Zap: How Electric Therapy Is Curing Navy SEALs of PTSD … And Could Remake Brain Science

www.defenseone.com ^ | January 20, 2019 | By Patrick Tucker

[BipolarBob]

This is GREAT news.

[mowowie]

I should consider this treatment after 35 years of dealing with 2 out of control messed in the head family members.
Specifically my sister and now unfortunately her 21 yr old daughter.

what a friggin ENDLESS Nightmare..

[petitfour]

A friend of mine had this treatment for debilitating depression. It has worked so far.

[Red Badger]

Kind of a ‘reset button’ for the brain..................

[GOP Poet]

bookmark

[Red Badger]

Don’t know if it would work If it’s genetic........

[married21]

thanks so much for posting this. I know people whom this could benefit and I never would have found this source myself.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Red Badger.

[Red Badger]

That’s why I posted it....................

[Magnum44]

This is GREAT news.

Lets hope so.

Electric shock therapy seems like it would have a bad rap from the Dr Mengele like work that was done 50-75 years ago on mental patients. As a middle schooler back in the 70's, I did one of those science fair experiments where I planted several groups of beans and compared growth. I had a control group and two other groups that received electric charge from a car battery charger across the planter for 5 mins and 10 minutes a day. Being the enthusiastic Frankenstein I was, I hoped for stimulated growth in the two experimental groups. Nope. The more charge, the more stunted the growth.

So I gave up on medicine as a career....

[Moonman62]

I twisted my ankle this morning, and I was in quite a bit of pain… so I went to the doctor, and I asked him to give me some pain pills.

And he didn’t want to do it, but I talked him into it. So he gave me some pills — and I shouldn’t have done this, but I took some about an hour before the show tonight, and right now… I am high… as a KITE! [ audience cheers ]

I mean, it is unbelievable! And I would NEVER say this to you people, but, in this case: if you EVER get a chance, to take these drugs… DO IT! They’re called… [ he glances from side-to-side cautiously ] Placebos! I mean, I’m thinking that right now I have NO idea where I am at all! It is WILD! Placebo!

[tired&retired]

The new electric therapy, even if it is called ECT which used to be “shock treatment” that fried the brain synapses, is now totally different. The new ECT is more like TMS or transcranial magnetic stimulation. It changes the frequencies of the action potential firing rate in specific areas of the brain.

It still doesn’t work because it is a temporary treatment that needs to be repeated. Of the 11 evidence based approved treatment modalities for PTSD, the only one that is permanent is psychotherapy, but it is also the most expensive.

[semaj]

Interesting.

[mowowie]

No it would for me and my mother suffering from PTSD from dealing with this hell for 35 years.

[Red Badger]

Oh, I thought you meant it for THEM!......................[might work for them, too!]...............

[catnipman]

truly amazing ... thanks for posting this ...

[FreedomPoster]

Bfl

[ImpBill]

Personal experience suggests you are correct. Also getting help as early as possible improves the ability to control one’s PTSD. Waiting 25 or 30 years makes it much harder.

[cymbeline]

” It changes the frequencies of the action potential firing rate in specific areas of the brain”

I’ve never seen an explanation of brain and nervous system operation that would satisfy an electrical engineer.

If it’s an analog rather than a digital system then wow! I’d say analog has enormous potential for putting intelligence into machines.

But we’re stuck. The biologists can’t figure out how we work.