Slashdot Mirror
Happiness Is A Warm Electrode
sufijazz writes "A story by Gregory Mone on the Popular Science website talks about trials to use deep brain stimulation to cure chronic depression. It's a deeper exploration of the 'brain pacemaker' discussed here on the site before, and a practical application of research discussed even earlier. Why the pulses affect mood is still unclear, but scientists believe that they may facilitate chemical communication between brain cells, possibly by forcing ions through nerve fibers called axons. In turn, this may trigger the release of mood-regulating chemicals like serotonin and norepinephrine. Similar trials are being conducted in other places. Exact numbers are hard to ascertain, but it's estimated that fewer than 50 patients in North America are walking around with wires in their brain."
Isn't this basically an electrical frontal lobotomy.
If you have cancer you should do something about your situation (or your perception thereof) rather than having LEDs jammed up your nose.
Sounds ridiculous doesn't it? And yet what you've said is just as ridiculous.
Using openSUSE instead of Windows since 9th of October, 2007 and liking it.
Sounds great but I'll stick to fish oil and exercise and socializing if I'm ever depressed. I think people ignore the root causes of depression too much. (I know that in this universe we can't really dig down to the "root cause" of anything without invoking the big bang and then asking "why?" one more time and finding there is no root at all, but you know what I mean.) I think depression is basically a social disease -- the hallmark of depression, I think, is social dysfunction, mainly a lack of meaningful time spent with others. This is a symptom of course, but it can also be a cause. Everyone knows that: isolation is not good for you. And social isolation has sky-rocketed, especially physical isolation, in the past century. (Just being on the phone or on the net doesn't do as much good as being in person, IMNHO.) Is it a wonder that depression has increased so much, too? (Now, I know our data has big limitations, and that this depression epidemic coincided with the development of "safe" anti-depressants [with a side-effect of suicide, who'd a thunk it?] because depression was actually *sold* to the public, but I do tend to believe that depression has really increased big time in the past century, and in the past 25 years, too.) Another thing that got worse in the past century: our diet. Specifically, the ratio of omega-3 fatty acids to omega-6 fatty acids has swung drastically in favor of omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids "comprise approximately eight percent of the average human brain" (from Omega-3(wikipedia)). So, it seems to me that, as we've gone from something like 1:1 omega-3:omega-6 to 30:1 over the past 100 years, we're really f'ing with our brain. Also, breast milk has DHA (one of the two essential fatty acids in fish oil). Only the pricier infant formulas that have come to market in the past decade have DHA. Infants breast-fed had an IQ almost 10 points higher than those not. It's compelling, if debated. But, the depression studies with fish oil are pretty unequivocal. Also, schizophrenics benefited significantly, particularly those who were not yet being treated with anti-psychotics (but who did have schizophrenia -- so the take away is probably that fish oil [EPA in particular] is good for more "mild" cases of schizophrenia (?) ). Also, exercise is good for depression. Who'd have guessed it? It's really good for depression. Also also, spending time with other human beings, in person, is negatively correlated with depression. Amazing! By the way, since Diane has such a virulent "strain" of depression, I wondered if they ever tried the dreaded and "addictive" opiates for her disease. You know, we can't be giving people morphine willy-nilly, sure, it's been used for longer than any other drug in human history, but it's ADDICTIVE. That's right, once you start, you have to take it everyday. ADDICTIVE=take your medicine everyday. Oh, the bane of my existence, taking another pill in addition to my Centrum. But, didn't the doctors say that patients with major depression should expect to take medication for the rest of their life? Hmmm.... Maybe someone should see if the opiates work for depression... What's that? The few times they've been studied in the recent past they worked much better than the SSRI's, with fewer side effects, more complete recovery from depression, and without making people suicidal? Wow! Imagine that -- the world has turned their back on a drug because, instead of just anti-depressing people, it might make them feel genuinely good. Huh. And, they'd rather shock your brain. Still, they prefer Prozac to all of the above: Physical dependence (aka addiction) + no euphoria + incomplete healing in most patients. Sounds like a winner. This way, they keep coming to the psychiatrist looking for a second drug to finish their depression off. Also, they rarely prescribe amphetamine for depression now. Yet, a child with "ADD" or "ADHD" will have no trouble at all getting a prescription for it. Adults can't get it, probably beca