Deluge of Brain-Zapping Mood Research
Universal Studios [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Direct electrical stimulation of lateral orbitofrontal cortex acutely improves mood in individuals with symptoms of depression. Current Biology
Mood variations decoded from multi-site intracranial human brain activity. Nature Biotechnology
An amygdala-hippocampus subnetwork that encodes variation in human mood. Cell
Zaps to a certain spot in the brain may ease depression. Science New
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
Actually, doctors have been using electricity to jolt brains out of depression for decades. Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), commonly referred to as shock treatment was first used in 1938, the year I was born. I had twelve sessions of ECT twenty years later in 1958. Basically, a lubricated electrode is placed on each temple and a current sparked through the frontal lobes setting off a seizure. Scary!
The first of use of direct-brain implants, deep brain stimulation (DBS), was for treatment of Parkson’s Disease, not for mood. The implants are inserted into specific areas of the brain (either the subthalamic nucleus or the globus pallidus interna) that control movement. DBS is also used to control epilepsy. The target area in the brain to control seizures is the anterior nucleus of the thalamus (ANT).
The current mood-brain-zapping involves placing the electrode into an area of the brain that sparks the desired mood. Getting the right placement for the right mood instantly alters that mood. So they have basically been poking inserts all over the brain to find the right spot for the right mood.
Seven Primary-Affect Systems
Now here is what I find quite unbelievable. None of these studies – at least the ones I have researched – cites Jaak Panksepp. He has documented all his research —albeit with rats — and produced detailed maps with target areas for seven primary affects.
- SEEKING or expectancy
- RAGE
- FEAR
- LUST
- CARING
- PANIC/GRIEF
- PLAY
These seven basic emotional systems are the results of years of data-based lab research of functions of deep-brain neural systems. Panksepp summarized this research in “The Archaeology of Mind: Neuroevolutionary Origins of Human Emotions.”
He demonstrated these seven affects are subcortical by injecting, for example, opiates into both subcortical and cortical brain regions. Rats responded with pleasure to opiates injected into specific subcortical regions, but not to opiates injected into the higher brain cortex. Opiates administered into the subcortical area produce feelings similar to those experienced from positive social bonds. Good vibrations!
Animals display a willingness to work in order to receive doses of morphine and cocaine administered directly to deep medial subcortical loci of the SEEKING system. Similar effects were obtained with drugs injected into other subcortical emotional systems.
Panksepp details these studies including maps pinpointing brain stimulation points in “The Archeology of the Mind: The Evolution of Affective Consciousness.” Why weren’t these mood brain-zapping research studies built upon Panksepp’s work instead of reinventing the wheel?
The trajectory of the SEEKING system runs from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the nucleus accumbens and to the medial prefrontal cortex. Dopamine runs from the VTA to the nucleus accumbens to the frontal cortex.
I am frustrated. I am eighty. I finally figured out what I want to do. I want to spend my life doing primary-affect research with humans. Panksepp laid it all out in his book for anyone to run with it. His book was published in 2012. No one has so far.
Self-help books that help:
Total Self-Renewal through Attention Therapies and Open Focus
The Open-Focus Brain: Harnessing the Power of Attention to Heal Mind and Body
