Mild to moderate forms of depression are often amenable to pharmacological or psychological approaches, but severe depression is a different matter. The successful treatment of very deep depression is something of a Holy Grail for many in the mental health field.
This is why invasive procedures such as Deep Brain Stimulation and now Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) are of such interest. VNS involves implanting a kind of pacemaker into the chest that delivers electrical impulses to the mood centres of the brain every five minutes.
This latest research found that around a quarter of patients experienced a complete remission from their symptoms after extended treatment.
University of TexasArticle on VNS as well as some people's treatment experiences.
The science of creativity
As Pablo Picasso once pointed out, all children are creative; the challenge is to remain creative into adulthood.
Unfortunately public education systems around the world seem designed to crush creativity in favour of rote learning and test passing. As the years pass a fear of being wrong takes over from our natural creative tendencies.
Unlike mathematics, languages or the humanities, we are rarely taught about creativity, despite its importance to our lives. Yet the information is out there, waiting to be used.
If you would like to be more creative at work and at home—and that has to be most of us—the insights in this ebook will be useful.
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