Medical Startup To Begin Testing At-Home Brain Zapping Devices (ieee.org) 59
"A doctor's prescription for clinical depression could one day sound like this: In the comfort of your own home, slip on a brain-zapping headband a few times per week," reports IEEE Spectrum. Slashdot reader the_newsbeagle writes:
This isn't old-school brain zapping: It's not electroshock therapy... While "transcranial direct current stimulation" is being investigated as a treatment for all sorts of neuropsychiatric disorders, many researchers and doctors think depression may be the killer app. A South Korean company called Ybrain thinks its consumer-friendly headband for depression will be the product that makes this treatment mainstream...
Ybrain plans to test the device on thousands of depression patients in 70 hospitals in Korea, according to the article, then "use data from all those patients to build a case for approval in Europe...and then in the U.S." The company's founder and CEO believes that after the FDA approves the first brain-zapping device, "it will be seen as a mainstream treatment."
Ybrain plans to test the device on thousands of depression patients in 70 hospitals in Korea, according to the article, then "use data from all those patients to build a case for approval in Europe...and then in the U.S." The company's founder and CEO believes that after the FDA approves the first brain-zapping device, "it will be seen as a mainstream treatment."
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Re: This would be good for anti-Trumpers (Score:1)
It's Muslims. Muslim cows (Mooslims) can stay.
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Aehm, Tumb is the source of bad thoughts, all others just follow his lead?
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To wipe the Trump resistance you need ECT levels - 120VAC 60Hz, paralytics recommended to keep the subject from breaking their own bones due to the convulsions. Effectively relieves persistent depression for several weeks, after which repeat treatments are needed.
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These are small, battery powered devices. There is little that a "hacker" could do to hurt himself that he couldn't do better by sticking his tongue in a light socket.
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These are small, battery powered devices. There is little that a "hacker" could do to hurt himself that he couldn't do better by sticking his tongue in a light socket.
I guess hooking up this device to a standard wall socket is out of the question? Because there's no way someone might want to create a tasp?
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These are small, battery powered devices. There is little that a "hacker" could do to hurt himself that he couldn't do better by sticking his tongue in a light socket.
Um.
So...on one hand, these are supposed to herald a bold new way of treating various disorders because its effects can be so powerful, but on the other hand, you couldn't possibly mess up and cause harm?
I don't think that kind of logic has ever been true, ever, about anything. Either it's inert or it's effective; inert has no upside or downside, while effective means it can be done incorrectly or abused, resulting in harm. Personally, I think the idea of zapping your own brain to alter your neurological f
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I'm in the process of building my own tDCS device right now. [youtube.com] I bought the components last Saturday and built the circuit on Sunday; on Monday I built the electrodes and on Tuesday I started using it (still on the breadboard). The circuit is pretty simple, just a voltage regulator and a few pots and resistors (there are many ways to do it, this approach just happens to use a voltage regulator). There is no way a 9V battery running through this circuit could generate the hundreds of milliamperes necessary to
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Ybrain plans to test the device on thousands of depression patients in 70 hospitals in Korea, according to the article, then "use data from all those patients to build a case for approval in Europe...and then in the U.S.
For a technique that has yet to have any established evidence to show it is useful for depression, this might be seen as optimistic.
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Ybrain plans to test the device on thousands of depression patients in 70 hospitals in Korea, according to the article, then "use data from all those patients to build a case for approval in Europe...and then in the U.S.
For a technique that has yet to have any established evidence to show it is useful for depression, this might be seen as optimistic.
Don't know the details of Ybrain's tech, but doesn't sound that dissimilar from treatments currently available at hospitals, e.g. Re5-NTS, for severe cases.
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Where have I heard statements like this before? Oh, right, history class when we discussed Germany around 1933 and following.
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It is not Godwin if it is actually accurate.
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Saudi Arabia does is a religious dictatorship. The US claims to be the "leader of the free world". There is your difference.
[Discussing how Knight didn't come in to the lab] (Score:4, Funny)
Professor Hathaway: That's a wonderful story, Bodie. I noticed you've stopped stuttering.
Bodie: I've been giving myself shock treatments.
Professor Hathaway: Up the voltage.
This is not new (Score:1)
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Radium Water (Score:2)
Look it up... People used to drink water from ceramic coolers laced with radium, they thought the irradiated water would help improve their health in the 1920s-1940s. People bought glass infused with uranium that would glow faintly at night or under a blacklight.... If it sounds stupid and dangerous... it probably is.
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Except that there is a mounting body of published, peer reviewed science that says this works. Dubious? Try your own advice and look it up.
It's not 100% effective, but it is better than placebo in everything I've read. Which is better than our current arsenal of pills.
Also effective, a single dose of LSD.
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most antidepressants are, in fact, better than placebo. they do work.
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Except the best one (Diazepam aka Valium) is super controlled. You cease to give a shit about anything bad, and enjoy anything good, for quite a few hours. It's a spot solution that can turn a mood around that doesn't require regular dosage. The ones they like to prescribe instead (SSRIs) require regular dosage, have intense withdrawl symptoms, and at higher doses have a troubling mental side effect: you no longer 'love' anyone or anything, and even those who notice this will find they are not troubled b
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Use of benzos over a period of time can lead to rebound anxiety [wikipedia.org], and withdrawal from benzos [wikipedia.org] is not some minor thing. It can lead to seizures and other fairly serious medical problems. SSRIs don't turn you into some kind of psychopath that doesn't give a shit. That sounds like something straight out of "reefer madness".
I took xanax for a couple of years for a severe anxiety condition because I was wary of SSRIs. It helped to some degree, but never anywhere close to completely, and it only lasted a couple of
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SSRIs don't turn you into some kind of psychopath that doesn't give a shit. That sounds like something straight out of "reefer madness".... Please don't perpetuate bullshit about SSRIs that may prevent even more people from being helped by them. They may not work for everyone, but the picture you have painted here about both kinds of drugs is completely absurd.
I didn't say that. People still care about things (work, friends, their own self being). FTR l've found them quite helpful for OCD at a low dose. But I've heard from a few people who take higher dosages that intense feelings of love for their children or s/o simply disappear over time (yes I know plural of anecdote is not data, but you can find internet corroboration). To say they are devoid of side effects that some find undesirable is a bit disingenuous. An artist friend of mine stopped because she t
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Valium is not an antidepressant, it is a sedative and its withdrawal is way worse than SSRI withdrawal since it forms both a physical and a psychological dependence. SSRI does neither, it just somewhat changes the way the brain works. The headaches during withdrawal are unpleasant, but there is no craving for the drug whatsoever.
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Also effective, a single dose of LSD.
I Like this solution for half of the voting US public!
(The other half needs to STOP using LSD!)
obligatory Larry Niven reference (Score:1)
That's one way of putting it. (Score:2)
... many researchers and doctors think depression may be the killer app.
over a million depressed people commit suicide every year, so it's been the "killer app" for quite some time.
Mmmmh (Score:2)
Can it be hacked as a pleasure whip?
*zapp* (Score:2)
Hmmmm, brainzapping *drools* *ZAP* *ouch!* *ZAPouchZAPouchZAPZAPZAP*
Depression will not be the killer app (Score:2)
Depression will be the killer app,
Hardly: Military use, video games, and sex will be the killer apps.
One word: (Score:2)
Ahhh! Now I have Total Recall! (Score:1)
TMS vs TDCS (Score:2)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
TMS uses a magnetic paddle to induce a current a couple centimeters away from the paddle. This allows for electrical stimulation within the skull that does not cross through the skull.
With direct current stimulation the current passes through your scalp and skull.
Why would you want to pass a current through your scalp and skull? It will cause potentially painful scalp twitching. You'll need to use a hig