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Treating Depression With Electrodes Inside the Brain
cowtamer writes "CNN has a writeup on a method of treating depression with implanted electrodes. If this works, we may be seeing a lot more of this type of technology in the future. '[The patients] were lightly sedated when the holes were drilled and the electrodes implanted, but they were awake to describe what they experienced. Several patients reported profound changes just minutes after the stimulator was turned on. One said the room suddenly seemed brighter and colors were more intense. Another described heightened feelings of connectedness and a disappearance of the void.' While I haven't looked into any of the academic literature on this, it seems that yet another Larry Niven Prediction has come true!"
It'll be interesting when people start getting this surgery as a performance enhancing drug.
Though, I worry about the "drive by" hackings.
Quartz Extreme and Core Image. Are there any other real reasons to spend all that money on generic hardware?
A band-aid solution? After that comment, I'll presume that you aren't a depression sufferer of 40 years and multiple failed suicide attempts.
On the one hand, I have long suffered from depression that resists all treatment. Some days, it is literally a fight to want to live just for that day, and the only thing that keeps me from suicide is the knowledge that my friends (the few I have) and family (who have mostly rejected me altogether at this point) would blame themselves. I don't think many people understand just how devastating Depression can be -- it can literally take away everything you value in life. The worst part is the blame: the attitude that, if you just "wanted" to be different, you would be. If this treatment could actually cure my depression, I would have to "go for it".
On the other hand, I remember reading Terminal Man by Michael Chrichton, in which a similar technique was used to treat Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. The subject grew addicted to the stimulation from the computer, and literally turned into a homicidal maniac.
Why depression is a disease? It's a natural state that signals something. Maybe one should find and change the cause of this state of mind. Ah, I forgot, we are all productive, happy robots.
That's great that you have a wonderful job that provides affordable insurance. I can't afford insurance and even if I could, the inseurance available to me won't cover my pre-existing conditions. By the way, I'm a tax payer too.
A band-aid solution? After that comment, I'll presume that you aren't a depression sufferer of 40 years and multiple failed suicide attempts.
Well, let's be honest. It would only take one successful attempt and you wouldn't have 40 years of depression.
As someone afflicted with bipolar disorder, I got a nice chuckle out of that comment. It's true, suicide is very easy if you don't care about having an open casket or being in pain before you pass. I don't think anyone ever actually wants to die though, in my experience it's a means to an end. Going through these turbulent states is literally hellish torture; one resorts to suicide as a way to end that. I'd hazard to guess that I have PTSD just from that torture, and the act of trying to kill yourself is just as traumatizing. Gabbing a shank into your vain so you can bleed out to end the torture is not something most people will ever experience or relate with. I cried for hours because I thought I was never going to see my family or friends again, and the burden I would cause them in the aftermath; the pain was too much to bare though. In retrospect, I'm thankful that the nurse made rounds sooner than expected, because Lithium was able to calm the storm a few days after that. I had not been on Lithium prior to that, I have to say it's a truly remarkable drug... err.. element.
Defining the problem is a first step.
You are correct in your fist posit. It is not race.
It is a subculture matter, and I see no skinheads or Nazis standing around our thread so we can assume its not a race matter.
Hate comes from fear and we can see from the above post that the A.C. fears both gangsta culture and liberal culture.
Who can dispell the fear?
If fear comes from ignorace, enlighten him.
Find his sources, ask for citations to his fears.
Reframe the problem in a more realistic light.
Darkness is dispelled by light.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!