5 ms·

It's effective just like taking a hammer to your computer is when there is a bug in your code. You can't have a bug if you don't have a working computer.

rhombocombus 8y ago
That's a faulty analogy and unsupported by anything outside of popular culture. Nothing in the scientific literature supports this conclusion.
mattkrause 8y ago
Obviously, you're being sarcastic, but.... One of more credible theories about depression is that it occurs when the brain gets stuck in a "bad" state or cycle (like a local minimum or attracting state). If this model is correct, a treatment that nudges brain activity away from the depressed state and towards a less pathological one would help. It's more akin to rebooting the computer than smashing it, if you will.
- Hydraulix989 8y ago
  The other credible theory is that by damaging your brain cells, they can no longer fire in ways that regulate your mood towards depression.
  - mattkrause 8y ago
    Got some references for that? I ask because ECT seems to upregulate trophic factors, rather than downregulating them. Some sort of hippocampal injury does seem like it could explain memory-related side effects, but it apparently doesn't actually happen (e.g., https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/481657 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/...)
    - Hydraulix989 8y ago
      Nature, for one: "ECT damage is easy to find if you look for it" https://www.nature.com/articles/35002188 https://www.nature.com/articles/35002188
      - mattkrause 8y ago
        That’s an unreviewed letter to the editor, not an actual research report. Look, I’m not arguing that ECT is the best thing ever. The side effects are awful for some people, no one understands the mechanism, and so on. However, it sometimes works when other treatments—-which aren’t great either—-fail. Clearly, better therapies are needed all around.

rhombocombus 8y ago

That's a faulty analogy and unsupported by anything outside of popular culture. Nothing in the scientific literature supports this conclusion.

mattkrause 8y ago

Obviously, you're being sarcastic, but.... One of more credible theories about depression is that it occurs when the brain gets stuck in a "bad" state or cycle (like a local minimum or attracting state). If this model is correct, a treatment that nudges brain activity away from the depressed state and towards a less pathological one would help. It's more akin to rebooting the computer than smashing it, if you will.

Hydraulix989 8y ago
The other credible theory is that by damaging your brain cells, they can no longer fire in ways that regulate your mood towards depression.
- mattkrause 8y ago
  Got some references for that? I ask because ECT seems to upregulate trophic factors, rather than downregulating them. Some sort of hippocampal injury does seem like it could explain memory-related side effects, but it apparently doesn't actually happen (e.g., https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/481657 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/...)
  - Hydraulix989 8y ago
    Nature, for one: "ECT damage is easy to find if you look for it" https://www.nature.com/articles/35002188 https://www.nature.com/articles/35002188
    - mattkrause 8y ago
      That’s an unreviewed letter to the editor, not an actual research report. Look, I’m not arguing that ECT is the best thing ever. The side effects are awful for some people, no one understands the mechanism, and so on. However, it sometimes works when other treatments—-which aren’t great either—-fail. Clearly, better therapies are needed all around.