Cuckoo’s Nest Therapy Hasn’t Gone Away
Far from it. More than 100,000 electroconvulsive therapy procedures are conducted annually in the United States. And this is only the tip of the iceberg:
Physicians have known for 2,000 years that electricity could help troubled minds — even before they knew what electricity was. Roman Emperor Claudius pressed electric eels to his temples to quell headaches… Now, research is advancing rapidly on a host of far more precise techniques to stimulate or calm the brain with electricity, magnets or even ultrasound and infrared waves…
Some battery-operated brain stimulators are even being marketed for home use, so patients can treat their own depression and insomnia, though some neurologists say the evidence for these devices is thin.
I’m trying to imagine the television ads. “Do-it-yourself shock therapy at cut-rate prices. Cut out the middleman!”
Electric eels as a headache remedy? That’s a new one. I have heard of people using electronic devises that administers continuous electric shocks with voltage so low that it feels like a massager.
I saw a similar procedure that “resets” the auditory nerves in the brain to relieve ringing in the ears, good for up to 3-4 months before the ringing returns.
Kind of scary if you ask me.
Home shock therapy? I’m all for trying home remedies but I would have to draw the line at eletrotherapy for my brain. A man who treats himself for an illness has a fool for a patient.
I’m with Vicki. And with Ken Kesey (who wrote Cookoo’s Nest). There’s something a bit eerie about all this.