I happened to be watching a documentary a while back on the topic of ECT (that's Electro-Convulsive-Therapy, or "Shock Treatment"). It's something I'm skeptical about. While it seems similar to using a difibulator only on the brain, and while it may be a good thing, it's sure damn spooky if you've ever seen anyone afterwards. Drooling, amnesia doesn't seem like a good side-effect. But that's not what this rant about.

There was a "doctor" ...

(although I seriously doubt he was - likely a chiropractor, or something. It should be required in documentaries that the makers show what the persons' actual degrees are in and where they recieved them. Too many doctors of fine arts are being held up as experts on physics - now back to your regularly sheduled editorial already in progress ...)

...who was advocating a new replacement for ECT, called "transcranial magnetic stimulation". His machine supposedly sends a magneting pulse through the patient's head to achieve the same results as ECT without the side effects.

Hang on... if strong magnetic fields do that... why doesn't an MRI have the same effects?

(It gets worse).

He demonstrated the effect of his machine by lighting a lightbulb with it. The bulb was attached to a copper wire that was coiled up and placed into the pulsing magnetic field.

MY BULLSHIT DETECTOR WAS REALLY GOING OFF BY NOW.

Gosh, mr. doctor man, I dunno much not being a "doctor" like you and all, but isn't creating an intermittant magnetic field that's broken by a copper coil pretty much what an electical generator does? Unless someone has a LOT of copper in their head wouldn't the magnetic field pass though them with NO EFFECT!? Aren't magnets almost universally synonymous with "bullshit" when proposed as medical treatments? Cute trick, but no cigar.

I was once more stunned at the Discovery channel for putting on a documentary made by someone so easily duped.

People are still suckers, as always - bullshit baffles brains.

What amazes me even more is that a study at the University of Illinois at Chicago supposedly confirms that it works. I took a look at the study and gosh, golly, whaddaya know... IT WASN'T A DOUBLE BLIND!

Get with the program, people. You should know better than that.

Sure, they laugh at the old "electric belts" that were the rage a hundred years ago. But they can't wait to buy up anything with magnets, or accupressure, or generally any piece of crap that is touted by the cheesy, un-scientific quacks that have titles granted by the self-regulated chiropractic community. This page is way too small to include a good rant about chiropractic, but I will say that, fortunately, no reputable university that teaches medicine will allow chiropractic to be taught there - good for them!

Back to magnets and electricity...

So magnets are supposed to be good for you, huh? I guess walkmans must be a fantastic cure for all sorts of things. Too bad they don't help prevent hearing loss.

Most magnets used in "magnetic therapy" aren't strong enough to penetrate a few sheets of paper, let alone the human epidermis.

Why does this quackery make me wanna puke?

I dunno. I guess I just always thought that we had finally gotten to the point where parlour tricks belonged in the parlour, and science belonged in the laboratory - not the other way around.

Or maybe I just need a good dose of magnetism.

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