediately.
How it works for depression I don't know, but it is already being used for Parkinsons.
-MS2k
This reminds me of the book Michael Crichton wrote in the late 60's/early 70's titled "The Terminal Man".
The book tells a (fictional) tale of a man who has terrible seizures, transforming him from a weenie into a psychopathic destructive asshole. To cure his seizures a bunch of doctors surgically attach electrodes and a power pack to the pleasure centres in his brain, and when he is about to flip out, this device zaps him and he goes back to normal.
Of course like most Michael Crichton books things don't go as planned and... well, i've already said too much. If this subject interests you i recommend reading the terminal man by Michael Crichton. It not only tells a good story, but it deals with philosophy of electrical brain stimulation and other groovy concepts.
sorry
This place was discovered by John Perry and Beverly Whipple and named after Ernst Gräfenberg.
Sincerely,
Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
"Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
I used to get depressed.... then I took a tough step to ruthlessly go over every aspect of my life & thought that touched me emotionally - and have had to get *really* honest with myself as well. The result: I'm much more functional today than I ever was because I came to understand the nature of where my depression came from and DEAL WITH IT HEAD ON. So many depressives I've met all have characteristic personality traits that indicate to me that they are in avoidance of being aware of certain aspects of themselves. You don't need drugs, people! You need to allow youselves to open up emotionally and challenge yourself. It's a hard road - you have to do it every day - at any instant you feel that internal twang try to pull you aside.
Good luck
.
-shpoffo
I'm reminded more of the Michael Crichton book 'Terminal Man'. A person was wired with a similar device that automatically sent a mild shock into his brain when he was having a psychotic episode (or something like that).
He snapped and went on a murderous rampage, despite the device (or because of it).
This sounds disturbingly similar.
Not that reality will follow fiction.
"...At the end of the day"..."when everyone goes home, you're stuck with yourself." RIP Layne Staley
I have been following this news for several years. For me, and the thousands like me who get no relief from medication I am pleased to see this project moving forward.
-Joe G.
Get off my virtual lawn, you damned virtual kids!
I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.
There is no need to 'implant' such a thing.
Reglar use of CES devices, or a BT6 device
will do the same and more.
20th century medicine is surgery happy...
Sort of a departure from the topic, but hey, no one else seems to care.
My mother had this exact procedure several years ago. It was a fantastic effect, once they turned it on. She went from near-immobile rigidity (she didn't tremble too too much) to free motion over night. It was very nice to see, I can tell you.
She's had it long enough now that her battery is wearing out. Soon, she'll have to go in for surgery to get upgraded. Yay! Mom 3.0!
This things looks like it could be a great step forward for people suffering from Parkinson's. However, I've always been hesistant to these "cures" for depression. With all the factors effecting a person's mood, a simple implant seems a bit too simple. And what would happen if it misfired or something? With all the warning people get for having pacemakers, having one in your brain might be risky. Besides, I would be just a bit uncomfortable with the idea that the reason I'm feeling ok is because of the chip in my head.