The FDA has cleared a brain implant
which seems it can provide instantaneous relief from depression,
and I have some concerns.
A research group from UCSF has been pioneering this procedure,
and it involved mapping of the brain’s electrical activity,
looking for problem areas,
ones that should be more active or should be less active,
and providing a little bit of a jolt.
Since your brain already runs on electricity,
it’s not too far fetched. And the first patient to receive it, yes,
did indeed have instantaneous relief from severe depression.
Now, here’s where my concerns come into play.
Yes, we have been using deep brain stimulation for a long time
to treat a number of different conditions.
But we’re looking at integrative brain chips
that you can use technology with.
With all that interconnectivity you have,
the risk of hacking.
And hacking something that has access to your brain
is quite frightening.
I feel like we’re moving forward with this without enough safeguards.
My other question is
what would it mean to just get rid of depression and mental illness?
This is a portrait of somebody with Angelman Syndrome,
also known as Happy Puppet Syndrome,
which is a disorder that results in people just being happy
and amicable all the time.
Children with this condition are also not able to determine
what person might be dangerous or not.
And if we really do stamp out depression,
what would we lose? Many artists famously had mental illnesses,
like Edward Munch, And VNGO.
Now, these conversations have been around
since the advent of antidepressants,
but we’ve never truly had something
that can instantaneously cure depression
without doing any of the work.
Though I wonder what our future holds if we go down this path.