A cure for depression using surgery?
By loujac3
@loujac3 (1188)
United States
February 15, 2007 7:14pm CST
I was just reading about a doctor who has discovered a surgery for relieving long term depression. This is only if medicinal and talk therapy fail. Would you be willing to undergo this surgery to cure your long term depression?
Read this article:
www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/magazine/02depression.html?ex=100...-Feb14,2007
It is a really informative article on relief for depression after other attempts do not work.
Tell me what you think and would you consider it?
2 people like this
5 responses
@highflyingxangel (9225)
• United States
17 Feb 07
I'm not sure I could go through with it. It sounds a bit odd to me. It really does. And surgery for depression? Well that just sounds like a strange concept to me. It just seems like something that isn't needed.
2 people like this
@loujac3 (1188)
• United States
17 Feb 07
Have you ever suffered from long term depression? I am talking about dark thoughts and lost hope and sleeping more than being awake and just wanting to avoid people in general. Depression is a very tough illness to live with. It is hard those in the family that you live with. Those of us with deep depression just want to find that even keel in our lives.
1 person likes this
@loujac3 (1188)
• United States
17 Feb 07
I don't mean to sound negative or mean toward you. I understand that it is hard for others to understand that have never gone through this illness. I wish I could put it into better words so that others could understand the seriousness of this illness. A good book on this is "Prozac Nation." An excerpt from that book that explains what we feel daily is, "But me, all I want is that nice even keel. All I want is a life where the extremes are in check, where I am in check. All I want is to live in between."
The author wrote this after being on Prozac for a long period of time. "I will never not be on guard for depression, but the constancy, the obsessive, and totalizing effect of that disease, the sense that life is something happening to other people I am watching through an opaque cloud, is gone. The black wave, for the most part, is gone. On a good day, I don't even think about it anymore."
The first antidepressant I started out on was Prozac. I have been through so many now and I have suffered from depression for as long as I can remember. Some days just don't seem worth it. I pray that they have finally come out with a cure that works! Thank you for your input!
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@Jshean20 (14347)
• Canada
17 Feb 07
I've suffered from depression for 6 years now and I know how frustrating it can be to get rid of it..I don't think it's something that really goes away! I was on medication for 6 years for it and after awhile I noticed that it wasn't working in the same way any more so I've stopped taking them. Talk therapy isn't for me and so I thought that I had run out of options..maybe not though? Medical science and technology has come such a long way and it's good to hear that they have something in the making for curing depression through surgery. It's something that I would consider depending on cost, but I'd also want to see proof that it has worked on other people.
2 people like this
@1983tyler (507)
• United States
16 Feb 07
It sounds a lot like ECT. I know of one person who found relief from his depression with the use of ECT. But I find ECT very frightening.
But the idea of being lifted from the hole of depression is very wonderful. I would be very tempted. The idea of not being depressed - I am 48 and suffer from major depression as long as I can remember - oh, that would be so wonderful.
1 person likes this
@thyst07 (2079)
• United States
16 Feb 07
I can't read the article, because you have to have a NYTimes account to access it. However, I think that the idea of a surgery to cure depression is pretty interesting. I'm not sure how well it would work in a lot of cases, because depression isn't always just a physical problem. But it could still be a major step to help a lot of people. Personally, I think that I would consider it as an option if nothing else worked. I'd be sure I knew of the risks beforehand, though.
1 person likes this
@loujac3 (1188)
• United States
16 Feb 07
I would want to know the risks as well. I saw two interviews on the internet earlier today and both the women went from dark depression to what we would consider normal happy people. They lost that cloud that seems to over take depressed people. I have suffered from depression since I was in grade school and I am now 54. I would be willing to take the chance on this one.
@loujac3 (1188)
• United States
16 Feb 07
The type of depression is known as "refractory" or "treatment resistant", there is no recovery for that type of depression.
The surgery is called Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery. It is a way of delivering electrical stimulation to the sadness centres of the brain.
Try going to http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/archives/05-06/jan21.html
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