New treatment for depression

[moosmom]

AMEN Ellie!!!

LH,

Yeah, there are some people who are desperate enough to drink after shave, mouth wash, etc. But I'm with Ellie. If I were to go under the knife, it'll be for a little lipo, not having holes drilled in my head.

[Catty1]

Severe depression and other mental conditions are known to be due to a physical cause - too little of, too much of or an imbalance in brain chemicals.

Some people with severe diabetes have had surgery where islets are put into their liver, and they are cured.

Heart disease often requires surgical intervention, mild or severe.

If surgery is a last resort for any condition, I am all for it.

We're not talking the blues here, or treatable depression - we are talking about a condition severe enough that crippled Guyton her whole life. In Canada, Parkinson's patients under the age of 65 can have a surgical implant to greatly alleviate their symptoms. That's a brain chemical lack - dopamine - that produces obvious physical symptoms. I guess that makes it a "real" disease, unlike the brain chemicals that produce "only" emotional symptoms.

I'll be glad when surgical treatment for mental conditions is accorded the same respect as surgery for other conditions. As Karen said, there are risks to any surgery. I hope mental health treatments are allowed out of the dark ages soon.

[smokey the elder]

I agree. I think with the new functional MRI and other brain imaging techniques, medicine might finally be able to get a grip on mental illness, its causes, and specific drug targets to treat it. Electrode implants have been used now for several indications, but they are a last resort as they are in fact brain surgery!

On the "abuse" angle, a book came out almost 40 years ago called The Terminal Man by Michael Crichton: VERY far ahead of its time!

[Miss Z]

I find this area of research very interesting, particularly as it seems to be so effective. It would appear that side-effects are virtually non-existent, when the surgery is done correctly, due to the purely electrical stimulation of the nervous tissue. That sure beats the often debilitating side-effects of some anti-depressant drugs on the market right now. I hope it brings new life to many people around the world.

As far as back-street surgery goes, that kinda reminded me of 'caveman brain surgery'. Homo sapiens were, apparently, probing around in brains regardless of necessity for thousands of years. I personally don't believe this story will revive the trade.

I know what I'd be more worried about - brain control. There's a video (probably on the 'net, somewhere) made by some optogenetic researchers that depicts a mouse with a chip in its brain. The chip emits blue light on demand via remote control, causing it to run around against its own will. An unnerving thought...