The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org
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Could electric shocks while you sleep beat depression?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1319654/Depression-Could-electric-shocks-sleep-help.html
By Pat Hagan
Last updated at 8:26 AM on 12th October 2010
Help at hand: People suffering from depression who tried the treatment
noticed a reduction in their symptoms
A device that emits a mild electric current to nerves in your
forehead while you sleep could prove a major breakthrough in the
treatment of depression.
The mobile phone-sized gadget is wired up to two electrodes that are
stuck to the forehead at bedtime.
Throughout the night, the device then transmits weak electrical
currents through the electrodes and into a nerve running just beneath
the skin above the eyes.
Called the trigeminal nerve, it extends deep into the brain and
experiments show that applying a mild electrical charge can have
powerful healing effects.
The technique of trigeminal nerve stimulation is already used to ease
facial pain in patients affected by neuralgia, a condition where
sudden stabbing pains can strike the nerves in the head and face.
Nerve stimulation is also being tested as a possible treatment for
epilepsy in patients who do not respond to drugs. Initial results
suggest it can halve the number of seizures suffered.
But the latest research, by a team of experts at the University of
California in Los Angeles (UCLA), suggests stimulating nerves in the
forehead could help thousands more people affected by depression.
Millions of Britons suffer from depression and prescriptions of
antidepressants on the NHS have reached record levels.
Depression can strike at any age and the feelings of hopelessness it
triggers can make it difficult for people to hold down jobs or carry
out normal daily activities. It often runs in families and the illness
is normally associated with a chemical imbalance in the brain.
Over the past 20 years, a range of new drugs has emerged to treat the
condition. Most work by adjusting levels of a mood-altering chemical
called serotonin.
These drugs can be effective, but some have been dogged in recent
years by concerns that withdrawing treatment can trigger suicidal
thoughts. Other side-effects include obesity and sexual dysfunction.
Now scientists at UCLA have looked at using a nerve zapper as a
drug-free treatment for depression.
In a pilot study they looked at what happened to a group of depressed
patients who wore the electrodes on their foreheads for eight hours a
night over an eight-week period. Each one placed two electrodes on
their foreheads, one just above each eyebrow, and switched on the
'generator' device to which they were attached.
The current generated is so mild sleep is rarely disturbed.
Shock solution: The treatment involves emitting a mild electric
current to nerves in the forehead
Shock solution: The treatment involves emitting a mild electric
current to nerves in the forehead
But at the end of the experiment, patients reported an average 70 per
cent reduction in their symptoms, including better moods, more
energy, sharper memory and no suicidal thoughts.
Scientists believe the technique works because the trigeminal nerve
provides a direct route to thought-processing centres deep inside the
brain.
The low-level stimulation of these centres with a mild electric
current appears to have a potent effect on mood. Dr Jim Bolton,
consultant psychiatrist at St Helier Hospital in Surrey, said the
device was 'interesting', but stronger evidence is needed to confirm
it works before it can be widely used on patients.
But he added: 'There is some previous work that shows stimulating
certain nerves can have an anti-depressant effect. Nobody knows for
certain how this works, but the best guess is that it is somehow
altering the balance of chemicals that determine mood.'
Tests are ongoing and if these are successful, the device could be
available in the next two to three years.
A former ad man who suffers from depression has devised an online
mood test that could help thousands of others who live with the
condition.
Jon Cousins, 54, developed Moodscope.com after being diagnosed with
bipolar disorder.
Sufferers spend a few minutes each day doing an online test, where
they record how they're feeling by grading 20 moods, ranging from
'active' and 'determined' to 'hostile' and 'nervous', from one to
four.
Users can look back at their moods over time on a graph.
The key to Moodscope's success is its buddy system. By nominating
friends to receive updates of their progress, users can find support
on their bad days.
'It hasn't stopped low moods,' says Cousins. 'But now I have a tool
to manage those moods.'
The Institute of Psychiatry has begun a major research project into
the idea. Psychologist Emese Csipke says: 'There are lots of ways to
monitor moods, but Moodscope's feedback is quite different from
anything else.'
Visit moodscope.com
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WARNING FROM RAEL: For those who don't use their intelligence at its full
capacity, the label "selected by RAEL" on some articles does not mean that I
agree with their content or support it. "Selected by RAEL" means that I believe
it is important for the people of this planet to know about what people think or
do, even when what they think or do is completely stupid and against our
philosophy. When I selected articles in the past about stupid Christian
fundamentalists in America praying for rain, I am sure no Rael-Science reader
was stupid enough to believe that I was supporting praying to change the
weather. So, when I select articles which are in favor of drugs, anti-semitic,
anti-Jewish, racist, revisionist, or inciting hatred against any group or
religion, or any other stupid article, it does not mean that I support them. It
just means that it is important for all human beings to know about them. Common
sense, which is usually very good among our readers, is good enough to
understand that. When, like in the recent articles on drug decriminalization, it
is necessary to make it clearer, I add a comment, which in this case was very
clear: I support decriminalizing all drugs, as it is stupid to throw depressed
and sad people (as only depressed and sad people use drugs) in prison and ruin
their life with a criminal record. That does not mean that there is any change
to the Message which says clearly that we must not use any drug except for
medical purposes. The same applies to the freedom of expression which must be
absolute. That does not mean again of course that I agree with anti-Jews,
antisemites, racists of any kind or anti-Raelians. But by knowing your enemies
or the enemies of your values, you are better equipped to fight them. With love
and respect of course, and with the wonderful sentence of the French philosopher
Voltaire in mind: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death
your right to say it".
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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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