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portable mini-ECT device

brain's stuck? zap it
  (+6, -3)
(+6, -3)
  [vote for,
against]

Ever had the feeling that the idea you need is right there, but you just can't get it right in your head? or, when you have thought about something for so long, that your brain is 'locked up'?

just apply the electro plates from the portable charging unit to your temples, and experience a mini-ECT, not so much as to make you forget who you are, but just enough to clear your brain and get those new ideas flowing.

consider it like taking a feather duster to your brain.

williamsmatt, Oct 06 2008

Wikipedia: Electroconvulsive therapy http://en.wikipedia...oconvulsive_therapy
[jutta, Oct 06 2008]

How Aspirin Works http://en.wikipedia...Mechanism_of_action
Okay, not completely, but still. [MechE, Mar 17 2014]

[link]






       [+]... can we integrate this into a tinfoil hat ?
FlyingToaster, Oct 06 2008
  

       SO CTRL-ALT-DEL for the brain? Hmmm, you try it and tell me how it goes. It is interesting so (+).
MisterQED, Oct 06 2008
  

       The usual way to restart the brain is sleep, but who has time for that these days. The ECT seems to be used against depression according to the wikipedia article. Shot of whiskey or sex instead?   

       Maybe a couple of vending machine booths at a downtown train or bus station and an attendant to be sure you don't drown in the blood from biting your tongue. +
popbottle, Mar 14 2014
  

       Ha ha ha. Jokes about mental illness are always funny. The best jokes combine things that you don't understand with things that other people suffer from.
WcW, Mar 14 2014
  

       I thought magnetic fields were all the rage.
wjt, Mar 17 2014
  

       //Shot of whiskey   

       Holds out glass and waits..   

       ECT is rubbish, based on piss-poor research. To paraphrase Johannes Cabal "Studied psychology? No, I am scientist".
not_morrison_rm, Mar 17 2014
  

       Nobody knows how it works. However, for the treatment of drug-resistant depression, it has been shown to be effective and, when done properly, safer than leaving it untreated.
MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 17 2014
  

       If somebody feels they need shock therapy I suggest getting a good exorcist first and seeing if that does the trick.   

       Rebooting the brain seems like a really really bad idea.
doctorremulac3, Mar 17 2014
  

       //If somebody feels they need shock therapy I suggest getting a good exorcist first and seeing if that does the trick. // You speak from experience?
MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 17 2014
  

       We don't know how the grey matter works, back in the past exorcist, now called ECT technician, maybe a difference,,,
not_morrison_rm, Mar 17 2014
  

       I agree we don't know how ECT works. We don't know how anaesthetics work either. Nor aspirin.   

       However, there is some data to show that ECT, anaesthetics and aspirin work in the relevant situations.   

       I am sure that exorcism worked too in some cases. If case studies show that it works in cases where, say, CBT or antidepressants don't, then bring it on.
MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 17 2014
  

       Exorcism works great. So does reading tea leaves, phrenology and aural analysis. Does it benefit the patient? That's another matter entirely.   

       Problem with a placebo cure that supports the diagnosis that a demon is living in the patient is that you're re-enforcing the possibility of reoccurrence. After all, demons are real so what's to keep this from happening again? Unless you're paying for "the works" which includes a 90 day demon free warranty. In which case you're in good shape.
doctorremulac3, Mar 17 2014
  

       //Does it benefit the patient? That's another matter entirely. //   

       If you're talking about ECT, at least as used fairly recently and in the context of drug-resistant depression, then often it does. Of course, that's only the patients' opinions.   

       I'm not particularly pro or anti ECT, but it does annoy me when people who know nothing about it (and I don't claim to know a lot) make ill-informed comments on the basis of having watched "One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest".
MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 17 2014
  

       //If you're talking about ECT//   

       I'd moved on to critiquing the clinical benefits of exorcism, but since I compared the two I guess I should clarify.   

       Shock therapy might be great, but if a pre ECT exorcism clears up the problem then maybe the shock therapy was a bad idea in the first place. And yes, that could probably be said for any medical procedure. Still, seems pretty barbaric.
doctorremulac3, Mar 17 2014
  

       //Still, seems pretty barbaric.// Yes. But it's a kitten compared to what clinical depression can do with you.
MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 17 2014
  

       Maybe, but depression can sometimes get a bad rap. Depression can be an important tool to get you off your ass and doing something useful. If I find myself living in a cave eating rats, I don't want to be un-depressed. I want that depression to kick in and make me do something to better myself. Like moving up to eating squirrels.   

       I'm not saying there isn't a need for costly happy drugs endorsed by 9 out of 10 doctors, but depression is natural and when evaluating something that happens naturally, we might want to ask if it's serving some purpose. Bubonic plague just kills people so it's not particularly useful, but bad feelings can serve a purpose.   

       Sometimes.
doctorremulac3, Mar 17 2014
  

       No comment.
MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 17 2014
  

       Just sayin'. Discontentment is the poor man's ambition. There may be times where a person needs all the help modern medicine can give them, but there are probably other times when someone could benefit from being told to pull it together and stop being such a pussy. I'm not qualified to make that distinction, but that doesn't mean that distinction shouldn't be made.
doctorremulac3, Mar 17 2014
  

       I heard a pretty smart media personality (there are a couple out there) saying he strives for satisfaction not happiness. Satisfaction is something you can control that feels good while striving for happiness might lead you to just do whatever makes you happy. That's fine unless you find that getting drunk all the time makes you happy, taking drugs makes you happy or otherwise engaging in bad behaviors makes you happy. His co-host, an MD specializing in addiction medicine pointed out that heroin addicts getting their fix are some of the happiest people on earth.   

       Anyway, interesting subject.
doctorremulac3, Mar 18 2014
  

       //I agree we don't know how ECT works   

       I'm more interested in why people thinks it works. I just got bored of the long march of (pseudo) science called psychiatry...as it stumbles like a one-legged lobotomy patient from one quack treatment* to another.   

       For example, lobotomy..why did that go out of fashion? How long is it going to be before ECT goes the same way?   

       Forgive my poor analogy, but in the fields of science, physics and chemistry are like Ferraris and Porsches, psychiatry is like something that came out of British Leyland in the 1970's on a Friday afternoon.   

       * Apologies to any ducks reading this.
not_morrison_rm, Mar 18 2014
  

       There's certainly a lot to criticize about modern psychiatry. The idea that children should be drugged is one pretty horrible concept that I think history will not reflect upon kindly. "Feeling bad? Pop a pill!" Is something that has been predicted in countless dystopian science fiction stories about the future and that's certainly come true.   

       If you're hearing voices, you need medication. If you occasionally feel sad, congratulations, you're a human being.   

       Or condolences as the case may be. Maybe both eh?
doctorremulac3, Mar 18 2014
  

       There is a difference between "occasionally feeling sad" and clinical depression. I'm not saying the borderlands aren't heavily over-prescribed, but when you are so depressed that you can't be bothered to leave the house or maintain normal human relationships, something is wrong.
MechE, Mar 18 2014
  

       //you can't be bothered to leave the house or maintain normal human relationships,   

       Sort of did that for a year, didn't really bother me, I had the internet to play with. Longest conversation was usually "no sugar, please".
not_morrison_rm, Mar 18 2014
  

       I looked up what "clinical" means when attached to the word "depression" and found some interesting stuff.   

       "Clinical" just means "major" as marked by an inability to function normally, presumably suggesting you should go to a clinic. The interesting thing I read was that most people experience this at least once in their lifetime and it becomes a medical issue when it's re-occuring.   

       That's what leads me to believe it might be something that nature has included in the human condition for a reason. Maybe, in some cases, it's meant to trigger something in the person, a drive or longing for change. If that's the case obliterating these feelings with drugs might be counterproductive. In some cases, maybe not, but I find it hard to believe that drugs are always the answer.   

       Maybe it should be looked at differently as a right of passage or something. Maybe it's not ALWAYS a disease. Maybe calling it an illness makes people feel even worse about it like they're inferior or something, about the worst thing you can tell somebody who already feels bad.   

       Eh, just a thought.
doctorremulac3, Mar 18 2014
  

       //Sort of did that for a year, didn't really bother me//   

       In my youth I withdrew into music for a time and later made a good living with what I learned. If I had been happy-mc-douchbag I never would have had the opportunity to play the music I wrote in a stadium full of people, I would have just been another happy idiot. I wrote about my experiences and some people liked what I had to say, that was really satisfying to me. I'm glad I lived through that. It made me feel human.   

       Who knows, maybe it's nature's way of testing us.
doctorremulac3, Mar 18 2014
  

       //it's meant to trigger something in the person, a drive or longing for change//   

       The problem is that real, serious depression doesn't do this. It's not unhappiness with your current life, it's an unhappiness with everything. It doesn't persuade you to make changes because you're convinced they don't do any good.   

       IANAPsych, but it sounds like you may have been depressed, but not severely. They fact that you were still enjoying something (music) suggests that.   

       And yes, there is some evidence that the mechanism might have provided an evolutionary advantage, one suggestion I've seen is that it helps prevent severe cabin fever from being a problem in cold climates. That doesn't mean the mechanism itself is still useful, or that it can't get out of whack to the point of causing problems.
MechE, Mar 18 2014
  

       //real, serious depression doesn't do this. It's not unhappiness with your current life, it's an unhappiness with everything//   

       Well, maybe it's like a fever. It can have it's place but it's a matter of degree. A fever gets too high it can kill you.
doctorremulac3, Mar 18 2014
  
      
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